Please forward this to the list annonymously. Hi again! Richard in Ohio here. I'm the owner of Cutout (sorry for not providing some sort of handle in my first post). Thanks to everyone who suggested contacts to help us with Cutout. Our vet contacted either Dr. Rosenthal or Dr. Jeglum, I forgot to ask which. Our vet feels that this tumor isn't operable. It's extremely vascular and she doesn't believe Cutout would survive the blood loss from attempting to excise it, especially since it's involved with the viens in the neck. Of course, without being able to remove the tumor, Cutout's prognosis isn't very good. After talking with the other vet she has prescribed .5ml of Prednisone oral solution each day in hopes of shrinking the tumor some. Cutout hates this stuff and it's quite a chore getting it into her. Katie Fritz gets a no-prize for spotting the Monty Python theme in our critter's names but I suspect that Spiney Norman is a dead give away. Lupine is from the Dennis Moore sketch, Cutout is from "Mrs. Cutout," a cardboard cutout character in one of the pepperpot sketches, and Zoot is from one of the naughty sisters at the Castle Anthrax in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Katie also asked if Cutout had any other symptoms. She may have had some wieght loss and lethargy but not enough that it caught our attention before we discovered the tumor. ... This bounced the first time I tried to send it. We've been giving Cutout Prednisone for over a week now. It was hoped that the Prednisone would shrink the tumor some but it hasn't had any apparent effect on the tumor itself. One of the other vets recommended here called our vet back and suggested a chemo program. We may start that soon. [If you get bounces, please send me copies.] [Posted in FML issue 0272]