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Some backstory for context: My 12-year-old cat Lulu has a recurring abscess under/next to her tail that keeps coming back despite repeated treatment. Last November around Thanksgiving she started acting very strange and lethargic and would growl and scratch me whenever I picked her up. I took her to the vet, he took X-rays and thought she had back pain/joint issues, and recommended putting her on pain meds. I was scheduled for surgery the next day and couldn't treat her because I would have limited mobility to chase her down and administer pain pills. The vet's office ending up boarding her while I was recovering. Five days later I get her back from the vet and she has this HUGE gaping hole near her rear end. I panicked and took her back to the same vet, and he was like "Whoops," and said that was probably her problem all along. He cleaned out the wound and gave her an antibiotic shot and we went on our way. Safe to say, I was pretty angry that this went unnoticed.
Fast forward a month later to December, Lulu's abscess had already healed and the fur was growing back (or so I thought), and then randomly one day it burst again. I rushed her to the emergency vet after hours and it was the same shpeal. Clean the wound, give her the antibiotic shot, and send us on our way. I thought surely this would be the end of it.
I was mistaken because on Monday Lulu started showing the same signs of lethargy and acting out of sorts as the first time this happened. There was no open wound yet, but by this time I was an expert at reading the signs. I wasn't about to take her back to the original vet's office who misdiagnosed her, and so drove a little further out of town to another vet we used to see when we lived there. This one specializes in cats. He wasn't extremely sympathetic to her problem, but he did recommend giving her anesthesia, lancing the abscess/cleaning it out, and trying an oral antibiotic instead of the shot. We did all that, he didn't seem to think it was an anal gland issue or anything, but told me to keep an eye on it. Now it's just another waiting game to see if this happens again.
I'm terrified that this is going to be a recurring issue with her. I've already spent hundreds of dollars trying to get to the bottom of this, but none of the vets we've been to seem to understand how much physical pain this causes her (or how much financial pain this causes me). Sorry for the long-winded post, but I'm desperate to try and find some answers.
Fast forward a month later to December, Lulu's abscess had already healed and the fur was growing back (or so I thought), and then randomly one day it burst again. I rushed her to the emergency vet after hours and it was the same shpeal. Clean the wound, give her the antibiotic shot, and send us on our way. I thought surely this would be the end of it.
I was mistaken because on Monday Lulu started showing the same signs of lethargy and acting out of sorts as the first time this happened. There was no open wound yet, but by this time I was an expert at reading the signs. I wasn't about to take her back to the original vet's office who misdiagnosed her, and so drove a little further out of town to another vet we used to see when we lived there. This one specializes in cats. He wasn't extremely sympathetic to her problem, but he did recommend giving her anesthesia, lancing the abscess/cleaning it out, and trying an oral antibiotic instead of the shot. We did all that, he didn't seem to think it was an anal gland issue or anything, but told me to keep an eye on it. Now it's just another waiting game to see if this happens again.
I'm terrified that this is going to be a recurring issue with her. I've already spent hundreds of dollars trying to get to the bottom of this, but none of the vets we've been to seem to understand how much physical pain this causes her (or how much financial pain this causes me). Sorry for the long-winded post, but I'm desperate to try and find some answers.