Hi -
Sorry for the quite long and depressing almost first post, but I'm quite nervous about Wednesday for my poor kitty!
After over 4 years of drama with my (adopted) poor kitty's face I'm booking him in for GA and a skin biopsy on Wednesday to hopefully solve the mystery.
over the years he has been a mystery to the various vets and myself, and have had all sorts of diagnosis - - ulceritive glossitis, severe gingivitius stomatis, ear mites, self harm, allergies, tongue ulcers, rodent ulcers, stress, feline acne, feline calcivirus, unlikely to be flv, (I'm sure I'm forgetting some!) etc... we have also had paw biting issues (always in conjunction with outbreaks on the face).
these poor outbreaks range from just scabs from scratching, to swelling of the tongue, to the lips (side or front), chin pad etc. Ears have been scabbed up and over, and the one time i tried to put an elizabethian collar on him to stop the scratching he shook his head so much that a scab formed on the top of his ear and now he is permanently missing tiny section of it.
it always starts off quite small, and then he just itches and scratches until it is bleeding and scabbed over. Doesn't tend to scratch at the lumps, but they do make him a bit mopey.
it has never ever been the same thing twice.
besides his face/ears/eyes he seems perfectly healthy, but we seem to make a trip to the vet every 4-8 weeks for a shot of depo medrol. once the scratching is gone, the fur comes back really quickly and you can barely tell anything was wrong.
I've been told no food after six, no water after 10, and in to the vet by 830am.
Is there anything else I should know, be prepared about?
Last time he went under was a few years ago, and that was for a scale/polish on his teeth with a possible extraction due to gingivitus - and came out with just his front fangs! (teeth were so bad that only a few molars were left and the rest had just fallen away!)
vet doesn't think that whatever is wrong with him is contagious as he has had it on and off since adoption, and his new girlfriend (since September) doesn't have any sort of symptoms of anything. Dog is also non affected as well.
We aren't too sure of his background - told he was 4 when we adopted him and that he had always been an indoor cat. Vet is unsure of his actual age due to lack of teeth.
Him and his girlf are currently indoor cats, though they do get some supervised outside access on light nights. house has feliway activated (though hasn't made a difference in frequency of vet visits), neutered, up to date with jabs, fed a relatively high quality diet and gets tons of attention and stimulation. also has a very adoring fan in the shape of the dog.
anyone have any comments or things I could ask the vet about? It is a multiple vet practice, so many people have seen him over the years, and they just seem to give him a shot and say to come back when it has worn off
thanks for all your help and for reading all this babble!
