My four year old cat has cancer. Does anyone have any experience with this?

I took my four year old cat to the vet this past week to have a lump removed from his neck and it came back as melanoma. Has anyone had any similar experiences or know what the chances of recovery are? The doctors are being vague and don't want to give me any estimates before they have a chance to do more tests. I respect this but at the same time I'd like to hear from anyone else who's been in a similar situation and what the outcome was.Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.-TC

I've had several cats with cancer, and we lost each one. None were melanoma though.My Sylvester had a lump on the side of his jaw, which was removed with surgery but the cancer had gotten to his lymph system and we only had a year and a half more with him (amazingly long considering the death rate is usually 6 months after diagnosis).Dax had a pad of cancer growing under her hip bone, which blocked the X-rays from finding it. We had a month after she started showing signs. The autopsy said it was a rare form not usually seen in cats.The Baron was a lump cat, removal didn't get it all on him, I can't remember the actual name of the cancer he had though. But the vet said she'd seen it more in dogs than cats.I do have a former stray now that has had a nerve end tumor show up on his foot (it looked like he grew a second paw pad) that was removed and has not come back in over a year. Those tend to come back eventually so I keep an eye on it. You can go to yahoogroups and join up with the Handicats group there, the owners may have more experience with a melanoma type and can advise you.