Hello, I am new to this board, and hoping that someone out there may have some advice for me and my little girl.
First, I should say I live in Canada, have and I have 3 cats. Oscar and Jasmine are brother n sister Himalayans that are 10 years old. I also have another cat, Charlie, who is a domestic longhair. He will be 3 in May. The problem I am having is only with Jasmine. Numerous vet visits (and bills) have proved inconclusive.
For over a year, she has had some sort of ear infection. It can be described as (from my vet) having a cauliflower-like apparance on the surface, and looks like the skin is oozing a bloody discharge, but it is always dried, not wet or sticky. It does not have a yellowish discharge at all. The first two times I brought her to the vet she underwent surgery. They throught it may have been a polyp, which it was not. She does not have ear mites or fleas. They have lasered off the 'cauliflower', but it always comes back. The vet says she has seen some cats with this problem, but in all their other cases, it has not come back after laser treatment. They suspect it is some type of a papilloma virus which apparently is not common in cats. They told me it is not contagious, and my other cats show no signs/symptoms so this must be true-they all groom each other often and are in close contact on a daily basis.
The vet has had 2 recommendations: have a biopsy sent to a lab on the west coast,and see if an antibody can be developed from the sample. There is no guarantee this will work, and it will be very costly. The second recommendation the vets have had for me, and this is what they lean towards, is to simply leave it. Besides the fact that if you look in her ear and see it, she really shows no outward signs of discomfort. She rarely scratches her ears (no more than other cats would) and the vets at the clinic feel that it is not necessary to try to treat it. She is a very happy little girl. She eats fine, plays, associates with the other cats and us just as she did before this infection surfaced.
Now, as I am sure anyone can appreciate, it distresses me as her owner that she has this problem. I go through bouts of feeling guilty that I have not tried to do more. The cost of analysis on the west coats and developing a possible cure (that they keep tellimg me may not work) will run over $1000.00, which I do not have. But still, I look for advice and see if there is anyone else out there who has had such a problem, or heard of it?
If I haven't given enough information, please feel free to ask any questions. I look forward to any advice you can provide.
~glory
First, I should say I live in Canada, have and I have 3 cats. Oscar and Jasmine are brother n sister Himalayans that are 10 years old. I also have another cat, Charlie, who is a domestic longhair. He will be 3 in May. The problem I am having is only with Jasmine. Numerous vet visits (and bills) have proved inconclusive.
For over a year, she has had some sort of ear infection. It can be described as (from my vet) having a cauliflower-like apparance on the surface, and looks like the skin is oozing a bloody discharge, but it is always dried, not wet or sticky. It does not have a yellowish discharge at all. The first two times I brought her to the vet she underwent surgery. They throught it may have been a polyp, which it was not. She does not have ear mites or fleas. They have lasered off the 'cauliflower', but it always comes back. The vet says she has seen some cats with this problem, but in all their other cases, it has not come back after laser treatment. They suspect it is some type of a papilloma virus which apparently is not common in cats. They told me it is not contagious, and my other cats show no signs/symptoms so this must be true-they all groom each other often and are in close contact on a daily basis.
The vet has had 2 recommendations: have a biopsy sent to a lab on the west coast,and see if an antibody can be developed from the sample. There is no guarantee this will work, and it will be very costly. The second recommendation the vets have had for me, and this is what they lean towards, is to simply leave it. Besides the fact that if you look in her ear and see it, she really shows no outward signs of discomfort. She rarely scratches her ears (no more than other cats would) and the vets at the clinic feel that it is not necessary to try to treat it. She is a very happy little girl. She eats fine, plays, associates with the other cats and us just as she did before this infection surfaced.
Now, as I am sure anyone can appreciate, it distresses me as her owner that she has this problem. I go through bouts of feeling guilty that I have not tried to do more. The cost of analysis on the west coats and developing a possible cure (that they keep tellimg me may not work) will run over $1000.00, which I do not have. But still, I look for advice and see if there is anyone else out there who has had such a problem, or heard of it?
If I haven't given enough information, please feel free to ask any questions. I look forward to any advice you can provide.
~glory
