collisionwork (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
collisionwork) wrote2007-01-12 01:51 pm
collisionwork) wrote2007-01-12 01:51 pm
Friday Cat Bogging - Hooker, The Sickly Boy
So, Hooker's been bugged by something with his left ear for a while now, and we were intending to take him to the vet next week about it. We figured it was ear mites again -- when we got Moni (a street stray) she brought them in. We had to do a program of ear drops and cleaning with both of them for a while (not fun), and it seemed to go away.
Then, he was scratching the one ear all the time. So, we thought the mites were back -- though it seemed odd that it was just the one ear on him, and she didn't have them at all.
So, vet next week. We thought. Then yesterday he jumped on my lap while I was at the computer, looked me in the eye, and mewed a few times -- his usual demand for attention. I started by scratching his ears as usual, and got a surprise. His left ear was swollen and felt like there was a grape inside it. I immediately called the vet.
The woman on the phone, once I described it, said it was pretty obviously an aural hematoma and I should bring him in at once. So Berit and I rescheduled our 6.30 pm meeting for 10.00 pm (upcoming theatre tech job, more on that soon), and got Hooker over to our vet.
Aural hematomas usually come when a cat has an ear irritation of some kind (mites, infection, etc.) and is scratching it all the time. Hooker, it turns out, doesn't have mites, he has an infection. So, we're back to two kinds of drops in his ears and a liquid antibiotic squirted in his mouth twice daily. Yeah, big fun. Odd, he'll sit perfectly still in Berit's lap and let her cut his claws, but the ears? God, he hates it. We're gonna have claw marks all over us the next few weeks.
As a reward after the drops, we give him (and Moni, as we can't avoid it) some soft food. Which also means that for the next few weeks, every time we go into the kitchen, we will be followed by two yowling cats, who think it means they get a special treat now.
We could go for surgery on the ear to deal with the hematoma, but really that's just for cosmetic purposes. It'll go away by itself, and with the ear infection dealt with, it shouldn't return. However, he will have a deformed ear. Kind of a boxer's or cauliflower ear. Oh, well. He'll still be cute.
Also, as he has a heart murmur and epilepsy, surgery is slightly risky, and as there's no risk in letting it heal on its own, no choice for us as far as we could see. He seems such a hale, hearty boy, it's weird that he's the sickly one. She was an emaciated street stray, who's still stunted, and looks like the one who should have the problems, but it's the big bruiser we keep schlepping to the vet.
So, deformed ear to come. Here are shots where you can mostly see it in it's once-perfect form.
Now it's time for the drops. Wish us luck. Godspeed.
Then, he was scratching the one ear all the time. So, we thought the mites were back -- though it seemed odd that it was just the one ear on him, and she didn't have them at all.
So, vet next week. We thought. Then yesterday he jumped on my lap while I was at the computer, looked me in the eye, and mewed a few times -- his usual demand for attention. I started by scratching his ears as usual, and got a surprise. His left ear was swollen and felt like there was a grape inside it. I immediately called the vet.
The woman on the phone, once I described it, said it was pretty obviously an aural hematoma and I should bring him in at once. So Berit and I rescheduled our 6.30 pm meeting for 10.00 pm (upcoming theatre tech job, more on that soon), and got Hooker over to our vet.
Aural hematomas usually come when a cat has an ear irritation of some kind (mites, infection, etc.) and is scratching it all the time. Hooker, it turns out, doesn't have mites, he has an infection. So, we're back to two kinds of drops in his ears and a liquid antibiotic squirted in his mouth twice daily. Yeah, big fun. Odd, he'll sit perfectly still in Berit's lap and let her cut his claws, but the ears? God, he hates it. We're gonna have claw marks all over us the next few weeks.
As a reward after the drops, we give him (and Moni, as we can't avoid it) some soft food. Which also means that for the next few weeks, every time we go into the kitchen, we will be followed by two yowling cats, who think it means they get a special treat now.
We could go for surgery on the ear to deal with the hematoma, but really that's just for cosmetic purposes. It'll go away by itself, and with the ear infection dealt with, it shouldn't return. However, he will have a deformed ear. Kind of a boxer's or cauliflower ear. Oh, well. He'll still be cute.
Also, as he has a heart murmur and epilepsy, surgery is slightly risky, and as there's no risk in letting it heal on its own, no choice for us as far as we could see. He seems such a hale, hearty boy, it's weird that he's the sickly one. She was an emaciated street stray, who's still stunted, and looks like the one who should have the problems, but it's the big bruiser we keep schlepping to the vet.
So, deformed ear to come. Here are shots where you can mostly see it in it's once-perfect form.
Now it's time for the drops. Wish us luck. Godspeed.