Baby Girl, a 10 year old kitty, had a small mass on the inside of her left ear. It grew larger, and seemed to find it’s way through the cartilage and started to grow on the outside of the ear.
It was diagnosed as a “cyst.”
This is word that is unfortunately often used to describe a mass, or a tumor. While a cyst is benign, a tumor can be benign or malignant.
I was not at all convinced that it was benign.
Even if it had been, it was in a location where it would be challenging to remove it yet save the ear.
So I recommended to Baby Girl’s owner to remove a large part of the ear.
This is called a pinnectomy (I guess it could be called an ear amputation).
But in order to make it look as cosmetic as possible, I tried to save part of the ear so it looked like a real – albeit tiny – ear on top of Baby Girl’s head.
Here is a view of the mass inside the ear:
And here is a view of the mass on the outside of the ear:
Baby Girl did very well under anesthesia and through surgery.
One week later, the biopsy report showed that the mass was sadly cancerous: a fibrosarcoma. Baby Girl should still do well.
Three weeks later, this is how she looked:
She couldn’t possibly look normal, but she still looked cute.
Her owner simply said: “I am very happy with how my Baby Girl looks. I think she looks great!”
If you would like to learn how we can help your pet with safe surgery and anesthesia, please contact us through www.HRVSS.com
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Phil Zeltzman, DVM, DACVS, CVJ, Fear Free Certified