I have a 19 year old male cat who has a cyst on the side of his face that I would like to drain. It is right on the side of his jaw right where it meets the skull and has roughly 2.2ml of fluid in it. I have had this checked and the fluid tested a number of times but we are not sure why. He has IBD, renal failure, pancreatitis , and a few other things so we are not sure of the source. The vet said at this time it was okay to leave as it is because the tests have shown no change in the liquid that was drained out.
Whenever I take him to the vet I have this drained and every 3rd or 4th time have I have it tested for changes. He gets stressed out when he goes to the vet but I would still like to drain the cyst more often. Do you see any issues with doing this at home? He gets a daily sub-q and B12 injections so doing the aspiration should not be a problem but could there be an issue? Does he need to be cleaned up with a some kind of cleaner? Is there a chance of injection? What size needle would I use (20 gauge, 25 gauge)?
He doesn't seem to mind it though. He doesn't scratch at it and he still eats normally and when I massage the skin around it he shows no signs of pain or avoiding it. It can't be comfortable and I have it drained every month or so at the vet but if I could do it every second week it wouldn't be so big. It takes about two weeks to fill up and then another week to expand to its max size.
Thanks for any input on this subject, I searched but didn't find anything helpful or I missed it.
Whenever I take him to the vet I have this drained and every 3rd or 4th time have I have it tested for changes. He gets stressed out when he goes to the vet but I would still like to drain the cyst more often. Do you see any issues with doing this at home? He gets a daily sub-q and B12 injections so doing the aspiration should not be a problem but could there be an issue? Does he need to be cleaned up with a some kind of cleaner? Is there a chance of injection? What size needle would I use (20 gauge, 25 gauge)?
He doesn't seem to mind it though. He doesn't scratch at it and he still eats normally and when I massage the skin around it he shows no signs of pain or avoiding it. It can't be comfortable and I have it drained every month or so at the vet but if I could do it every second week it wouldn't be so big. It takes about two weeks to fill up and then another week to expand to its max size.
Thanks for any input on this subject, I searched but didn't find anything helpful or I missed it.