Growth in Mazy cat's ear

Do I understand this correctly? NO growths, right? Just stubborn... wax or... something as yet-to-be-determined? !!! WHAT A RELIEF!

Continued for Mazy while she recovers, and for you while you work until Mazy is home!

HOORAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  What a relief!

My Callie girl used to get a little ball of wax and gunk down in her ear every couple of years.  I'd have to take her to the vet and have her sedated and her ears flushed out and cleaned when it was time.  My vet told me that possibly her ear canals were somewhat smaller than normal and that stuff didn't flush out as it should or they were swollen frequently because of allergies. 
 

Awww, that's great news! Did you do a little jig out of pure relief?

Great news!  What a relief.  So very happy for you and Mazy kitty. 

jcat said:

Awww, that's great news! Did you do a little jig out of pure relief?

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Heh. Burst into tears more like it. :lol3:

Thanks for your replies everyone. Our Mazy cat is HOME!!!!!! She's still a little groggy but getting better by the minute. I thought the first thing she would want to do was use the litter box but I was wrong again.

She did just what she did her first day forever home, she went all over the apartment (with much staggering and falling, though I tried to step in and guide her as much as possible) then flopped down in the middle of the room with a sigh of relief.

But then she is right back up again.

She won't rest, she just wants to walk off the anesthesia. At first I wouldn't let her take the stairs, but she's going up and down them okay now.

Lots to tell, but it will have to wait. I want to keep an eye on her for a while longer, and they need to be fed.

I'm so glad she's home and everything is good!    I get frantic even over a dental

I'm so glad everything went well and Mazy is back home!

Son of a...gun....this forum just wiped out a very long reply. What the ...HECK. Why don't we have auto save here??

Mazy is doing much better. Sadly I had written out a nice little story about how Jennie and Queen Eva greeted Mazy but when I hit submit the forum took me to a strange page elsewhere in the forum and the message was lost.

Mazy is getting food in .05 increments, four servings of .05 raw chicken breast each serving within a 10 minute span, every hour. This is the best way to ensure she will keep it all down. I'm not worrying about calcium or other supplements tonight.

She is still a little wobbly, but much better.

Both ears were incredibly full of stuff that was not visible through the usual otoscope method. No yeast, just a lot of wax, fur, "slime" and cocci bacteria. Mazy has a long history of ear problems stemming from a very bad yeast infection that she came home with from the shelter. I noticed the odor on her second day home, and she had a vet appointment already scheduled, when the yeast infection was confirmed. Since then she has had chronic issues but at this time she had not been showing any symptoms.

I'd always planned to have the vet to a complete ear flush should Mazy ever need to be put under anesthesia. Funny that it turned out to be her ears that occasioned her first time under anesthesia.

She will be going on tresaderm for the cocci but vet wants me to wait until Sunday to start it, as her ears are inflamed and sensitive right now.

I'm still pouting about my lost story, I am too tired to reconstruct it tonight.

so good to hear the little sweet Mazy is home, and doing much better

The Greeting Story

Mazy was still bobble headed (my vet's term, LOL) when we got home last night. According to her x rays she had a very full bowel, and since she had had fluids but not peed, I figured she had a full bladder too.

So I let her out of the carrier right on the litter box platform. She had no interest in the litter. I helped her down to the floor but it soon became obvious that she wasn't going to be able to take the stairs yet, so I carried her up and set her down on the floor. Queen Eva rushed over to greet Mazy, took one whiff and backed off hissing and puffing up her tail. Poor Mazy was so hurt! So I sat on the floor and talked to Queen Eva telling her it was just our Mazy, and why she smelled funny. Queen Eva hovered around the edges as Mazy made her rounds, Mazy was rubbing on everything, making sure her smell was spread around, making sure everything was where it was supposed to be.

I continued to talk to Queen Eva and pet them both over and over, running my hand over Mazy, then Queen Eva then Mazy again, letting Queen Eva smell my hands. After a few minutes of this scent exchange Queen Eva realized it was indeed our Mazy cat and went into Nursing Mode. She began to follow Mazy around, bumping up against her when Mazy staggered, it was wonderful to see!

In the meantime Jennie was simply watching from the top of the Tower. While Mazy was gone, I had gotten the feeling that Jennie was missing her. I don't know why I got that feeling, and I dismissed it, because Jennie doesn't seem that attached to the others in that way. However, after seeing how she greeted Mazy, I have to return to my original assessment, Jennie missed Mazy cat.

Jennie and Mazy did not meet up until Mazy had made multiple rounds of the apartment, including taking the stairs several times, with Queen Eva ever at her side. Mazy had been home about a half hour when I decided to feed her. So they met in the kitchen. Mazy approached Jennie in that head lowered "I want to head bump kiss you" position. Usually this will cause Jennie to (affectionately, no doubt lol) box her ears and swear.

Instead much to my surprise, (and judging by their faces, their surprise too), Jennie first returned the head bump, then licked Mazy's forehead! I expected the hiss to come after that, but there was no hiss or swat at all. Mazy stood very still for a moment, waiting to see if Jennie would do anything, but Jennie didn't. They both turned away from one another at the same time. I was amazed.

Much later last night I knew Mazy must be feeling a lot better because Queen Eva started teasing Mazy to play, and Mazy did! They had a little bit of a Tumble, and a short Chase Me Chase You session, before Mazy said she'd had enough.

PS Thank you everyone for the support! :heart3:

Awwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is just too sweet, and thank you for taking the time to rewrite it. I've never had a re-introduction issue after surgery or a stay at the hospital. But Billy and Ming Loy play all the time - and when she was sick, Billy didn't bother her at all, and would only groom her. :heart2:

I'm so glad for everything, Gail.

Mazy had her re-check today, after her ear clean out under anesthesia, and 10 days on the tresaderm. It's been only 3 weeks and two days since the clean out, and the right ear is already filling up with wax again.

I now have an ear wash I have to use on her twice a week, and then re-check again in a couple of weeks to find out if the wash is doing the job.

She was supposed to have her urine re-checked today too, but in spite of my efforts, vet said her bladder was not full enough. The problem is, Mazy has a very well developed abdomen flap, it's not fat, but there is a lot of loose skin and the vet says she can't get to the bladder through it unless the bladder is full enough (short of putting her out again). The cystocentesis needle is tiny, after all.

There were no adverse reactions from Jennie and Queen Eva, I guess they are used to the smell of vet again. I never had any trouble all the years of Ootay and Tolly because they both were at the vet so often the other cats were just used to the smell.

I feel so bad for Mazy, all these return trips to the vet, but maybe there is a silver lining. Perhaps....all these trips will help her get used to it, so if she ever does develop something more serious, she'll be able to handle treatments.

Well, in my mind, your latest troubling experience would make it very necessary now to seriously start thinking about an underlying cause such as allergy because allergy (especially food allergy) is one major cause of stubborn ear problems including excessive ear wax in cats and dogs.   Sometimes, related to this underlying cause, a bacterial infection or a yeast infection can also be involved,   (With allergy as the underlying cause, a yeast infection may be particularly difficult to treat, requiring  a long-term approach.)   Also, the ears may need frequent (more frequent than usual) cleanings as well.   

In post #4 in this thread from 2009  

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/202806/stubborn-ear-wax

stephanietx wrote something very interesting and important that makes a lot of sense

Our other cat, Callie, has excessive ear wax due to allergies. The vet surmises that her allergies cause her ear canals to swell and "trap" the wax, dry skin, and other stuff and keep it from flushing it out on its own......................  

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Another piece of info that also deals with ear wax and underlying causes

http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20130411/submitted/704109786

Interesting on the allergies. As most frequently, allergies are seasonal, I wonder if you can find a future pattern related to seasonal allergies. :dk:

Hopefully this article will post in its entirety.   (I'm having a very aggravating problem with it here on my computer.)

http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2012/06/22/pets-seasonal-allergies.aspx

Thanks for the info Violet. Seasonal allergies, or dust allergies sound possible. I can watch for seasonal patterns, except that Mazy never shows symptoms, ever, of her ears bothering her. It is her twice a year check ups that show up the ear problems.

My house is dusty and furry. And at her ear clean out under anesthesia, fur was found in the mess in her ears. I clean and vacuum once a week but am not as fanatic about house cleaning as I used to be, I am just too tired to worry that much about it. I wonder if an air purifier might be something to consider.

If it is a food allergy she is out of luck. I've spent the last 18 months getting her on a diet that keeps her healthy and reduces the regurgitation episodes. I'm not messing with it now. However I doubt it is food related. She has always had ear problems, long before I put her on a better diet, she had ear problems, the tresaderm has been a permanent fixture in my refrigerator since she came forever home.

However, I am not convinced that this is food or environment allergy related. As I said in the beginning Mazy's ears were a mess when she came to me. I am still pretty positive that this chronic problem of hers is a direct consequence of that.

Currently there is no bacteria or yeast in her ears. Just wax. I asked the vet if the right ear (which had more than the left) was inflamed in anyway, so trapping the wax more. She said no, and showed me (much to Mazy's annoyance)

I am about to start a new job. Perhaps once I adjust to the the schedule and am settled in the work I won't be as tired and can vacuum more. We'll see.

For now, I will follow the vet's directions of using the wash twice a week for three weeks, then a re-check. And I'll look into air purifiers. I know someone who uses them.

I'm wondering about something.  Does she go outside at all? 

On Sunday afternoons, in a small fenced yard, supervised at all times. She usually lies on a rug, but not always. What is your thought, Violet?