Simba having ear surgery :-(

Hi All - My poor boy has to go in for ear surgery next Tuesday. I'm very worried... he has always had issues with his ears as far as keeping them clean, yeast, bacterial infections, etc... however, the past couple of weeks his right ear has been bleeding from within. I took him to the vet last night and from what she could see, she said the bleeding is coming from down in the ear and that it looks like some type of mass down close to the ear canal. She said it could be one of 3 things: a cancerous mass, a polyp which she said are usually benign, or very bad tissue inflammation due to his last ear problem from a few weeks back.

He has never bled like this before with any of his ear problems, so I'm really concerned. Aside from the bleeding, his ears right now look great... they are white with no yeast/dirt etc... He has been keeping to himself more over the past few months and not eating and drinking like he used to.

My vet said they will have to lay the ear open and get a tissue sample of the area, or, if it is a mass remove it. I asked her if a polyp is generally removed, and she didn't really give me a straight answer. Sigh.... anyhow, I won't know more till next Tuesday.

Has anybody else had any experience with ear problems? I would welcome any similar situations...

I don't have any advice but wanted to send vibes your way for a quick recovery and that it turns out to be something simple! Please keep us posted!

I don't have any advice for you either.
Our Annabelle had a yeast infection in her ears when I rescued her, but it cleared right up.

I'm sending Prayers and for you and for Simba

hakuna matata

Thanks all... he's goes in tomorrow morning and it can't get here quick enough. I just want my baby to get some relief. This weekend he was eating and drinking a good amount and was out and about a bit more then normal, so I'm holding this as a good sign that it's only something minor. Will send updates after the surgery....

Good luck with the surgery! My cat Buster had ear surgery in 2002 for a hematoma. I know it's different from your cat's procedure but I can empathize. Buster busted a blood vessel in his ear while trying to remove a collar. The ear then filled with a sack of blood and drooped over. We had to do emergency surgery the following morning. He is perfectly okay today but his ear looks sort of crumpled. A lot of people think his ear was hurt in a fight but it was the outcome of the stitches, etc. If we ignored it, the ear would have shriveled up, I suppose.

So... I drop Simba off this morning at 9am and tell the girl at the front desk I will call around 4:00 to see how everything went. She tells me not to call until after 5pm because that's when all the surgeries are done. What? I've been going to this vet complex for years and years and have never been told that all the surgeries are performed after 5pm... anyhow, just needed to vent... I just found it strange... With the surgery being so late, not certain if I will get my boy back tonight or tomorrow.

I just heard from my vet... turns out they did the surgery prior to 3pm, she said Simba is resting comfortably. I can't bring him home until sometime tomorrow. Sigh... she said they were not able to remove the tumor, but took a piece of it to biopsy. She said they will have the results in 5-7 days, but there's a good possibility it could be malignant. She recommended either way, malignant or benign, he would need to have a Total Ear Canal Ablation (TECA). If it is benign he could go on to have many more years after the Ablation. If malignant, well.. you know how that goes

Does anybody have an experiences with the Total Ear Canal Ablation? I'll be on pins and needles till I get the results from the biopsy... please say a prayer for my boy