Weird situation with vet

[Sunshineonleith111]

I'm not quite sure what to do about this.

Several weeks ago our cat came home with a sore ear, wouldn't let us touch it etc. He beats up other cats fights a lot so we gave it a week and then took him to the vets. There began four weeks of mite cream, steroids, antibiotics, etc. Nothing improved it. They didn't know what it was.

They suggested an exploratory operation and he needed to have a tooth out so we suggested they combine the two ops which they did.

So by this point we have spent £600 on the op, the appointments and the treatments. We claim it back on insurance. All fine. We have £3k per condition and the dental was the lion's share () so all ok.

During the operation they discover a "mass" of tissue and they do a biopsy. Comes back negative for cancer but as just "dead tissue" so quite inconclusive. They don't know what it is. He goes onto strong steroids and new antibiotics. I should say that he is quite fat and that we love him very much, and that he's not old, and is in good health.

We see the vets again and there is no improvement so they refer him to a specialist. We're still on the insurance for the ear and have only (?!) spend several hundred.

We the specialist (£389) who says he thinks the initial vets biopsied the wrong part and that he suspects there is a cancer surrounded by this "dead tissue". He recommends a ct scan (£2000 ) with video scope (£1500) and a further biopsy. I agree because I am and also what can you do? I have no idea whether any of it is necessary or not. However the specialist clinic does have a Starbucks inside. 🤔

Just got results from all this today and it is ...

Thrush. In the ear.

No tumour. And we're now quite a bit out of pocket (id say almost 2k) and have the equivalent of cat canesten. Anyone know if this should've been checked for? Should I try and claim back the first botched biopsy? Did they see me coming?

Look on the bright side: at least the cat can be treated for the problem!

I know. I am so grateful. But also have a £2,000 thrush treatment?!

Vets do a lot of unneccessary tests i find, lots of experience here
Surely thrush should hve been easy to diagnose,and if the wrong part was biopsied you shouldnt have to pay for that imo

Vet here. Never diagnosed thrush in a cat’s ear in many years of work so it’s not common. If a specialist suggested CT and scope I would imagine it wasn’t obvious hence it’s not unreasonable for your usual vet not to have reached a diagnosis.

As far as biopsying the ‘wrong’ part goes, hindsight is a wonderful thing. Unless you take the whole mass away sometimes a small part of the lump isn’t representative. It’s not always possible to know this until the pathologist looks at the lab.

I can understand your frustration but it doesn’t sound from what you’ve said as though your vet has done anything wrong or done anything unnecessary.

That's so good to know, honestly, thank you. I feel relieved I've not been fleeced and way happier to pay. Is it really that uncommon? He's now on steroids and drops but they say if they can't get it under control they will take out the inner ear!

Ouch!
Yeast infections in the ear are fairly common in humans but I guess it’s harder to diagnose in an animal.

Ear infections can be persistent. Yeast infections are common in animals with tight ear canals. They usually recommend removing the inner ear and leave a large opening so the ear can dry itself out.

But.
Your cat has a bad tooth. A bad tooth can cause or aggravate an ear infection on that side. So if it were me, I'd have the tooth removed and give him plenty of time to recover from that surgery before you have the very drastic surgery on his ear.

Interesting. He's actually had almost all his teeth removed but they don't think that is causing all this dead tissue in his ear. His ear is full of it; the bit by the ear drum totally closed over with white tissue. Tooth stuff was v early feline absorption - we only did it because we wanted to combine the two.

Update, the thrush stuff doesn't seem to be working

Is it definitely thrush? I can generally smell it when the horse has it in his hoof.

Wow sunshine! Speak to the insurers and see what they say.

Not really the same but my dad (definitely human not feline last time I checked) had thrush in his ear and it took absolute ages to shift. Canesten stuff didn’t work so GP then had to give him a stronger anti-fungal thing which burned so badly he also needed painkillers to tolerate using it! So stick with it; thrush is stubborn. I can ask dad what the burn-your-ear-off medication was if you like (as it did also get rid of the thrush at last!)?

Well I would feel as if I had been cheetah'd after that.