Hi, I am new to the site. I wanted to share something, and this seemed like the right place to do it. Some may find this story interesting or even helpful. So here goes, I have had my cat Pickles for 10 years now, (as I type this he is resting his head on my arm he is such a cutie). Back in August we thought he had ear mites, although we couldn't figure out how as he was an indoor cat, in any event we took him to his vet, who told us that is was an infection and he gave us medicine and ear drops to clean out his ear. He thought is saw a polyup in the ear, but told us not to worry. Well Pickles had this what the vet called ear infection until the end of October, after 600.00 dollars in vet fees, the vet said we need to take him to a specialist. So we did, they listened to his heart and discovered a heart murmur, which I thought was weird, because no one had mentioned it before. At any rate they have him on medication that will help his heart pump better. So back to the ear. They said it could be an infection, but needed to see what the so called polyup was. So they ended up doing a total ear ablation, or what they call removal of the ear canal. So he has his ear sewn up and is now deaf. The tumor turned out to be squamous cell carcenoma, which I have read on the internet, is usually found in the jaw of a cat or in the ear and nose tips of white cats, don't know why Pickles got it, he is orange. He is doing fine now, although they have his prognosis as very guarded to poor. There is nothing they can do for him, it is a fast spreading cancer, so we are not sure if they got it all, which is unlikely. So I just take it day by day, the vet said I will know when it is time to let him go. I share this information, because I probably should have been a little more aggressive with his vet, and that what I thought were ear mites were not. If there was anything I could do for him I would his specialist, has told me that the chemo and radiation doesn't seem to help and to consider the cost of it. I have already spent 2300 for the ear canal at that point so she was trying to explain that there was no significant improvement using chemo or radiation, had there been, I would have whipped out the old visa again. I just look at him as he sits here, purring, wondering what I did wrong. I feel as though I should have known. I just hope he knows how much he is loved. I know when the time comes, I will back here on the site to let you know, but I am praying that isn't for awhile. Well thanks for letting me vent. Happy Holidays to you all.
Pickles Mom
Pickles Mom
