Aural hematoma: Pet owners

@Kyeh it’s a burst blood vessel in the skin of the ear flap between the skin and the cartilage… that fills up. Kinda like a blister. we get hematomas just not there like that. Well maybe boxers… For him so far it just seems to be slightly annoying not painful. Which is good. And kinda makes him look dopey. Ideally it just gets drained/stiched so it doesn’t fill back up while it heals.

It’s not uncommon for dogs/cats other small animals with thin ears apparently… First time I’ve run into it and he’s 12 but… I figure someone else has

@unksol Well, good luck with it! I hope it’s not too costly. Vet bills can be so staggering.

@Kyeh @unksol
big thing is we don’t have insurance in most cases to help cover vet bills. costs just as much to go to vet school as med school and human docs make a lot more money. a lot of vets have the type of student loan debt you hear about on the news, they just usually make enough to make the payments.

@lisaviolet poor guy. This one also had a blocked uerthra when he was probably 2 or 3 but I had never planned on having a pet… found him as a tiny kitten. So I’m not going to lie… My first choice of food was probably not the best… And he didn’t have fountains to encourage drinking at first so… probably my fault

He started panicking about water… Even though he he had water. My first thought was he had something stuck in his paw I could not see. Cause he kept stamping in the water.

So I put him in the tub and ran a little water… to let him work it out…Fuck there are drops of blood coming from your dick. Which is kinda an emergency.

That surgery was not cheap. Can’t imagine doing several. They mentioned doing what you did if it recurred. He had to have a catheter and then surgery but he’s been fine for a decade since.

I got them some water fountains and better food. Purina urinary track for a long time but purina naturals the last year cause the new stray was half starved to death and needed more fat/protien. Still ok thankfully

@unksol It was an awful summer. 2012. After the first month of repeated blockages and overnight stays at the vet, we knew what had to be done.

But the vet had to follow all of the protocols in place by the surgeon (which we thought was just stupid).

One morning, I picked him up from an overnight. Took him home, the next day the same thing. The vet said “he’s been blocked for over 24 hours” and I’m like “so he was still blocked when I brought him home?” I didn’t say that, but I did mention the timeline, so all the vet had to do was the math. We almost lost him that time.

We changed his diet, he was on medication to dissolve the crystals, he got fluids, nothing we did worked.

Our vet was super, though, working on weekends (which he didn’t do), huge discounts on vet work and supplies.

So, late in October, he had the surgery. It was $3000. Taking into account all of the vet visits over the summer, the overnight stays, the catheterizations, the labwork to check organ function, it was a very expensive year.

But it was worth every cent.

I’m glad your guy pulled through.

@lisaviolet I have a feeling I was just a dumbass feeding 9 lives and lazy about the water bowl. At first. But constant reoccurrence could be genetics. Thankfully dodged that bullet so far

For any one else. I have had a drink well platinum and Pioneer pet large ceramic one for almost a decade on separate floors. They are easy to clean just soak the pump in vinegar or ascorbic acid if you have hard water. I usually dump some in for all of it. Wipes clean. Easier than a litter box

They make them for dogs but I have no experience there so

@lisaviolet @unksol I had a male cat (one of my sweetest kitties ever- Mr Bill) and he had this same surgery. He was just a few year old and he lived to be about 15 or so. I could hardly afford it at the time but it was the best investment ever!

@lisaviolet @moonhat they just cleaned the grit out of his bladder if that wasn’t clear. There was surgery. I guess they cut him open and wiped everything out. Cutting his dick off was the next/other option… And would have been needed it if happened again. And def would have been worth it. That was a full on emergency.

The ear is more quality of life… Which he also deserves. There might be a cutoff somewhere. Idk that years of kitty cancer for example would be the best idea. I really hope I never have to do that math. Not sure how that would go.

@lisaviolet @moonhat @unksol Years ago I had a cat with kitty cancer. Did the surgery. She was good to go for nearly 2 years. It came back. Did it again. Incision never healed. Then she started to be in pain all the time. Had to put her down. I could have done surgery again and more (and raided mythen emergency fund to do that) but the question would have been what kind of quality of life would she have had.

She had the cancer that the feline leukemia vaccination gives 1 cat in 20,000. This is why you now should have that given in the hind leg instead of the neck. They get the cancer and you chop off the leg. Cured. Instead when it returned it started to wrap itself around her spinal cord. Sad.

@moonhat @unksol Yeah, the way that works is the cat is sedated, they put a catheter through the penis into the bladder and flush it out.

With one of our other cats i became adept at gently rolling/squeezing the penis to loosen the mucus plug that was preventing urination (the vet showed me how, it’s not something I’d recommend doing without a vet’s okay). He finally grew out of it, thank goodness.

@lisaviolet I hope I never have a need to learn how to do a handjob from my vet. Never mind the whole barbed penis

@unksol I can honestly say that this was not the highlight of my fifty plus years of pet ownership, but it helped the cat and trips to the vet.

I’m sure we’ve done a lot of things high on other peoples’ “ick” factors, but comes a point that if you can do something about it yourself, instead of another time consuming, costly, hard on the pet, vet visit, you do it. And when you’ve got 38 cats like we had about ten years ago? Yeah. You do it. (We don’t have near that many now, we don’t want to be in a situation where something happens to us and the cats need homes, so we’re not actively taking any more in. I’m pretty sure we’ll be losing at least three by the end of this year.)

Equally yukky is trying to pinch out a small piece of dried poop that’s preventing a decent bowel movement. The twenty year old cat quite objects (besides being old, he has lower back stenosis, and squatting pains him). This is the cat who had a small tumor removed last year and we declined having it sent out and tested (the cat is twenty years old - if it was cancerous there wasn’t much we could do about it). Imagine my surprise when he was brought out to me later that day (Covid safe practicing, clients wait in their cars and communicate with the vet via phone), the tech says “the vet wanted to know since this isn’t being sent out, do you want it?”

WTF? It was the tumor in a baggie.

I took it. Took it home, took pictures of it in the bag and threw it out.

@lisaviolet pretty sure we all hit that line eventually and it moves. Girl I dated didn’t like breaking down a raw chicken. Changing diapers is gross. When I was a kid helping dad with the cars I used to freak out a little about getting greasy… I’ll roll around in oil now if it’s required to fix something

@lisaviolet @unksol

@remo28 yeah. No mites and no infection per the vet. I’m still blaming the “little” one getting in a weird kick playing. If it wasn’t blocking his entire ear i might let it ride. But he likes to sleep in his cat tree which is probably 15 feet up. And he still needs to scratch. I can’t imagine either are good things with a giant blood blister in one ear. And if it throws off balance like our inner ear does… Cats like to walk ledges

@macromeh lol nice.

No mites or infection identified so far. Probably just unlucky trama.

@dvermilion She looks like a content happy cat. She allow you to pet and hold her?

I am still feeding the ferals that my friend (the one whose house burned down and cat was killed in the fire) was feeding. Today (I go about every 5-6 days at this point as I am weaning them off of being fed) I saw one of the 9 mo old kittens in the road. I called out to her. She turned her head, looked at me and took off in a dead run across the road, through two yards and into the yard of the abandoned house she (and her sib and mom live under) where I fed her. Amazing she knows who I am since I have only seen her a couple of times. Of course two times ago one of them was sitting on a board and started meowing at me the minute I drove up.

@dvermilion it’s not life threatening and she will be fine I’m sure… Expectially if it’s already healed. Only so much you can do for strays. He is going to probably have the same issue with a wrinkled ear. There’s not A lot you can do about that once it happens. As long as there is not an underlying problem like mites or an ear infection… It is what it is

@dvermilion yeah they clip the ears for TNR here too. she’s probably fine. And cute. All mine started off as stray kittens. But it’s hard to look at him being… Uncomfortable… All day every day… Cause he’s Indoor only and always on me.

I don’t think there a way around the cauliflower ear even if you took her to the vet so I wouldn’t feel bad. Just the end result.

@dvermilion I’d agree they (strays) do seem to recognize you pretty quickly. (see my comment up higher about the ferals I am feeding).

@unksol
Awww, he wants luvins before his big day… Hugs & scratches for the little guy, you should be thankful it’s not summer! Lol…
Good luck, fingers crossed, prayers for all.

@unksol
Btw, what’s his name?

@Lynnerizer KitKat cause he’s mostly black. And my mom’s favorite candy bar. We have a winter storm warning and I had to use A4WD to get out the drive and slid past the vet on a state rode. While he is crying that he’s hungry. So. It’s going well.

@Lynnerizer and they wouldn’t give him back cause the drugs didn’t wear off so.

@Lynnerizer Hes somewhere in the vicinity if I yell long enough. Andsuppsed to give him drugs.

@Lynnerizer @unksol I’m confused - you said they wouldn’t give him back - but you’re home with him now, I assume? How is he?

@unksol
Oh jeeze, tough day! So now it’s a day and a half later, how’s your Kit Kat? When did he make it home? I think I missed something, not sure WHY you were yelling for him?
AND, how’s the weather, we only got a few inches here in Ct., just enough to make a mess and a bit dangerous for some!

@Kyeh @Lynnerizer they wouldn’t give him back when I went to get him at noon so had to go back later.

The “yelling” would be “kitty” cause he was under a couch or hiding/sleeping somewhere plus a little drugged but if you keep it up long enough or resort to yelling “treat” instead he eventually shows up. Usually.

Still looks like a dope. Finally clotted some. Then started filling up around the sutures. Vet said not to worry yet. I doubt they can take them out Friday but who knows

@Kyeh @Lynnerizer
Proof of life. Sorry don’t have today’s newspaper.

@Lynnerizer @unksol Thanks for the report! Poor kitty but it sounds like he’s going to be okay. He sure is cute with the little white splash on his nose.

@Kyeh @Lynnerizer @unksol Your poor baby.

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @Lynnerizer he’s fine. Ish. Just a little more dopey/less active than usual. The only really abnormal thing he’s doing the last few days is laying in his carrier a few feet away when I get off work instead of on me on the couch. But it’s also closer to the fireplace. And he comes to bed and follows me to work. Pretty sure he’s fine.

@Kidsandliz @Lynnerizer @unksol I’m glad; he probably doesn’t feel his best but I hope he heals fast. Is the other kitty leaving him alone?

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @Lynnerizer seems to have been… Lol. She was never “attacking” in the first place. Just wanted to play. And she “loses” what she starts anyway. if she even caused this was an accident. Might be part of why he’s using the carrier. She can’t get hyper and tackle if the only way in is the front. She’s like 2. He’s 12 lol. He wins but she starts shit.

@Kidsandliz @Lynnerizer @unksol Oh, yeah - young cats don’t quite realize that the older ones aren’t as into playing rough. What is girl-kitty called?

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @Lynnerizer coco. And yes
I’m now aware there is a perfume or whatever named that but of course there is… Dad pointed that out after. Not how I think

He was black and named for a candy bar. I like dark chocolate. She’s dark dark black Eh

Named the found one on June 21st summer.

Girlfriend had to suggest calling the one I found hanging by her dead mom bambi… Not saying I’m good at this lol

@Kidsandliz @Lynnerizer @unksol Well, I like both of those names. My cat’s name is Toby but I often call him Kitkat - and Kittyboy, and Tobykins … they always end up with nicknames. I have a friend who just called two cats he had “Big” and “Little.” I thought that was kind of lame.

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @Lynnerizer oh I call them all sorts of other things lol. They know what they did

@Kyeh @Lynnerizer @unksol I try not to name strays I don’t plan to keep. Easier to give them up. They end up with lame names as vets require names (names like Thing 1 and Thing 2, Big Boy…).

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @Lynnerizer eh. I’ve kept all but one but I’ve only had 5 in the “house”. Three came with me when I moved. Two of them died. One got out and was my fault. Was a whole month long thing 50 feet up a tree lifting food and water and trying to get her down…

Another disappeared when an asshole opened a window and left it open and a door. In winter.

KitKat is the oldest/OG Kitty. Coco is the youngest.

One had to go to the shelter and never got named someone left her in a pet’s mart cardboard box in the middle of the road at like 2AM where she could have been run over. She was very sweet and obviously a little scared… But I was only allowed two cats in the apartment and already had the three id took home as lost kittens from work.

I might be able to handle some more but there is not a big problem in the immediate area with them here since I’ve moved. See a couple here and there hunting in the field. Feed if they need it. Some neighbors have outdoor or strays. Coco was starving and friendly and she might have been prego so she got yanked and went to the vet. She must have already had them. Vet still thought she was about to. So I didn’t let her back out… Probably some dead kitties I couldn’t find but she had ribs sticking out so… Shouldn’t have been pregnant that young probably either

The shelter had ~100+ in a small place for a 10-15K person town when I helped. But they had a whole small kitten room with moms nursing litters. Take 15 with litters. Lots of kittens. Which move fast. The old ones I felt bad for