- Joined
- Apr 2, 2006
- Messages
- 11,419
My Squeaky is 17 years old. He''s a gray and white tuxedo cat, a wonderful cat who seems to have two goals in life: to spend as much time as he can outside, and to spend as much time as he can snuggled up next to some cat or person that he loves. For the first 10 years or so of his life his favorite snuggle up subject was my cat Sourpuss. At night Squeaky would hop on the bed and "say hi" to me, but as soon as Sourpuss got on the bed he''s get next to her, and she''d groom him a bit (he sometimes returned the favor, but I think he was the kitten to her momma cat even though they were not related). Then he''d fall asleep curled up next to her, usually with his paw resting on her face. When Sourpuss passed away at the ripe old age of 21 I eventually got another cat, hoping she would be a companion to Squeaky.... Unfortunatly Maya didn''t see it that way, so now Squeaky likes to curl up next to me. He''s also a very sweet cat -- he doesn''t try to get away even when he knows he''s in for something he''s not too crazy about, like a trip in his carrier, and he''s never lash out at me for anything, even getting his nails clipped or being pilled.
Anyway, around the holidays I noticed some wax build-up in Squeaky''s ears, and noticed that he was shaking his head a lot. I thought, "ear mites!" and started treating him with some leftover prescription miticide. It seemed to help for awhile, but then the problem returned and I turned to over-the-counter medicine.
Mind you, I did check with my reference book. It said don''t treat with miticide until you verify that mites are causing the problem. And eventually I did get out the scopes and look for mites. The problem is that I really didn''t have a good idea what to look for (I knew I wasn''t going to see anything like that 300X magnification drawing of a monster mite shown in the book!) so I sort of guessed rather than checking with the vet.
A week or so later I got really concerned when I noticed what seemed to be some peeling/flaking skin, and hair loss, in the area where I was treating him. I called the next morning (a Saturday) but wasn''t able to get an appointment with my regular vet, so I took Squeaky to a local verterinary hospital for a diagnosis and treatment.
The veterinarian that saw him wasn''t sure what the problem was except that it wasn''t mites. They gave me drops that were supposed to treat any possible condition (mites, bacteria, or fungus) and liquid to irrigate his ears with twice a week so the medicine could penetrate. Squeaky put up with the treatments. Not willingly, but he didn''t try to inflict any bodily harm on the treater!
After two weeks Squeaky wasn''t in obvious distress like before, but he also wasn''t back to his old self. More disturbingly, it looked like his balance was being affected by his ear condition. So I took him back for a follow-up visit last week. The vet determined that the parts of the ear that I couldn''t see were still plugged with wax which in effect kept the medicine from working, so now we''re using stronger drops and an oral antibiotic.
It goes without saying that this is costing a bit and Squeaky isn''t too happy with the treatments. More importantly, I''m afraid that this may have affected Squeaky''s hearing.
It''s hard to tell because his hearing was getting pretty selective anyway -- even the best cat has to rebel in some way, I suppose -- but I think this is the real thing. And if that''s the case, I''m going to have to severely limit his outside time... make him an indoor cat that''s allowed short trips outdoors only when I''m around to keep an eye on him.
I''m going to take him back to the regular vet this weekend as a way of getting a second opinion on the treatment, and of course I''m going to continue the treatment until then and hope for the best. But I''m afraid not getting Squeaky to the vet earlier may have some serious consequences...
Anyway, around the holidays I noticed some wax build-up in Squeaky''s ears, and noticed that he was shaking his head a lot. I thought, "ear mites!" and started treating him with some leftover prescription miticide. It seemed to help for awhile, but then the problem returned and I turned to over-the-counter medicine.
Mind you, I did check with my reference book. It said don''t treat with miticide until you verify that mites are causing the problem. And eventually I did get out the scopes and look for mites. The problem is that I really didn''t have a good idea what to look for (I knew I wasn''t going to see anything like that 300X magnification drawing of a monster mite shown in the book!) so I sort of guessed rather than checking with the vet.
A week or so later I got really concerned when I noticed what seemed to be some peeling/flaking skin, and hair loss, in the area where I was treating him. I called the next morning (a Saturday) but wasn''t able to get an appointment with my regular vet, so I took Squeaky to a local verterinary hospital for a diagnosis and treatment.
The veterinarian that saw him wasn''t sure what the problem was except that it wasn''t mites. They gave me drops that were supposed to treat any possible condition (mites, bacteria, or fungus) and liquid to irrigate his ears with twice a week so the medicine could penetrate. Squeaky put up with the treatments. Not willingly, but he didn''t try to inflict any bodily harm on the treater!
After two weeks Squeaky wasn''t in obvious distress like before, but he also wasn''t back to his old self. More disturbingly, it looked like his balance was being affected by his ear condition. So I took him back for a follow-up visit last week. The vet determined that the parts of the ear that I couldn''t see were still plugged with wax which in effect kept the medicine from working, so now we''re using stronger drops and an oral antibiotic.
It goes without saying that this is costing a bit and Squeaky isn''t too happy with the treatments. More importantly, I''m afraid that this may have affected Squeaky''s hearing.
I''m going to take him back to the regular vet this weekend as a way of getting a second opinion on the treatment, and of course I''m going to continue the treatment until then and hope for the best. But I''m afraid not getting Squeaky to the vet earlier may have some serious consequences...
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