Well, looks like he/we will qualify for sure -- pathology report said: Joint metastatic carcinoma with bone lysis and proliferation, soft tissue necrosis, and inflammation. Pretty nasty. Glad we caught it early and didn't hesitate on the amp. Guess I'll be spending some time in the cancer forums. 🙁

He did get his stitches out, and the vet said he is healing well, but that he should keep wearing his collar for another week. Dang! He does have her blessing to use the stairs, though! 🙂 

Thanks again, everybody! This community is just so full of smart, sensitive people, and your support means so much!

Been digesting everything (and obsessively rereading the report) over the last few days, and have so many questions. Prior to the amp/getting the report back, we were figuring osteosarcoma or synovial sarcoma, and I did my homework on both. Turns out that it was neither, although the bone and soft tissue were definitely affected. 🤔 I'm not sure exactly what to look for in researching this. Guess I'll be heading over the ask a vet board. 

Our vet did say that chemo is an option, but seemed discouraging about it. She talked about how hard it is on them, particularly when they are older (he will be 12 next month). She emphasized that the amp was done early and that there was no sign of spread in the x-rays done prior. His pre-surgical blood work was also normal. I asked what would be next, otherwise, and she said that we can do x-rays again in 6 months. Not sure if she is just confident in the steps we took/other signs or if it is such an aggressive type of cancer that she doesn't want us going to the expense of chemo and putting him through it -- but didn't come right out and say it. 

Jonesy has had a good few days! Getting full access to the house seems to have perked him up, and he is doing more of the normal things, like coming into the kitchen to eat with the other cats in the morning. 🙂 Although we have been keeping the door of his playpen open for quite a while, he has been using it for long naps in the afternoons and overnight. He also seems to have made peace with his e collar now -- we realized a day or two ago that it had been several days since any of us had seen him get it off. Funny and surprising (and cool) how he is acclimating, although we would sure like to get that pen out of our living room! Hopefully he'll start to transition out of it on his own. 

I have added a few pics to his folder, and will add some pics of him with April -- they are just so cute together. Link again here. 🙂 

Thanks again to all! 

P.S. @Juicer77 - I commented on your thread yesterday, and didn't realize that you had commented on mine a few days ago. Thanks for the suggestions, and I'm glad Yum Yum is home and doing well! 

Hi all - 

Just checking in after a heckuva week -- but not because of anything to do with Jonesy, because he is doing well, fortunately.😊 He is becoming more and more his old self: As of Wednesday, he was no longer stylin' in the green collar.😜 Since then he has been exploring the house more, and jumping up on some lower surfaces. We have seen him run a few times, too, which seems smoother than his walking. Amazing! You can bet that he has been quite the fastidious groomer since he regained full access to all the fur! 

We still have the big playpen in the living room, but took out the litter box (whew!) as of yesterday, as he has been using the downstairs boxes more often than not.

Thanks for all of the oncologist recommendations. I agree that we should at least have one consultation, and thought I could probably find one locally, but there doesn't seem to be one! I even checked around with the people who run the rescue I volunteer for. We are in flyover country for sure, but our city has a population of 266K, so you'd think there would be one here. I haven't had a chance to research super thoroughly yet (aforementioned long work hours/hectic job), but suspect that we would have to take him to the University of Minnesota, which is about 4 hours away. Have any of you heard of an oncologist who will do video consults if we can coordinate testing through a local vet? 

Re: The possibility of vaccine associated sarcoma - he hadn't had a rabies shot in at least 3 years before he started limping, and I have never been terribly regular about getting my cats their shots. They never go outside or even try to. I have been a bit more regular with it since one of our cats bit a vet tech a few years ago -- figured I should do it to protect them and us, should that happen again. When I have had it done, I am 99% sure he never had one anywhere but the scruff. If I am missing something here, though, let me know. The VAS thing was something I had no clue about until I checked out this site. 

Thanks again for all the love and support, and glad everyone enjoyed the pics! 😊