I think my cat was bitten by spider

carisue1

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My cat Smokie Joe woke up one morning with huge swelling on his face. I found a dead spider near him and unfortunately my first instinct was to flush it down the toilet. I wish I would have kept if for verification now. Smokies' face and arm I think were bitten, actually inside his mouth. I have photos. But I can't figure out how to attach them. I have taken him to the vet who insists it is a tumor in his head, but it just showed up overnight. They did not have a clue what the spot on his leg is. I have to get him treatment but I want to make sure he is getting the proper treatment for his affliction. Does anyone know of anything like this, I can show you pics if you tell me how, they are files in my pictures folder. Thanks Carole
 

miss mew

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I'm sorry to hear about the problems you are having with your kitty


My first thought is that you need to find a second opinion. It sounds strange that the vet thinks it's a tumour if it showed up overnight??


Some spider bites can be very dangerous

Here are some links that might help you identify the spider

http://www.brownreclusespider.com/

http://www.termite.com/spider-identification.html

I would call other vets in area right away and see if they can fit you in for an appointment...best of luck and let us know how it goes.
 

shorty14788

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I would take your kitty to a specialist for a second opinion. Some vets are too quick to judge....
Did your vet do any tests? Like a needle aspirate? If not I would say that your vet was rushing the diagnosis and i would go see another vet...
 

sharky

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Please go to a ER vet clinic NOW... Did you see your vet today???

If you dont have an er clinic call the local posion control center they should know who to call about spiders...
 
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carisue1

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Saw vet today, got more medicine. Please let me show you pics maybe someone will be able to help better. How do I put picture in my post?
 

shorty14788

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Do you have a photobucket?
If not, go to WWW.photobucket.com
start an account (it's free) and load that image into your photoalbum
After it's loaded there will be 3 little things below it. Copy and paste the one that says IMG onto your message.
 

shorty14788

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That looks like it could be some kinda bite wound. Does your kitty have a fever? I REALLY think you should go see another vet AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!
 
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carisue1

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I have had him seen by 3 vets and he has been prescribed Clavamox, Prednisolone and Metacam. All anti-biotics and anti-inflammartoy/pain meds. He is healthy except for this. He eats fine and drinks water, goes potty normal. He is suffering though and I am taking him in tomorrow for Xray, biopsy and hopefully some answers. We were hoping the medications would resolve it but I think it is too severe for that. I seriously woke up to see his face like this one day out of nowhere. I just noticed the leg bite a few days ago when the fur came off.
 

strange_wings

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If your location is correct, I doubt it was a brown recluse. They're only supposed to be a southern/midwest range spider. I certainly never seen any when I lived in Michigan...
If you were trying to suggest to your vet that a recluse bit your cat that would probably be why you weren't really believed.


Does your cat go outside, could he have got into a fight with another cat at all?
 

fluffysimba

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Your poor kitty!!!

With all those meds I'd say he should start looking better within in the week. I think I'd see another doctor too if he thought THAT was a tumor.
 

lsulover

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I am sending hugs and prayers from Mississippi for your cat, I hope she gets to feeling better soon.

Please keep us posted on how she is doing.

 
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carisue1

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Originally Posted by strange_wings

If your location is correct, I doubt it was a brown recluse. They're only supposed to be a southern/midwest range spider. I certainly never seen any when I lived in Michigan...
If you were trying to suggest to your vet that a recluse bit your cat that would probably be why you weren't really believed.


Does your cat go outside, could he have got into a fight with another cat at all?
He is 100% indoor cat. I know it is a belief that brown recluse are only in southern state but, that is completly false. If you look into it you will see that more people in the state of MI have been bitten than in any other state. I worked at A Cosmetic surgery clinic and a lady came in with a horrible bite on her hand she lived in Rochester Hills. She had a huge crater in her finger where it had bitten her and her hand swelled up to 5 times the normal size. It was awful. Check around you will find that brown recluse spiders are more common to MI than you have read.
 
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carisue1

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strange_wings

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Originally Posted by carisue1

I worked at A Cosmetic surgery clinic and a lady came in with a horrible bite on her hand she lived in Rochester Hills. She had a huge crater in her finger where it had bitten her and her hand swelled up to 5 times the normal size. It was awful. Check around you will find that brown recluse spiders are more common to MI than you have read.
I live within their natural range, even given that, I rarely see them indoors. The garage and storage building are another matter.
There are other things that cause necrotic lesions.

http://spiders.ucr.edu/necrotic.html
http://dermatology.cdlib.org/DOJvol5...l/recluse.html

If the woman worked in some sort of job handling packages from other states then the possibly it really was a recluse is likely. The chance of an established population of recluses in a climate they're not suited for (harsher winters), unlikely. In many cases people do not even know what a brown recluse looks like, they mistake any brown spider (and sometimes even the fuzzy jumping spiders...) as such, it happens even here where the spieces is common.

Could your cat be having an awful reaction to a non recluse bite, probably. Everyone and thing has different sensitives.

Either way, I hope the swelling goes down on your kitty's face, he looks miserable.

Do you know if a cool compress would help or at least feel good on his face? That is if you can get him to rest against it.
 

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I'm allergic to regular spiders (they are called "non-poisonous" to distinguish them from the Brown Recluse and Black Widow although all spiders are poisonous), and my daughter is REALLY allergic to them... she swells up horribly. The bites can itch for months, too.

You might want to ask your vet if there are kitty cortisteroids and antihistimines, that is what works for our daughter's bites. (I'm sure you know to NEVER use human meds on cats, unless prescribed by a vet.) Sending good thoughts to your kitty and you. I hope you and the vet figure it out.

Cheers, from
SwampWitch
 

momofmany

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Poor baby looks miserable!

The pic is pretty small so I can't see it - is the leasion getting necrotic? I've seen brown recluse bites and they start eating away the skin. If its only swelling, it is probably something else - perhaps a different type of spider.

I found a dead wasp by Stumpy last year right before his face got swollen. Turned out to be something completely different - an auto immune disease reaction within his mouth. The vet had to do a biopsy to definitely diagnose it. Have you talked about that with your vet yet?
 

renovia

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sending prayers to you and kitty - i hope that it is just a little swollen from a spider bite and will go away. . . . . at least the spider's dead, you wouldn't want that still roaming
 
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