I've been back and forth over whether to post about this because I think I can predict what people will say....I didn't even mention it when I went into my vet's today to pick up food (huraah, still working away at the $200 fancy food draw I won - for those of you who haven't read my lonnnnng post in "share your story", I won a draw at my vet for $200 worth of prescription food on one of my many vet visits during the amputation process. Of course, I'm now realizing that I've got Harry happy on a $100/month diet that I will have to actually PAY for before too long....but that's another story, lol. And, I suppose, worth it as it's helping him lose weight. Almost a pound down!....okay. Get back on track, Kayla) for the same reason.

So. A few days ago, I noticed a tiny lump (gulp) in Harry's skin on his neck. Very tiny. Like, half-pea sized. If that. Now, for all I know it has been there his entire life and I never noticed because a)he usually has so much fluff there and b) I never used to be as into the minutiae of his body/paranoid. It's IN his skin rather than in his body, like...when I grab is foldy soft kitty skin in that area, I can feel the lump between my fingers. 

BUT (again for those who haven't been following our story closely) Harry did have his foreleg amputated because of bone cancer. 

AND I've had a flashback to a bubbly red and pink lump he had removed from his ear when he was, like, six months old, which they said was cancerous - the whole thing was a crap experience. I was a new cat Mum for the first time. We were away at University, so we went into some random Vet, who chopped it off, and then called me a few days later to say - yes it was cancerous, to which I responded "...oh" ...to which they responded, "okay, bye" (basically. I should have asked questions but they also should have provided some information). I still have serious guilt about it, and have been wondering whether that was how Harry's bone cancer started...........but, also, rationally speaking, that was eight years ago and I don't think there would have been anything else they would have done, apart from cutting it out. He has had multiple X-rays since and no signs in them, or on his body, or in his behaviour, of any other cancer. Still...

I'm wondering what to do. The immediate response is "back to the vet", but Harry is EXTREMELY anxious and hates the vet. Neither of his vets (we have one here, where I work during most of the year, and one down south, where my family is and we live for a couple of months each year) can get through a proper, full, physical exam without sedating him. Never mind a biopsy. To the extent that when I asked the vet who did his surgery what sort of follow up exams he should have, she recommended against bringing him in yearly because of the stress it causes him.

Also, it could just be a fatty cyst. Or a bite. Or any number of other harmless things.

Also, also... if it IS cancer, all they can do about it is snip it out...right? They X-Rayed his chest from two angles before amputation and the X-rays showed his chest and lungs to be clear.........

I feel inclined to wait, and keep an eye on it, and if I notice any growth to give my vet a call at that point (at the very least, I will have to wait for payday, as I am broker than broke following the amputation costs) , but I don't want to be neglectful.

So I guess I'm looking for opinions?  

Or if anyone has information re: teeny cancerous lumps in the skin?  Are they painful? Is it the type of thing that metastesizes or just grows? Any info I should have??