My ten-year-old cat has tiny non-painful hard deposits in his skin here and there. Is it dangerous?

What does your vet think they are? I am a lot more familiar with dog skin biopsies than cats- can he do a needle biopsy that doesn’t require anesthesia?

As crisw mentioned: Have you asked the vet what he or she thinks they might be? And are they under the skin or on the skin?

This sounds similar to what my 18 yr old cat had for the last 5 or so yrs of her life along with another larger one. When feeling the smaller ones they were hard and had kind of a “waxy” feel to them.

My vet in Philly said they were all from clogged up oil glands so essentially pimples or to be fancy with the larger one a sebacious cyst.

All anesthesia carries with it a degree of risk, however small, and it made no sense to put a cat that old thru anesthesia for what was basically a cosmetic issue. This was also a cat who had a lifelong congenital heart murmur.

But I have no way to know that it’s the same for your cat. I do like the previous suggestion to ask the vet to justify a reason for the biopsy. I would also get a second opinion perhaps from a local humane society which has vets on staff and are not necessarily so profit oriented and be more likely to give you an objective opinion.

…according to some facts listed in de-clawing, de-clawed pets risk skin conditions… i made a search on “cat has tiny no-painful hard deposits in skin”...i have no clue- but good luck…

Could be lipomas (little deposits of fat that form into clumps instead of a smooth layer). those are nothing to worry about.

Best of luck! I hope everything is okay! Let us know!

@La_chica_gomela – he has a lipoma too, but it feels entirely different: soft because its fat, like you say. No worries about a lipoma.
@BookReader: not de-clawed, I think that’s dangerous; thanks for doing a search.
@Buttonstc: Not “waxy”. Hard like birdseed, tiny. Your point about anesthesia is mine exactly. Humane society is a great idea! I hadn’t thought of that! I’ll do it!
@crisw (nice fox, dude) and @lillycoyote: vet said we should excise (all of them) because we don’t know what they are.

I might ask him to nip one of them with local anesthetic and biopsy that. Eh? Eh?