Renal transitional cell carcinoma with bilateral ocular metastasis in a cat

Case summary A 4-year-old, spayed female, domestic shorthair cat was presented for evaluation due to a 4 day history of inappetence and lethargy. Physical examination revealed mild dehydration and blindness of the left eye. Abnormal imaging findings included a well-margined soft tissue mass with irregular central cavity located in the dorsal aspect of the caudal lung lobe. Cytological examination of the mass revealed chronic inflammation with hemorrhage. Tests for parasitic and fungal diseases were negative. Ophthalmic examination 17 days after the cat was initially presented revealed severe diffuse pathology of both retinas. Left renomegaly was noted 22 days after the initial presentation, and cytological examination of samples obtained from the right vitreous, left kidney and the pulmonary mass yielded atypical epithelial cells exhibiting malignant changes. Post-mortem examination following euthanasia revealed renal transitional cell carcinoma with metastasis to both eyes, lungs and skeletal muscle. Immunohistochemical evaluation of the neoplastic cells in the eye revealed moderate cytoplasmic reactivity for CK7. CK20 immunohistochemistry was negative. Relevance and novel information To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of renal transitional cell carcinoma with ocular metastasis in a cat. In addition, this report describes immunohistochemistry results of transitional cell carcinoma in a cat using CK7 and CK20.