Five Out of Seven Kitties Agree

Last week we had a huge vet trip. All of my health things meant that the kitties' health maintenance got pushed to the back burner for a bit and almost everyone was overdue for their yearly shots. But I'm doing mostly better and Olive had something weird going on with her lips, so we took the most egregiously out of date kitties to the vet.

So Cocoa, Chloe, Gidget, Bitty and Olive all went to the vet. Yes, five of them. And all of them save Olive qualify as seniors, which makes for a very expensive vet trip. But who needs money when you have healthy kitties, right?

Well, except not everyone was fully healthy. All of their blood tests came back just fine, which was good, but Cocoa had a little bit of a heart murmur so we've got to schedule a cardiologist appointment for her to get an ultrasound. And Chloe needs a dental cleaning, during which time they will scope her ear because she has something in there that is either a growth or a really tenacious ball of wax. (Bitty had something similar a few years ago. It was stubborn wax. I'm pulling for that this time.)

We also came home with some antibiotic wipes for Cocoa's chin and Olive's lips (Cocoa's chin seems to be breaking out from messy drinking habits and who knows what is going on with Olive's lips but the corners are crusty and she keeps scratching them). Cocoa also got some joint supplement powder since her right hip has been bothering her more and more lately. And lastly, Olive also got some cream for a little bald spot on her head which may be ringworm.

So not a totally clean bill of health for all the babies (Gidget and Bitty did pass with flying colors), but heart murmur aside, the kitties came back good all the big stuff (like blood work). Next up, getting Chloe's teeth cleaned and figuring out the cause of Cocoa's murmur.

Disgruntled Grooming

10!

Bitty is ten years old today!

Happy birthday, Bitty!

Spot the Bitty

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There are Two Kitties in This Picture

Ear News

Yesterday was Bitty's appointment at the kitty dermatologist. I totally didn't know they had those, but yep, they do. It seems mostly dogs go to dermatology vets, but Bitty still got great treatment. In fact, the mass in her ear that we were worried could be a polyp or deep infection (or worse)? Turned out to be a mass of hardened ear wax! (There was some long, multi-syllable words that the doctor used to say what it was but ultimately it boiled down to hardened ear wax attached to ear ear.)

It took some wax-softening drops and three ear flushes to get it out, but the wax came out leaving a sparkling ear with no ear drum issues. Yay! The doctor showed us the ball o' wax after it was removed and it was HUGE. I mean, I'd think it was big if it came out of a human ear. To have come out of a five-pound kitty's ear? ENORMOUS. There was a small amount of blood on the part of the wax ball, which was what was visible, and I think that made it look non-wax enough that our regular vet was thrown off.

But yes, good news! No polyp, no billowing ear drum, no spreading of last month's tumor. Ear wax!

Of course, the bad news is that Bitty has a bit of a yeast infection in her right ear again. Dr. dermatology man said that was most likely a reaction from some environmental allergen and is why she gets ear infections all the time. So we've got some drops that she'll be on for ever and ever (if they work) to see if we can eliminate the reoccurring infections.

Not the most fun outcome - Bitty certainly doesn't handle ear drops well - but I'd much rather take regular ear dropping over all the bad things the ear wax could have been, so I think it is a good trade off.

Kitty News

Nothing resolved with Bitty yet. Her stitches are out and ear canal is no longer gunky but the bloody ball is still there and her eardrum is bowing a little. Could be a polyp, could be an infection, could be another tumor. More tests are needed to find out so we'll be doing that as soon as we find a place that has the right equipment (some sort of biopsy-taking ear scope).

In other news (though still kitty related), it was Gidget's turn to get her annual exam and shots from the vet.

At her age, the exam includes a urinalysis, but her little bladder was empty. So she's camped out at the vet today until she can piddle in a cup for them. Hopefully that won't be long! The house is sadly unfluffy without her!

ETA: Gidget is back home - official test results should be back tomorrow!

Tumor News

Just heard from the vet. The test results are in from Bitty's tumor and it was confirmed that it was a mast cell tumor. Fortunately, those are usually benign in cats and they were able to remove it entirely. We'll still need to watch for further spots, but it's not likely to be anything that requires any more treatment beyond a simple removal.

That being said, we still have to figure out what is going on in her left ear canal with the goop and the blood. There are a few possibilities but the one we are leaning towards is just a bad infection that will take longer to clear up than the one in her right ear. There is still a slim chance it could be another tumor.

Bitty goes back Tuesday to have her sutures out and she'll get her ear canal checked out then. We are washing her ear with medicine daily so hopefully that will clear everything up. Fingers crossed that next week we'll have a cone-free, fully healthy Bitty!

Cone of Shame

Bitty is slowly recovering from the surgery that removed the mast cell tumor on her ear. She's on pain medication so she's a bit loopy, but she's no longer hiding under the bed all the time, which is a good thing. In fact, right now she's on top of the bed, napping with Dan.

The pain medication does make her sleepy but the cone is the biggest problem right now. It's to keep her from scratching her stitches out but it's also making it difficult for her to fit her face into the food bowl. We've tested a few different solutions out and think we've hit upon something that works - a huge bowl piled high with food. Doing it this way means she can eat fairly easily but it also means that she ends up frequently turning her cone into a shovel and dumping food all over the place. Sam and Chloe are really enjoying cleaning up after her.

The ear visible in the picture above is the ear that had the tumor. It actually looks really good - the vet did a great job! The bottom of the ear is a little higher than the other ear but I think that once the hair grows in the difference will be almost invisible.

We should find out the biopsy results next week so keep an eye out for that (hopefully good) news!

Bitty Update

Bitty had surgery today to remove the mast cell tumor on the back of her ear. I just got off the phone with the vet and Bitty came through the surgery great.

There is a concern that one of her ears (the one that had the mass) had goop and blood in the ear canal, though. That's from one of three things: excess scratching of that ear (possible since the tumor gave of histamines that made her ear extra itchy), not being 100% over her previous ear infection, or the tumor has metastasized. We'll find out about the infection by this afternoon and we'll know if the tumor was, in fact, a tumor in 5-7 days.

Fingers crossed for either an itchy ear or infection! She gets to come home this evening, though, so that's always good news. She'll also have to wear a little cone. Poor Bitty. She's going to be so cute.

Tiny Bitty News

Just got back from the vet. Bitty has ear infections in both ears.

And a tumor. Specifically a mast cell tumor.

We will be scheduling surgery to remove the tumor and have it tested soon. Then we will see where we need to go from there.

Toothlessness

Cocoa has started a trend. Five years ago, she ended up having all of her teeth removed because of stomatitis. Then this summer Bitty managed to have ten bad teeth that needed removing, leaving her with just her very front teeth (and not even all of those). She's not totally toothless, but most of the teeth she does have are the tiny little front ones so her "real" teeth count is two.

This has apparently made Gidget think that all the cool kitties were going toothless. This summer she only had two teeth removed and that apparently wasn't enough for her. A few months ago, she had another tooth removed. And Friday, she had her three remaining molars removed. She now matches Bitty fairly closely - all of her remaining teeth are at the very front (though she has one more "real" tooth than Bitty does).

Yep, the dental drama has not ended. Well, hopefully it will be over in a month after her recheck appointment. When we got back from vacation, Gidget was still air-chewing and started pawing some again. I was worried it was an ear infection or something non-dental that we were missing because we were doing dental-related hunting so we went to our regular vet and nope, still tooth-al. We thought we needed to remove two teeth but turns out three had "undergone root changes".

The good news is that if something has happened that has made Gidget's teeth go bad one by one, she only had a handful left to go bad. She's got so few teeth left, if we have to do another surgery I think Gidget will be sporting the toothless look, just like Cocoa.

Finally! Some Good News!

Bitty had a vet appointment yesterday because we discovered a lump in her back Wednesday night. Both Happy and Chloe have had similar lumps that turned out to be fat lumps, but they still had to be surgically removed and biopsied before we were sure they were safe. So I figured, best case scenario, Bitty's lump would be the same thing.

But the best case scenario was even better than that! Turns out the lump is a sebaceous cyst, basically a pimple-like bump that will fill back up if popped. They can be surgically removed but it isn't necessary unless it becomes uncomfortable or aesthetically unpleasant.

So yay! Good news, finally! I hope this means that the difficult weeks (months) we've been having are turning around. But even if they aren't, I'm happy the Bitty lump isn't a bad thing!

Missing Pieces

Gidget and Bitty are back from the dentist, doped up and either happily (Gidget) or grumpily (Bitty) stoned.

Of course, I don't blame Bitty for being grumpy - she had a lot of work done. Of course, I don't blame Gidget for being happy, either - they are on the good stuff! But it's well deserved. Gidget only had two teeth removed. Bitty, on the other hand...

See all those X's? Those are the teeth that she had removed today. (The O's indicate missing teeth.)

That's right, she had ten extractions. Ten! Poor kitty - she was already missing nine teeth and cats only start out with something like 30 teeth. She's got only eleven left now, most of which are the tiny little teeth in the front of her mouth.

See, no wonder she's grumpy, even in her stoned state.

Gidgie had a much easier time with her two extractions (added to her previously missing nine teeth) so the pain meds are doing a lot better killing all of her pain. She's a pretty happy camper right now!

Hopefully we'll be able to say the same about Bitty in a day or two. Poor kitty!