Answer: Yes, cancer (or neoplasia, or tumour formation) is one of the most common conditions to affect cats, and as in other animals, including man, it occurs increasingly frequently with age.
A tumour, or neoplasm (often popularly referred to as a ‘growth’) is a multiplying collection of cells whose growth can not be controlled by the normal body mechanisms. As a rule, these cells lose their normal functions and concentrate solely on growing. Tumors can essentially be classified into two groups. Those termed benign grow slowly and are usually easily separated from adjacent tissue, so that complete surgical removal is generally possible. The problems that they cause are usually related to their function, for example with the flow of blood or urine, or with breathing. Tumors on the skin can easily have their surface broken so that they bleed, or become infected by bacteria. Likewise, those in the mouth might be chewed upon, causing pain and bleeding.
Those tumors that are called malignant grow much more readily, and spread out into adjacent tissue. After a period of growth, groups of malignant tumour cells often break off and are carried away in the bloodstream or lymphatic circulation to lodge in other organs of the body, especially the lungs. This process is referred to as metastasis, and each group of cells can give rise to a new tumor which will grow and spread in the sane manner. Because of their invasive growth, complete surgical removal is more difficult and malignant tumors often recur after an operation. It is this malignant type of neoplasia which is generally called cancer (although some experts use the term cancer to refer to any type of tumor). Malignant tumors cause problems, not only because of the same type of local pressure effects, but by their rapid, progressive destruction of body tissues which inevitably leads to organs failing to function effectively.
As well as being closed benign or malignant, the name of the tumors very, depending upon this tissues from which they have been derived.
The signs of cancer depend upon its site, the tissue involved, and the way in which normal body functions have been interfered with. These causes of neoplasia is still imperfectly understood, but essentially it seems that the some time during the repeated multiplication of the body cells, a mutation occurs in the genes responsible for controlling the growth and function of cells. All further cells derived from this ‘mutant’ will perpetuate the same defects of growth and activity. The genetic make-up of the species, of the breed even of the individual all influence the likelihood of mutations occurring, but the longer the animal lives, the greater becomes the chance of such mutations appearing. Certain chemicals, e.g. the compounds, and the viruses, such as feline leukaemia virus, simulate the production of mutations and are therefore held responsible for certain types of neoplasia. Such cancer-producing agents are known as carcinogens.
