Growths on cat's tongue

Hello! Sorry in advance for the long post... This cat is located on a Greek island. He is 12 years old, around 15lbs male and neutered. This island only has one working veterinarian that deals with cats and dogs and without question, she’s very overwhelmed. My aunt took this kitty in to this vet because she could see some swelling on his tongue. The veterinarian took a look and told my aunt that he had 4 bad teeth that had to be removed so she preformed the surgery, removed them and sent him home without any antibiotics saying that they weren’t needed and that he would just heal on his own. After a week my aunt started to see some bleeding from the cat’s mouth that would come and go. She reached out to the veterinarian who said it wasn’t very worrysome and gave her something to give to the cat to stop the bleeding. Long story short, the bleeding persisted to the point that the cat would just hide and stopped eating two days ago. Because of the holidays, she could not find that vet, or any other vet to take him for an emergency visit. She finally found an emergency vet in Athens where she took him today, they sedated him to look at what’s going on and took the pictures below. They told her that unfortunately it looks like cancer, but they can’t be 100% sure if they don’t perform a biopsy and they couldn’t keep him in because, apparently, they were all booked up. So they sent her on her way back to the island with some medications. They won’t be able to do the biopsy until around January 6th because of the holidays. I am located in the United States so the only way I can help is hopefully though this thread. If you have any idea on what this could be and what she could do in the meantime, it would be so much appreciated. It’s extremely hard for her to have to wait that long to get him looked at, and she’s a mess because of it. Your opinion would be greatly appreciated! Thank you so much

Hello - what an unpleasant thing to find in a cats' mouth.  That tongue looks to be extremely uncomfortable - and maybe even painful (cats are experts at hiding any pain, so it can be difficult to tell).  It looks as though it might be difficult for the patient to eat, for example, and I would be keen to know whether the area has sensation (if the nerve isn't working, is the patient biting and making things worse?)  Can they eat properly?  Are they on some kind of pain releif?  Has someone come up with a strategy for making sure they get the correct nutrition?  What was the tongue like before the teeth were removed?  How quickly can your vets distinguish cancer from inflammation;  could they do a fine needle aspiration of a) the lump and b) the lymph nodes?  This may prove less time consuming and less dangerous than a biopsy (tongues tend to bleed) and may give some clues, but would still require an anaesthetic.  Sometimes, the results are not as helpful as predicted  - it depends on getting a sample that isn't too bloody and contains useful cells.  In short, this is a complicated case and while I don't know the ins and outs of vet provision in Greece, another week and half seems like a long time to wait.

Thank you so so much for your reply! We are so grateful for you taking the time to get back to us! She is not sure if the nerve is working or not, one thing she noticed that the cat does frequently throughout the day the last maybe week is go and lick the natural stone that she has on one of her walls (rough ragged texture) so if the tongue was in pain, you would think he would not be doing that ? The kitty was born blind by the way. The clinic in Athens that took those pictures sent her away with medication to help with the swelling and pain (synulox tablets 250mg to take half a tablet every 12 hours and metacam tablets 1mg to take half a tablet every 24 hours). Today was the first full day of those medications and he ate half of a big can of "WELLFED" chicken and turkey pate in the morning but he refused to eat anything in the evening. She was able to feed him about 1 1/2 teaspoons of food mixed in with the medications in the evening. She read that metacam sometimes has that side effect of not wanting to eat ? Other than that he looks so peaceful and slept throughout the day, something that he was not doing the last couple of days probably because he was in pain. Thank you for the advice on the biopsy options, she will definitely make sure to tell the vet when she will make the appointment first thing after new years (they said they might be able to see him on the 3rd and get that all done). Another thing that she said is that she noticed worms in his poo so maybe the parasites also have something to do with all this? Looking forward to your thoughts! Again, thank you so so much for your response we are both so thankful for you! Hope you had an amazing holiday and a very happy new year!! Sincerely, Maria A.