Snowball is a
fluffy female cat ten years of age. Can you
guess what color she might be? I ask the
question because it is relevant to my
thoughts as to what might be causing her
problem. Perhaps I should share with you
that very problem.
According to Tamara, Snowball’s house
servant (Tamara’s words), Snowball has a
problem with her left ear. Her problem
initially started with some
crusting/scabbing on the tip edge of her
left ear. Tamara says she used to be able
to rub off the crusts leaving an area of
slightly reddened skin behind. Overtime
however, the crusting has spread down toward
the ear base and the very tip edge now seems
to be eroding. Tamara has tried treating
with Neosporin, vitamin E oil and cortisone
cream with no perceptible improvement.
I
am sure that most of you realize that
Snowball needs to see her veterinarian. It
is my suspicion that there is no over the
counter remedy for what is causing the skin
lesion on Snowball’s ear. During that visit
I can envision a few diagnostic steps to
help arrive at the underlying cause.
The first step is fairly noninvasive. This
procedure is termed a skin scrape and is
accomplished using a scalpel blade edge
scraped across the effected skin and
harvesting the material onto a microscope
slide for examination under a microscope.
This can show the cells involved with the
lesion as well as possible skin parasites
that may be causing the problem. Another
quick and easy test is a culture for the
fungus that causes ringworm, a possible
cause of the problem. This involves removal
of a few hairs from around the lesion area
and placing them on a special culture medium
to try to grow the fungus that causes
ringworm. I suspect these tests in
Snowball’s case will all be negative. In
other words, they will not reveal the cause
of her skin problem. This information is
valuable even though it does not give us the
answer primarily because we can now rule out
these conditions.
My
suspicion is that Snowball has a type of
cancer called squamous cell carcinoma. This
type of cancer is particularly aggressive
and depending on the location can quickly
lead to death. In cats this is especially
true if it occurs in the mouth although
squamous cell carcinoma of the ear can erode
away the entire ear then spread to the rest
of the head. Fortunately in Snowball’s
case, the lesions are or at least were on
the edge of the ear tip. Tamara did note
progression so I am not sure as to the
extent of the lesions currently.
To
definitively diagnose Snowball’s ear problem
we will need a biopsy sent in to the
pathologist. If the problem is indeed
squamous cell carcinoma, all is not lost.
Because of the location and assuming it has
not progressed too far toward the base of
the ear, it may be entirely curable. The
cure will involve resection of part of the
ear including visibly healthy tissue as a
margin from the tumor. Snowball may not
appreciate her reflection in the mirror as
much as before surgery but it is a small
price to pay for the rest of your life.
I
mentioned earlier that Snowball’s coat color
may be playing a role in her disease. This
is because white cats, yes, you were right,
Snowball is a white cat; show a higher
incidence for squamous cell carcinoma.
Another curious point is that outdoor cats
are far more at risk for this disease than
those living indoors. This is because of
increased sun exposure. Snowball however is
an indoor cat thus providing yet another
illustration that there are few absolutes.