My poor little guy has a hematoma in his ear.. i believe- i have not gotten him to the vet but w/all the research i have done online i have come to the conclusion that this is what it is... I saw that it looked funny on sunday night but paid no attention to it since he was acting normal and thought maybe he just slept on it funny or it was itchy... well this is what it looks like today-- My heart is broken that i let it go THIS LONG w/out noticing! *bad kitty momma*
You can see in the ear towards the front and top the big bubble in his ear! It is painful for me to touch but he still responds to sound w/his ear and twitches it a bit from it hurting and itching I believe. My kitty doesn't have ear mites... He has had a problem w/chronic bacterial infections w/his ears... the vet gave me some stuff and showed me online where to order it from and that doesn't seem to help much- the thing that helped the most was the antibiotic injection he got there... poor baby- i wish i could just make it all go away for him! the internet says that his ear will go down (swelling) and it wont affect anything but how his ear looks- he'll have califlower ear and it will be deformed... *sniff* but how i love him anyways! I wish i could have prevented this but from what i have read it is from itching too much (which he does all the time) and from shaking their head too hard and too much (again one of his favorite past times) or from some sort of trauma... which i do not see any marks from a bite or anything else so i have ruled that out myself... *sniff* i'm so upset about this! Anyone know of anything that works really well on chronic ear infections for kitties?! Any advice is appreciated...
*sorry for the typos... for some reason my spell check thing isn't working?*
and i'm trying to get him in to see the vet on friday- already called and they are booked for tomorrow and i am 10th! on the cancellation list! hopefully they sense the urgency in my voice and call me!

there's nothing you can do to help w/o vet intervention. You can allow the thing to go away on its own...but its very painful to the cat and i don't recommend it. The hematoma has to be drained, opened and sutured in a fashion it doesn't allow to reform. The ear infection needs to be addressed. if the stuff your vet gave you isn't helping the infection, you may need to do a culture and sensitvity on what is in the ear. If the meds aren't working its time to figure out what that bacterial infection is resistant too and get the appropriate meds for it. The longer you wait, the worse it will be. If you can't get into your normal vet, maybe you need to look at another place. Also if the ear infections isn't clearing up...maybe its time to talk to your vet to see what else might be next. I would definately recommend a culture and sensitivity but that being said there maybe other things going on. If the ear infection is chronic, it may be due to allergies or it maybe to a deep inner ear infection that is not resolving because it is resistant to the meds you are using or its a deep seated infection. There may be polyps in your cats ear that are preventing the meds from working properly Hope that helps you out..fyi...i am a veterinarian.

It breaks my heart that he is going through this and THANK YOU for your advice! I can't get him in til wednesday but the vet tech i talked to said that i should try draining it myself w/a syringe (mom is diabetic so we do have them) but omg i don't think i will be able to do it! Also it risks infection and who knows what else. I have called the vet about his constant itching in his ears and they keep telling me to treat for ear mites... he doesn't have them! He itches so hard that he cries while he is itching- he LOVES when you pinch (lightly) the bottom of his ears... he likes to try to help you itch them while you do it and if you're not careful he'll dig your hand open. I was told by a doctor (people dr) that he most likely has allergies... i've tried changing his food and everything else- i had some blue ear wash that i used once a week on him but it didn't help besides making his ears really clean. I get so upset about the whole thing! I need to find a different vet-- the guy i go to is a jerk... no bedside manners! he flips, twists, slides, and basically man handles my cats... I got so upset w/him i actually took my cat from his hands and left before! He is seriously such a jerk-- acts like he doesnt even care to be there and is only there for the money- ugh... thank you again for your advice I will call the other vets in my area and see if i can get him in sooner! It sounds like it will be expensive and i don't have much money-- but I will find it for my baby... there's not many vets around here that will do the "bill me" method-- now i feel absolutely horrible for not noticing it sooner and making him live w/it this long... hopefully this will be my only bad furbaby mamma incident ever!

SOOO I took him to the vet and the vet didn't do a D@MN THING ABOUT IT! He didn't drain it, cut it, nothing!!! barely looked at it! We did find out that he has a minor ear infection so he is on drops 2x's a day for 10 days! (btw my cat HATES me this week!) He told me that the hematoma will go down by itself and to not worry about it. But now the thing is WORSE! It has just about closed his ear up, you can not see in his ear and now i have to basically shove the tip of the ear dropper through so they can get into his ear! His WHOLE ear is a hematoma now... idk what to do at this point- I am calling the vet in the morning and raising H3LL! I am very upset about this! I paid over 100 dollars to have nothing (ok so not really nothing done but nothing for the hematoma) done!?!

Oh the poor kitty!! I had a bad vet once also so I know where you are coming from.


I thought if hematomas were not taken care of immediately that they could cause disfigurement to the cats ear...the vet should def have taken care of this.

I hope you manage to find a caring vet who will treat your kitty properly! *hug*

Oh, and you are not a bad kitty momma!

UPDATE: I called the vet again and told them this is NOT RIGHT his whole ear is swollen now and I can't even see into his ear!! He told me the only option now is surgery and he was hoping it would get better on it's own. I remember him telling me that he'd seen much much worse hematomas... well i can't imagine much worse than this... I drop him off between 730 and 800 in the morning tomorrow... *sniff*sniff* He gets surgery in the morning and I will find out how he is doing around 2pm... I feel like I'm going to have a heart attack b/c the last time I had a kitty in the vet for surgery... he died 5 weeks later *my heart is still broken*, well last one before satan got fixed... but satan did super w/his surgery to get fixed... So that's what I'm holding onto-- he is very healthy (besides this and itchy ears) so HE WILL BE FINE!! *praying hard* anywho... I must go pick up the food so he can't eat anymore tonight...nothing but water for the rest of the night....

Here are a few pics of what it looks like today!
Surgery in less than 8 hours...

Good luck for your furbaby. I will say a prayer for him.

Satan did EXCELLENT during surgery and after!! SO RELIEVED! But boy is he maaaddd at me! He has to wear the E-collar *cone thing* for 14 DAYS! he's already getting use to it but hates it!!
THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRAYERS!
Here are some pics:

Hi there! So glad that your kitty is doing better. He really gives you the hairy eyeball in photo 2! So NOT impressed, is he...



Kira

ps you are a great fur mommy, because you got this sorted out. I know people who would just let things go...

awww thanks! And yes he has been looking at me like he's thinking: "I will get even!! You're in for it" lol He's doing great today. I got nervous b/c the vet gave me Metacam for him and i researched it and i found a bunch of stuff about how it kills cats! I panicked! it turns out it's the same stuff I take! mobic! but for cats... I called the vet and he had already been treated w/it after surgery so if there was going to be a reaction it would have happened already... so i gave it to him... but i am definitely keeping a close eye on him! Thanks for all the prayers and hopes and wishes!

So Satan had to have surgery again!! He had it done Tuesday night. He is doing fine now but his ear is mangled! BUT the vet charged me for the surgery!! He failed at the first one!! So that annoyed me but he is fixed and hopefully it works this time! Poor baby has been torture this last two weeks!! I feel so bad for him...

Poor baby! He's such a cutie pie!

UPDATE: if anyone is interested. Satan's ear got infected after his surgery. His hematoma is healed, i think. But now he is on an antibiotic. One more thing to make him hate me! But i'm glad to give it to him since his ear stinks so bad that it smells up my whole basement!!!! it's unbearable!

UPDATE: Satan's ear is healing great! he got his stitches out on the 14th and we found out he has a double bacterial infection in his ears and his surgery sites were still infected so... a steroid and antibiotic injection and 25 dollar ear ointment later he is doing great-- we go back the 28th to see how his infections are doing and if they're gone he can get the collar off!! poor baby has had it on since the beginning of JUNE!! needless to say he's dirty and can't clean himself up b/c he can't lick anywhere! but i'm glad to report that he is doing excellent, two surgeries later and countless dollars...I'm so happy he is better tho-- and how cute is he w/the floppy ear!! LOVE HIM!