Granuloma - Anyone who's been through it?

When we lost Klingon our old siamese x many years ago, he was at the time suffering from an indolent ulcer (it was not the cause of his death). An indolent ulcer or rat ulcer, usually eats away at the top lip, you can see the teeth and tongue when the mouth is closed. I only learnt the actual name of the disease today. How?

Well, last Friday night when i was staying over at Tristans, we were cuddling up to Timmy, and we noticed a hard lump under his chin. We took him out to Wendy, she lay Timmy on his back and pressed at it, only a little fluid came out, and he seemed to be a happy boy afterwards. We took him to the vet the next morning, and with little force, it popped open. His temp and the rest of his health (apart from being fiv+) is good.

She told us he had a eosinophilic granuloma. Which is a group of infected tissue, and forms an abscess above it. He's been on an oral antibiotic for 7 days. We thought it was getting better, but Gem (Tristan's sis) said she thought she could feel more lumps forming, i thought it may have been acne re-occuring. Last night he was extremely grumpy, and the lumps are bigger.

So right this moment, he is back at the vets, to see what exactly is happening with his chin.

I'd just like anyone who's gone through this to tell me what happened with their kitty. And some vibes and prayers would be good as well. I should find out in an hour or two the results.

Thanks.

Here's the pretty boy

The vet's shaved his chin to have a closer look. The number one thing could be that the main granuloma has sent out a few little infections around it. He's going to be on stronger antibiotics, and hopefully it should clear.

But, if it isn't better in 4 or 5 days, he has to go back, and get it biopsied. If it turns out it has triggered his fiv and his immune system won't heal it, he may only be alive for another year.

This is a perfectly health boy, who is about the same age as Charlie. Active and happy, and i'm really worried about it.

Can someone please reply?

My Zek has linear granuloma on his rear leg. Sometimes diet change can help, since the eosinophilic granuloma complex seems to arise from an allergic reaction to something. This article is really helpful and describes possible treatment options:

http://www.vin.com/proceedings/Proce...6694&O=Generic

Zek's situation was discovered by the vet tech during a routine vet visit. She noticed a lump on his rear leg. The vet had me watch it, and I brought him back a week later when one lump had become three lumps. Through needle aspiration and skin scrapings, she diagnosed eosinophilic granuloma. The vet said we could try corticosteroids, but also suggested I do some research first (she knows how I like to research all the options). We decided to try adding omega-3 oils (3V Caps) to his diet and switching to a simpler food since he was on a complex one. The bumps seems to be diminshing, so that is a good sign. We also started both cats on Advantage (I adopted Zek in October, so I hadn't bothered with flea preventative during the winter).

What are you currently feeding? What kinds of bowls are you using? Are you using a flea preventative?

Originally Posted by cloud_shade

We decided to try adding omega-3 oils (3V Caps) to his diet and switching to a simpler food since he was on a complex one.

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That's exactly what helped Jamie. He gets one 500 mg. capsule squeezed over his food daily for 6 weeks when he has an outbreak (rare nowadays), and otherwise 1 capsule once a week for maintenance. His canned food is all meat and/or fish, and I avoid any dry food with meat by-products, beet pulp or soy. He seems to do best on the grain-free, all-life-stages dry foods. I'd prefer no dry, but he's a dry-food fanatic.

For those who had kitties with this infection, have any of them being fiv+?

Zek is not. I have found that he doesn't liket he 3V caps at all--the first, and only, time I tried squirting it on his food, he ran all over the house like crazy, drooling all the way. The kind the vet had were high potency, so maybe that's related, but I just give them like a pill every other day. The bumps seem to be slowly going away.

Originally Posted by cloud_shade

What are you currently feeding? What kinds of bowls are you using? Are you using a flea preventative?

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He gets tinned wet food. I think sometimes he might get chicken necks/wings as well for his teeth. As far as i recall he's got a plastic bowl that none of the other animals use (he lives with Tristan not me). He gets either monthly or 6 monthly flea treatments, that i am sure of.

The plastic bowl might be a contributor--I'd suggest switching to glass or ceramic and washing it daily. Some cats develop an allergy to the plastic--that can often cause chin acne. Switching to a different bowl type might help and it's an easy thing to try.