Is Ear Cancer Fatal?

[bugmankeith]

I have some sad news, I had to put my 16 year old cat to sleep last week.

She had been unable to walk using her back legs and her eyes remained dilated and blind. Although she ate when we placed food unde her she mainly hid in a dark corner for a week and that’s when we brought her to the vet. He thought she might have had a stroke, and on top of this had moderate kidney disease, the start of diabetes, a heart murmur and enlarged heart laying sideways, liver issues, and growths in the ear and chronic ear infections and bleeding, plus trouble defecating.

We put her to sleep because we felt quality of life wasn’t going to improve, and any surgery she might not make it.

We got a biopsy of her ear growths after and found out they were adenocarcinoma ear cancer.

Upon reading it said they can cause neurological signs from sitting on nerves or growing in sinus or head cavity and even in throat or lungs. I wonder if they caused they blindness and trouble walking, but still, even with surgery if anesthesia didn’t kill her, would these have spread? She had multiples in each ear that bled daily and were large and fleshy.

 

[Antonio65]

Hi B bugmankeith ,
I'm sorry for your loss.
I've never had direct experience of ear cancer, I might presume your cat had white coat or she had white ears.
This is usually the main reason why cats get this kind of cancer from exposing to the sunlight.
My cat is mainly white with grey patches, but her ears are white. My vet warned me about the risk for my cat to getting ear cancer if she was exposed to direct sunlight without a sunscreen protection. My cat had already some signs of skin damages or alterations and my vet told me they might have been the beginning of something bad.
I started rubbing her ears with sun cream with 50+ sun factor. I'd been doing this for about 10 years. Last year I stopped dong this because I thought that licking the cream away had given her hyperthyroidism.

I have seen cats with their ears removed because eroded by cancer.
I had been told that it can spread to the rest of the body, but I don't know if it could go down to inner organs.

I'm deeply sorry for your loss

 

[Blakeney Green]

Ear cancer may or may not spread. It depends on the aggressiveness of the cancer.

That said, with the sheer amount of your cat's medical issues, odds of meaningful recovery were probably low to nonexistent. Unfortunately putting her to sleep under these circumstances was the kinder choice. I'm sorry for your loss. It sounds like you did right by her, though.

 

[bugmankeith]

Hi B bugmankeith ,
I'm sorry for your loss.
I've never had direct experience of ear cancer, I might presume your cat had white coat or she had white ears.
This is usually the main reason why cats get this kind of cancer from exposing to the sunlight.
My cat is mainly white with grey patches, but her ears are white. My vet warned me about the risk for my cat to getting ear cancer if she was exposed to direct sunlight without a sunscreen protection. My cat had already some signs of skin damages or alterations and my vet told me they might have been the beginning of something bad.
I started rubbing her ears with sun cream with 50+ sun factor. I'd been doing this for about 10 years. Last year I stopped dong this because I thought that licking the cream away had given her hyperthyroidism.

I have seen cats with their ears removed because eroded by cancer.
I had been told that it can spread to the rest of the body, but I don't know if it could go down to inner organs.

I'm deeply sorry for your loss

Actually she was dark gray all over, no white anywhere. Did have ear mites when younger and chronic ear infections

 

[Docs Mom]

My Mikey had a polyp partially removed, the path report came back as adenocarcinoma. 6 months later it had spread from her ear down the side of her throat. It was a long journey, no one would do surgery because of where it was now located. We had to let her go when she could no longer eat. Also she was wasting away from the cancer.

So yes, you spared your kitty having to deal with that alongside her other problems.

I'm sorry for your loss...

 

[bugmankeith]

My Mikey had a polyp partially removed, the path report came back as adenocarcinoma. 6 months later it had spread from her ear down the side of her throat. It was a long journey, no one would do surgery because of where it was now located. We had to let her go when she could no longer eat. Also she was wasting away from the cancer.

So yes, you spared your kitty having to deal with that alongside her other problems.

I'm sorry for your loss...

I feel better knowing this, I had no idea it could spread to other areas, I’m sorry about your cat

 

[Docs Mom]

Thank you, Mikey was quite the kitty. She & I fought it hard, but in the end the cancer won.
Incidentally, this is NOT a skin cancer. But the earmites and infections bothered her, her entire life, like your kitty. That is the culprit I think.


Hugs and good thoughts coming your way...