Vance is in trouble! :(

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-05-2004
Vance is in trouble! :(
5
Wed, 01-26-2005 - 5:38pm

Vance has a lump on his back. At first I thought it was a hive. He's very allergic to fleas. His fur will fall house, skin will get flakey and dry, he'll lose weight and develope hives if he's only bitten once. Within a couple months it can become life threatening so he's an inside cat only now (we found him on death's door and found out about his allergy and decided to keep him in our famly after that). We did adopt a dog in August. He's a great dog and I don't think he's brought any fleas home, but you never know...

This lump is different though. Instead of it looking like a hive, in 2 weeks I've been keeping an eye on it, it's been getting bigger. At first, I wasn't sure if it was a hive, or if he had been wrestling with his "brother" Shayde (our other cat) and things had gotten out of hand and he had a little scab from a claw puncture. Well, it's now 3 times it's original size!

I'm taking all the pets into the vet tonight. I'm hoping that Clydas didn't bring home ringworm or something from meeting another dog or brushing up against something at a pet store. He goes everywhere with us.

We're also moving into a condo this weekend. YEah! But I want to make sure everyone is okay and not bringing any contagious stuff in we don't know about. As it is we'll be exposing them to new tile, carpeting, paint and construction dust and what not. Right now, we live with really slobby roommates and the cats are exposed to some horrible mold, etc.

Anyone have experience with this or any research to share? My vet is great, but I love goint in heavily armed with info to any encounter like this.

Also - Shayde has brown patches of discoloration in his eyes. They are flat, but have gotten bigger as he's gotten older. Any ideas?
Thanks!

- J. Darling

Singehttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v244/JDarling/Headshots/Picture001.jpgr, Songwriter, Author for Celebr

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-01-2003
Wed, 01-26-2005 - 5:53pm
Please let us know!!


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iVillage Member
Registered: 01-05-2004
Wed, 01-26-2005 - 6:14pm

Will do...
I've been reading all I can find out about ring worm in cats and I'm really HOPING this isn't it! But it really wouldn't surprise me if it was some fungal infection, with all the mold they've been exposed to (lousy roomies won't clean!!!! There's a leak under the sink that's been there for over 1/2 a year! We found it after the wood of the cabinet was complete saturated and the carpeting on the OTHER side of the wood work, about 3 feet into the dining room. There is mold in the carpet, black mold under the sink... and there's even mold in the POT the landlord (who lives with us) put under the sink to "fix" the leak! I know the cats get under that sink and drink the water and since the mold is in the carpet, they are constantly exposed. They were sneezing a lot before I got sick of it and ripped up the contact paper where the black mold was growing!)

~Jay

- J. Darling

Singehttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v244/JDarling/Headshots/Picture001.jpgr, Songwriter, Author for Celebr

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-29-2003
Wed, 01-26-2005 - 6:50pm

My thoughts are:

If you have taken the cat to the vet recently for shots, it could be that the vaccine has "built up" in the place where the shot was. This happened to my Amber once several years ago. I just had to take her back and they gave her another injection of something to get it to disperse or whatever.

The lump could be an infection. Amber's cheek swelled up like a ballon one time. Naturally, it freaked me out and she gotten taken to the vet. They had to stick it with a needle to see if was solid or fluid and luckily, it was built up fluid from infection. They think she scratched her ear and actually scratched herself and the scratch in turn, got in infected. I didn't notice anything was wrong with her until she came up to me, pleading to me for help. And let me tell ya, trying to give her a liquid antibiotic WAS NOT FUN. My dad had to hold her down while I stuck the syringe in her mouth and squirted the antibiotic down her throat. Coincidently or not, she's never had any type of infection since and she's an outdoor cat. lol

Are the brown spots on the skin? Are they scabby? Are they oozing? Is the fur thin around the eyes? Amber has thin spots right before her ears on her head and because of this, she has brown freckles. They are harmless as they are simply just freckles and apparently, it's not uncommon in cats for this to happen.

Let us know what the vet says!

Michelle

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-06-2004
Thu, 01-27-2005 - 9:05am
I would make sure it isn't one of the problems you can get in the vaccine site. Also, it could be an absess that needs meds or drained from a cat bite or a claw. You are doing the right thing by taking your cat for a checkup on this. Also, with ringworm there is the losing of hair and scratching the area. Donna
Avatar for cl_lcni
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
Thu, 01-27-2005 - 11:25am

It's hard to say what the lump on Vance's back is.


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