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Ear Ablation Surgery

post #1 of 5
5/13/11 at 6:11pm
Thread Starter 
I've never heard of this before in a cat - at least not prior to November 2010. Since it seems to be relatively uncommon, I decided tonight to start this thread in hopes it will help someone in the future.

In Oct 2010 Squishy had a dental cleaning. A scope was inserted into his ear where a tumor or mass was found. Options were to leave it be or try ear surgery. His ear would drain blood so in November 2010 he had ear surgery.

An ear ablation involves removing the ear canal - Squishy's was far more extensive than anyone imagined, as once the vet got in there his mass was much bigger than anticipated. It was non-cancerous, so the vet proceeded with the surgery.

I picked up my 16 - 18 y/o boy the next day & took him home in tears. I couldn't believe what I had done. What followed were 6+ weeks of recovery - I'd hazard to say it took 6 months to fully heal. The first 6 weeks were awful, I had to take great pains to ensure he didn't scratch it open, etc.

He had to wear a cone for short periods of time, thankfully a gauze pad/gauze neckwrap kept him from scratching his ear open. Nail caps kept his claws covered so he couldn't do so much damage.

Then - Nov 2010





Today - May 13, 2011

Normal ear canal



Ear ablation ear - no ear canal

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post #2 of 5
5/13/11 at 6:17pm
poor thing! I can't imagine the pain that he was in. I didn't realize they'd make such a big incision to remove such tumors

Can he hear from that ear anymore? was he in pain before the surgery from the tumors?
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post #3 of 5
5/13/11 at 7:20pm
Thread Starter 
It took such a large incision as they have to remove the ear canal. He is now deaf in that ear. Cats hide pain well, so it's hard to know if was in pain or not - but the comparison I was given is it feels as though you always have something "stuck" in your ear. He's actually much happier now than he was for a long time, that may have been growing in his ear for a year!
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post #4 of 5
5/16/11 at 11:29am
thanks for this update! How is he doing now? would you say that after 6months he is back to 'normal'? i may need to have this done for my cat who has persistent ear polyp issues. I'm hoping to get her the less invasive ventral bulla osteotomy surgery, but the vet has already mentioned ablation.

Thanks for the photos too, I wasn't sure what it would look like post-op but it appears quite normal (ie you can't really tell there's anything different from a casual glance).
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post #5 of 5
5/16/11 at 7:57pm
Thread Starter 
jimmylegs - if you wish I do have more close-up pictures. They are a bit more graphic but can give you a good idea of what to expect. Because of their nature I don't want to post them, but can PM them to you if you'd like.

I'll be honest, I was regretting doing the surgery at first for a few weeks. It wasn't pretty, nor was recovery smooth. He couldn't wear a cone as it tore at his ear, yet I had to keep him from itching it (and it really itched).

It's now the 6 month mark & his ear has finally healed. The initial plan was to leave a small drainage hole in, but that healed up also so the vet just left it completely closed.
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