07/01/2025
Shaggy was someone’s cat.
Yet we have racked up almost $5000 on her since intake last year.
Found as a stray, she arrived here with nasty, oozing, bloody ears.
We suspected ear polyps.
Those can be surgically removed.
We thought we were in the clear.
But the growth in her right ear returned with a vengeance.
And our primary vet felt she needed a TECA-BO.
(Huh? Never heard of it, will get to that.)
He is highly capable and has done some other weirdo surgical procedures for us with great success.
But this was removing her whole ear canal: total ear canal ablation.
Fortunately we have another seasoned vet here in GR who can do these, and for a half to a third of other Michigan vets we had been referred to.
Why would she need her whole ear canal removed? And won’t that mean she is deaf in that ear?
In somewhat rare cases, masses grow in the ear, trap infection behind them, and will keep returning. They are extremely painful. They can be cancerous. We had a CT scan done as well as chest x rays, and no signs of cancer showed up. So we moved forward with the surgery to remove her ear canal a few weeks ago. A biopsy was also checked; negative for cancerous cells 🤲.
As we mentioned, this was someone’s cat for possibly a good portion of her life.
But the chip’s THREE registered numbers all led nowhere. We really tried. And the last we could find was the owner was from New York. How she ended up outside last winter here in MI, we’ve no clue.
When all else fails, we will not fail these cats.
Shaggy is an otherwise healthy 12-13 year old cat. She is adjusting to life without hearing in her right ear, although we suspect she couldn’t hear anyway from the growth and deep infection. Her forever foster is doting on her.
The $2,500 does not include the CT scan or her prior surgery at a different vet. Those have been paid. Getting even half of this bill covered would be a huge relief…..
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