When do you save "enough is enough"?

[KanoasDestiny]

The title should be "say" not "save". :/

I have an outdoor cat that lost half of her ear years ago. Occassionally we've see her scratching at it, but nothing too alarming. She gets treated twice a year for ear mites, and was mite free last June. One morning in early October, she had a huge bloody scab on her ear. We brought her inside and when she scratched off the scab, some more of her ear came off as well. She is now missing almost all of her ear. We took her to the vet, and he didn't seem overly worried other then the fact that her ear was bloody and half gone. I begged him to check it for an ear infection but the only thing he did was check for mites, give me an antibiotic and a cone. He believed that it was a self-mutilating thing she is doing to herself.

Three months later, she has now seen two different vets, and her ear is still horrible! Every time her ear scabs over, she finds a way to get the scab off, it bleeds excessively, then scabs over again until the next time she gets the scab off. We believe she was using the cone itself (hard to explain) to remove the scabs during her excessive head shaking, so we have hopefully fixed that problem with duct tape. She developed another spot above her eyebrow, which makes the vet believe that she either has skin cancer or auto-immune deficiency. She is inside now and has been wearing a cone since the first day, and because of that, she is miserable and absolutely refuses to move around and stay active. This of course has led to constipation problems and she has had five enemas over the months.

She is currently on prednisolone (cortisteroid), clavamox, laculose, a viatmin, and animax skin cream. I have went against my vet and started treating her wound like a tattoo - keeping it moist so that it doesn't get a scab for her to rip off. After just a week, today my vet said that he believes it looks better. He is wanting to up her steroid, increase her laculose, continue her antiobiotic, and for me to stop with the vaseline/aquaphor so that I can do the animax again. She has not had a bowell movement since last Thursday (a week!) and she has peed twice since last Sunday. I took her in today and told him I want an xray and bloodwork done because I'm scared she has a block in her urinary tract or stones. The xray showed nothing other then her being extremely constipated. We should have her blood results tomorrow or Saturday.

Today alone cost over $500, and that isn't including the other six vet visits in three months. I am seriously stressing out. Between her and two other cats (one we lost), we have depleted our bank account. I can't afford to keep taking her in when nothing is getting accomplished, but yet, I can't bring myself to not take her in when she needs it. I still feel that an ear infection is the root cause, especially now that her other ear is showing signs of drying up. But no one wants to put anything into her ear internally until it is healed externally.

I have been doing a lot of research, and I think I'm going to try milk of magnesia for the constipation. I'm also going to start mixing colloidal silver with some vegetable oil to apply to her ear. We use colloidal silver ourselves, and at this point, I really don't think it could hurt her much. I'm hoping that something will eventually end up working for her.

 

[Helicopter]

I've started answering this post 4 times and deleted each one. What a miserable time for all concerned.

I know it's hard and never gets easier but it seems to me that "enough is enough" already.

I'm sure many others may not agree but that's my 2 cents worth.

Good luck and chin up whatever you decide.

 

[KanoasDestiny]

My gut is telling me that it is either skin cancer or an ear infection. Both can cause the drying of the outer ear. If it is cancer, it needs to be removed. But my vet believes that it is internal (auto-immune), and wants to see if we can get it healed before doing a biopsy.

The only reason I'm leaning towards an inner ear infection is because she doesn't act like the outer ear hurts, but if you touch under the ear by her head, she goes crazy with wanting to scratch it. But I am concerned about the spot above her eyebrow too, which would be more like cancer.

 

[Charley]

I would say that maybe it is time to try a different vet, but you've already seen two. So, I guess, if I were you, I would sit down with my husband and talk the situation out and decide how much more you can afford if it proves to be cancer.

You seem to be in a no win situation since they won't treat for an ear infection until the outer ear is healed and it can't heal if the cat feels it has to scratch the ear because it hurts. Can you see if the vet can give her oral antibiotics to fight the possible ear infection? (I'm guessing they don't want to use drops as it might make the outer ear worse if it gets in the wound)

Lois

 

[Hosscrazy]

I'd go to ASG.

Liz N.

 

[Carolyn R]

Maybe I missed it in your post, but have they done a scraping/culture on the ear?

No one would blame you for smacking your head against the proverbial wall of frustration and saying enough. My only suggestion is, if you decide to try one more vet then call it quits if you have no answer, find one that is a larger facility, has an in house lab and techs, a good reputation for having an open mind and working well with other available vets in house. If you do try another vet, be honest with them, tell them it is your last effort, your don't nessecarily want extreme heroic efforts put forth if it is cancer, but if the issue can be diagnosed and effectively treated/managed without going to extensive extremes in care, you are willing to do so. As guilty as it makes one feel, sometimes we have to have an outline of limitations we are willing to stand by. Believe it or not, many vets may not have the conversation with you, but they appreciate a client that has defined what they are willing/capable of dealing with when it comes to medical issues and what may be unrealistic, rather than being driven solely by emotions.

 

[CZP1]

I think you are providing the best care. Sometimes you know in your gut what the right thing is to do. I don't know if your asking whether you should give up on the cat and put her down. Unfortunately animals are expensive. People can flame me, but sometimes we just can't save them all. If this has been an on-going thing and will cause the cat to be in pain and she will not get better because she is scratching and is miserable I would talk with your vet about euthanizing her and giving her some relief. I have been in your shoes and it is not a fun thing to decide.

 

[KanoasDestiny]

We got some of the lab results back today. From what he was seeing, the vet doesn't think it is auto-immune related. He said that her pancrea numbers were a little elevated, which he says she has a little pancreaitis and that can be causing the constipation. He also said that her blood sugar was a little high, which could mean that she is diabetic or was extremely nervous while there. My brother's cat was diabetic and she isn't displaying any of the signs of it. We are putting her on a moist food only diet, and I guess we'll wait and see how she responds to it. We may also be putting her on another medication for the constipation called Cipracide.

I guess I just really needed to vent. I'm to the point where I want to put her back outside where she was at least happy and active. She HATES being in the house. It's one of those situations where it's like, is the quality of life better or the quantity?

 

[Lil Eowyn]

Thats too bad--I hope everything works out--. My cat who will be 7 soon--is an outdoor barn cat. He leaves on 'hunting' trips alot. A couple times for the whole summer. He comes back fattened up lol But once he came back with half of his ear missing and a couple scratches. We treated it with human antibiotic ointment and washed it out really good. It grew back within a few months and only has a little slit in it that is healed. Good luck--I really hope it works out with you.

 

[Marty]

I feel you surely have gone above and beyond already.Don't know what I'd do next really if I were in your shoes. But I know you need HUGS

 

[KanoasDestiny]

Thanks Marty.

Just a quick update. She is slipping her cone off almost daily now. I'm scared to tie it tighter because if it rubs against her neck too much, I fear it might cause more sores and we definately don't need that! She 'seems' to be doing ok when she gets it off (knock on wood) because there haven't been any recent blood splatters anywhere and her ear isn't shredded. So I've decided to allow her supervised periods with it off so that she can relax and clean herself (muchly needed). Her ear is looking a lot better, it doesn't seem to bleed as easily now. I've been spraying it consistantly with colloidal silver through the day and a night time I put aquaphor on it to give it some moisture.

She is eating moist food only now. She didn't eat much the three days following her last enema, but she is steadily starting to eat more. Tomorrow makes a week since her last enema and she hasn't had a bowell movement, so she'll probably be going in for another one tomorrow. We had to specially order some compounded Cisapride, so hopefully when it gets here it will help with her constipation. Trying to stay positive.

 

[chandab]

Perhaps you could add a layer of duct tape or something to the edge of the cone so its not as sharp against her.

 

[KanoasDestiny]

After two months of her ripping scabs off of her ear, the vet assistant suggested putting tape on her cone. I think that just might be part of what has helped her ear heal as much as it has.