Cat diagnosed with middle ear tumor. She is maybe 12-ish years old. I read somewhere that average cat lifespan is 14-16 years old. And, read somewhere else that middle ear tumors are more likely to be cancerous than not, with survival rate about 1 year after aggressive surgery. I am going to do a biopsy and talk to my vet more, but for the moment let's assume it's cancerous. If it is, it seems I should just do what I can to keep her comfortable, given her age (which is approximate). However, I don't want to be making decisions on info that's not correct, so... Questions: What is the average lifespan of an indoor-only cat? Are middle ear tumors cancerous more often than not? What is the likely lifespan after a cancerous ear tumor is removed? How does age affect that likely lifespan? If the tumor is not cancerous, it seems it may be more reasonable to do the surgery. Is it? What are the risks and likely outcomes of surgery on a non-cancerous middle ear tumor? Anything else I should consider to figure out what to do next?

I have a 12 year old British Longhair pure white cat, her left ear is turning a dark browny / black colour and has lost the hair on it, I have been rubbing a skin cream (skin eze) onto her ear and at first it cleared up within a few days but now the darkness seems to me getting lower down the ear and when I just rubbed cream onto her ear it felt very hot.

Hello, my 15 yr old diabetic (Insulin 2 x daily 2 units of Lantus) has a small ear polyp, we have been using drops for inflammation and he has had one infection, but gone now...after 2 flushings and drops. Now he has scratched ALL the hair off the ear, what can we use to help him stop scratching. We had a cone on for 2 weeks and he had hard time eating/sleeping so we took it off. Any advise? Also do you think we should do surgery at this age and being diabetic. What about just extracting it with the tweezer/tongs? Just for some temporary relief. We just want to make him comfortable?

My cat has a problem with the outer edge of her ear. It started with a black patch and quickly transformed into a bloody lump with a crust on. When the crust comes off which seems to be part of a cycle there is a lot of bleeding, it reduces in size and then builds up once more over the next few days. The vet diagnosed ringworm and I have to give Zodon by mouth daily and spray the ears with a disinfectant spray. It does not seem to be helping. It grows an reduces as if it has a cycle. I have had 3 visits to the vet

I decided to take my cat in when he appeared on my doorstep with a bloody infected looking ear. He is a larger white long haired cat. After taking him to the vet, I was told that the issue was likely a squamous cell carcinoma. After two surgeries to remove the affected areas and biopsies, my vet was able to get clean margins. Recently, however, my cat has been scratching the area a lot, which has produced a blister like growth on the remaining ear nub and some bruising. I took him to my vet who prescribed an antibiotic which helped. However, a month or so later it reappeared. I took him to a new vet (I've moved) who suggested chemo or putting him down. I am currently looking for more opinions and would like to have a biopsy done. I have also tried to do my own research. This manifestation on the ear looks nothing like the previous ones - there is no crust or black spots just swelling and a large liquid filled blister and bruising. The skin isnt broken or bleeding anywhere. Is it possible that this is a hematoma? Can cancer manifest this way in cats and if so typically how lethal is this type of cancer? Is treatment a viable option?

My daughter's cat was just diagnosed with cancer, the vet wants to do ear surgery which will result in loosing her hearing in one ear, since she was a rescue her other ear is already messed up from a fight she had before we got her, but still has some hearing. She wasn't feeling well for awhile I thought it was just a ear infection so I was treating it with Petco products, but finally went in when she wasn't getting better. I don't know if I should put her down or do the surgery we love her allot,but she's overweight and worried if she would make it through surgery and she wouldn't understand why she couldn't hear,I really don't know what to do 😥

My cat has been diagnosed with an aggressive carcinoma in the ear canal. He had surgery to remove the tumor but not ablation. I actually asked to know the ct biopsy results prior to surgery so that paying for ablation of the ear canal instead of two surgeries. I am distressed because I cannot afford a second surgery. Supposedly no cells are detectable outside of ear canal so removal of entire ear canal has good prognosis. Generally what might be a prognosis with no treatment. Anything else cost effective that might be considered?

I have a 16 year old white cat that has ear cancer. he loves to be outside and I have been putting sunscreen on him and his ears through out the years. the problem now, is he in bad shape, not eating anymore, and constantly licking his ears and making them bleed. I know the vet . will want to cut his ears off, but I am wondering if it is time to give him up?

Our tuxedo senior, Oreo whom we rescued nearly three years ago experienced lots of dark wax in her ear. We cleaned it, but thought it might be ear mites. It certainly looked that way. We used Zymox to clean out her ears. The right ear was the dirtiest. We used Vet prescribed Tresaderm to treat the ears. Without a couple of days of using Tresaderm, she began falling over to her right side and had trouble standing/walking on her own and a head tilt to her right. Called our veterinarian who said to stop the Tresaderm and bring her in if she doesn't get better. There are lots of things that could cause the dirty ear, the falling over and head tilt. We brought her in to our vet who ran CBC, Chem 12, and rechecked her thyroid as she is hyperthyroid. Everything came back fine. However, when he examined her ears, they were extremely dirty, especially the right one. He couldn't see into the right ear for it was blocked, which from the signs sounded like an inner ear infection. However, while being examined, she experienced a seizure, her eyes rolled back and she walked around in a circle on the examining table. At first, the vet thought she had had a stroke but checked and it wasn't. She was treated with an antibiotic and cortisone combination injection for the "inner ear infection" and sent home. Unfortunately, though she seemed to improve; the wobbliness and falling over stopped, the head tilt did not. Her right eye began to squint and we could see her inner eyelid. We took her back to the vet. This time he felt a mass, hard and round at the base of her ear, which wasn't there before. We couldn't X-ray her because she wouldn't stay still and the only option was to sedate her, which at her age of nearly 17 we didn't want to do. Not if we couldn't do anything else for her. At this rate, even if something could be done, it wouldn't be much and at her age, it probably wouldn't help much. We opted to go hospice care. At home, we cared for her. We used herbal and vitamin supplements proven to slow tumor growth. Unfortunately, the prognosis wasn't good. At first, on her two week follow up after the second visit after the mass was found, the mass actually shrunk. She was given another antibiotic/cortisone injection. Things looked positive: she was eating; she was hungry and ate every hour. She even begin eating some can and dry cat food along with the baby food, goat milk and supplements we gave her. She seemed her usual self. But as it usually is with Cancer, things turned around quickly. One day, up until Wednesday, she was eating hungrily then the next day, Thursday she backed off. She kept drinking all the time as if she knew she needed to. She wanted to eat, but wasn't interested in anything we gave her and we gave her everything: baby food, vienna sausage, can cat and dog food, tuna salad, raw beef,and more, all warmed and not warmed. Nothing enticed her. She scratched at the door to get out of the house. She wondered aimlessly around the house. She even went in the shower. She followed me everywhere. On her final night at home, Thursday, I tried dipping my finger in the baby food and offering it to her. She nibbled it for a few times, then gave up and walked away. She wasted quickly, as if right before our eyes. She looked at me as if pleading me to help her. I had promised her at the diagnosis we would do right be her. She began with the wobbly, falling over, head tilt on April 21, 2019. On Friday, June 21, 2019 the first day of summer in the USA, it was Oreo's last day of life. We put Oreo down in the vet's office while I held her. It was quick, humane and peaceful. When we adopted her from a shelter nearly three years ago, she hadn't been taken care of. Her eyes squinted and she had a Upper Respiratory Infection. Her fur was dull. She was a senior cat who had been in the shelter for four years. They basically ignored her. They said she was 10 at her adoption, but we knew better, as our vet confirmed: she was probably 14 to 16 at that time. That didn't matter to us. We had just lost another senior girl kitty, 21 yr old Princess to a liver infection and aimed to give another senior kitty a home in honor of her. Right away, in our care, Oreo thrived. Her eyes opened wide. She gained weight up to 7 lbs and her coat was shiny and thick. When we put her down, she weighed just 4 lbs. On her second to the last visit with the vet she weighed 6.3 lbs. Before the falling over and head tilt, there was no symptoms except dirty ears. No odor or visible sores or polyps in her ear. Even the vet thought it was just an inner ear infection. It wasn't. A few days before we kept our promise to her to do right by her and not let her die alone, her right ear began to bleed and emit a strong, foul odor. She drooled excessively when she ate. Cancer is supposed to be rare in cats. It isn't. This is the second senior cat we lost to Cancer. If you think your cat has an ear infection, don't wait on checking it out. They say cats prone to ear infections are more prone to getting ear cancer. Cats also need to eat. If they don't eat, they waste away. Love your cat, talk to your cat. Be there. Always and support your cat. We hoped, prayed and wished for a miracle. We always believe there's always a chance. Sometimes there just isn't. Sometimes, we just have to do our best for them. They're more in tune with nature. I'll always wonder if we failed Oreo. If we had noticed something sooner, would she still be alive? At least, we did right by her in the end, and most importantly while she was with us for nearly three years. During that time, she never wanted for food, attention or love. We loved her and miss her dearly. Thanks for listening.....