Hey there! Some of you remember me from the Penny topics. She got a feeding tube at the end of May, it got removed in June, and in July she had bladder surgery where they removed a large oxalate stone. Since her bladder stone got removed, she's been doing SO well. She's on a special diet now, and luckily she ate the food immediately (the reason she got the tube was because she refused to eat her new food). Penny's also been more active, plays a lot more, is even cuddlier than before,... Since she was doing well and we had a lot on our mind, I haven't been here for months.
And yet, here I am again. We hoped she'd be healthy for a long time and we only had to go to the vet for her shots, but nope... First of all, we've been to the vet clinic three weeks ago and are going back this Friday. I was just wondering if I would find people here who had a cat with the same issue.
I'll start from the beginning: Penny has been licking her belly obsessively since the beginning of 2018. Our vet always told us it was stress, so we tried a lot of stuff like Feliway and medicine to reduce stress. She kept licking though, and her belly was almost completely bald a month or two after she started licking. When she had lipidosis, the vet from the clinic discovered the bladder stone. Excessive belly licking could also be a symptom of a bladder stone, so we kinda thought the stone was the culprit. She wore a full medical suit for a month (since she couldn't stop licking her wound). Ofcourse, the hair on her belly started growing back since she couldn't lick it. We were both kinda relieved, like 'okay, her belly will probably be normal again now this stone's out'. We removed the body suit when the wound was healed up.
Maybe it was naive of us, but she started licking her belly again (second half of August). Early August we discovered I'm pregnant, so our first thought was that she maybe experienced some sort of stress because of the pregnancy and my change of smell or something like that. The first weeks, she followed me around A LOT, which was a clear sign she knew something was on. Normally she only follows my boyfriend. After a few weeks, her belly kept getting more bald again. Back to her old habit. We were planning on calling the vet from the clinic if she kept licking, but then we noticed something new: almost four weeks ago, I saw she had a little wound on her nose. At first we thought she hit something, because she had been playing like a mad man with some new bouncy balls we bought for her. It didn't heal. Instead, it started bleeding a little after a few days. She also had a little black spot next to the wound. We called the vet clinic, and got an appointment a few days later.
The vet that examined Penny is specialised in dermatology. She doesn't think the licking is stress related. To be honest, Penny is chill at home too. But our previous vet kept talking about stress, so I think it started to lead its own life in our heads, and made us believe we truly had a stressy cat. The vet saw Penny when she was in the clinic with her tube and she operated her. She told us she was one of the calmest cats in the clinic. Not that she was comfortable, but there were nog signs of real distress. Then she examined the wound on her nose, and she got a little worried. She told us it was something we should really keep an eye on. My boyfriend and I asked if she was thinking about skin cancer, and she admitted that it could be skin cancer, but immediately told us it would be quite unlikely. She's young, has a dark fur, doesn't go outside and isn't much exposed to sunlight. But to be sure, she took a sample of the wound and she put it under the microscope. Lucky for us, there was no sign of cancer cells. But yeah, the wound was still there. The black spot next to it didn't worry her. We asked if it could be some kind of allergy. It is a possibility, but it isn't easy to find out what exactly she could be allergic for. She's on the new diet for two months now, so maybe that's the culprit? Or something else, since she has a wound on her nose and keeps licking her belly? She sent us home with something to disinfect her wound every day, and we gave her medicine against worms/fleas/parasites, because it was possible she had something like that. We promised to take a photo after a week and send it to her.
That has been three weeks ago. She kept licking her belly. A week after the visit, we took a picture. The vet told us it looked better and we had to take a photo after two weeks again. We also kept disinfecting her wound every day. Thing is, the wound doesn't get better. On the contrary: it seems to get worse sometimes. A scab will form over the wound, then it will fall off (maybe she scratches it off, but we never caught her doing it), it will bleed again and it looks a little bigger everytime. We both ended up worried again, since the vet told us it should heal. We decided to take some new pictures earlier, and on the same day we noticed that the little black spot next to her wound, started turning into a little wound too. We sent some pictures to the vet (last Wednesday), who confirmed it should look a lot better by that time. We made a new appointment for this Friday so she could check her again.
My boyfriend is getting really worried. He's afraid it could still be skin cancer. It would be in an early stage though, but yeah... It ain't fun ofcourse. I don't think it's skin cancer, but I must admit I'm a bit worried too. Especially after all she's been through this year, we are a LOT more alert about her health. Since we have no friends with cats that had the same problem, I was wondering if some people here have been through the same with their cat. I know we're going to the vet on Friday, but I notice I'm getting nervous.
Thanks for reading.
And yet, here I am again. We hoped she'd be healthy for a long time and we only had to go to the vet for her shots, but nope... First of all, we've been to the vet clinic three weeks ago and are going back this Friday. I was just wondering if I would find people here who had a cat with the same issue.
I'll start from the beginning: Penny has been licking her belly obsessively since the beginning of 2018. Our vet always told us it was stress, so we tried a lot of stuff like Feliway and medicine to reduce stress. She kept licking though, and her belly was almost completely bald a month or two after she started licking. When she had lipidosis, the vet from the clinic discovered the bladder stone. Excessive belly licking could also be a symptom of a bladder stone, so we kinda thought the stone was the culprit. She wore a full medical suit for a month (since she couldn't stop licking her wound). Ofcourse, the hair on her belly started growing back since she couldn't lick it. We were both kinda relieved, like 'okay, her belly will probably be normal again now this stone's out'. We removed the body suit when the wound was healed up.
Maybe it was naive of us, but she started licking her belly again (second half of August). Early August we discovered I'm pregnant, so our first thought was that she maybe experienced some sort of stress because of the pregnancy and my change of smell or something like that. The first weeks, she followed me around A LOT, which was a clear sign she knew something was on. Normally she only follows my boyfriend. After a few weeks, her belly kept getting more bald again. Back to her old habit. We were planning on calling the vet from the clinic if she kept licking, but then we noticed something new: almost four weeks ago, I saw she had a little wound on her nose. At first we thought she hit something, because she had been playing like a mad man with some new bouncy balls we bought for her. It didn't heal. Instead, it started bleeding a little after a few days. She also had a little black spot next to the wound. We called the vet clinic, and got an appointment a few days later.
The vet that examined Penny is specialised in dermatology. She doesn't think the licking is stress related. To be honest, Penny is chill at home too. But our previous vet kept talking about stress, so I think it started to lead its own life in our heads, and made us believe we truly had a stressy cat. The vet saw Penny when she was in the clinic with her tube and she operated her. She told us she was one of the calmest cats in the clinic. Not that she was comfortable, but there were nog signs of real distress. Then she examined the wound on her nose, and she got a little worried. She told us it was something we should really keep an eye on. My boyfriend and I asked if she was thinking about skin cancer, and she admitted that it could be skin cancer, but immediately told us it would be quite unlikely. She's young, has a dark fur, doesn't go outside and isn't much exposed to sunlight. But to be sure, she took a sample of the wound and she put it under the microscope. Lucky for us, there was no sign of cancer cells. But yeah, the wound was still there. The black spot next to it didn't worry her. We asked if it could be some kind of allergy. It is a possibility, but it isn't easy to find out what exactly she could be allergic for. She's on the new diet for two months now, so maybe that's the culprit? Or something else, since she has a wound on her nose and keeps licking her belly? She sent us home with something to disinfect her wound every day, and we gave her medicine against worms/fleas/parasites, because it was possible she had something like that. We promised to take a photo after a week and send it to her.
That has been three weeks ago. She kept licking her belly. A week after the visit, we took a picture. The vet told us it looked better and we had to take a photo after two weeks again. We also kept disinfecting her wound every day. Thing is, the wound doesn't get better. On the contrary: it seems to get worse sometimes. A scab will form over the wound, then it will fall off (maybe she scratches it off, but we never caught her doing it), it will bleed again and it looks a little bigger everytime. We both ended up worried again, since the vet told us it should heal. We decided to take some new pictures earlier, and on the same day we noticed that the little black spot next to her wound, started turning into a little wound too. We sent some pictures to the vet (last Wednesday), who confirmed it should look a lot better by that time. We made a new appointment for this Friday so she could check her again.
My boyfriend is getting really worried. He's afraid it could still be skin cancer. It would be in an early stage though, but yeah... It ain't fun ofcourse. I don't think it's skin cancer, but I must admit I'm a bit worried too. Especially after all she's been through this year, we are a LOT more alert about her health. Since we have no friends with cats that had the same problem, I was wondering if some people here have been through the same with their cat. I know we're going to the vet on Friday, but I notice I'm getting nervous.
Thanks for reading.
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