Pollops in cats ears :(

[MagicMelon]

My bengal has a rare auto-immune condition where her body ate away at the tips of her ears all the way down. Vet removed them in the end. Her biggest issue is pollops. Vet said she had them and they'd only get worse. The only way to remove them would be to remove her entire inner ears which is obviously extremely invasive and as she's 12yrs old Id never put her through that. I always said Id have to PTS once she started itching them and her life was clearly getting miserable, but she's been amazing. I can see the pollops, her ears have literally pretty much closed up inside although she can still hear fine and she only itches them very occassionally. Her standard of life is still very high. However, over the past week Ive noticed her ears are smelling not nice. I got some anti-bacteria/antiseptic/fungal etc. ear drops and have been putting those in every 2nd day (she hates it). They seem to smell ok for a couple days then it comes back. Of course, Im concerned she has an infection but I feel the vets will simply give me overpriced drops or just tell me she'll now be prone to infections due to the state of her ears She absolutely hates the vets and gets extremely stressed so I dont take her unless absolutely necessary.

Is there anything else anyone knows of that can be done for her? Or any amazing drops? I can easily do drops regularly forever more if it helps control the issue. Im using "RenaSan Animal Antiseptic Ear Drops - Fights infection & kills bacteria, Veterinary-grade, Alcohol-Free, Non-Irritating, for Dogs, Cats & all" from amazon.

I just cant face the thought of having her potentially PTS because of this issue when its not bothering her at all at the moment and she's perfectly happy!

 

[Highmileagecob]

Think I might go for a second opinion. If the polyp is tear drop shaped, it used to be a pretty straightforward op to tie off the narrow end, remove, and cauterise if necessary. Removing the entire inner ear sounds drastic, but then again, I haven't seen them. And you are right, if it isn't causing her any bother, then plod on.

 

[Fransurrey]

I used to have a cat with this issue and he did have the inner ear removed on the RHS. He was of course deaf in that ear, but it didn't trouble him afterwards. He did have recurrent infections in the other ear as a result of polyps, though and needed antibiotic drops. Amazon drops won't do diddly squat if there's an infection, unfortunately. He got an infection probably once every six months. He was pts 4 years later due to kidney tumours. If it's polyp related, you're likely to need these periodically as I did, so I would ask the vet for a prescription to buy online and make sure you have it repeatable within the 6 month window (after which they need to see the cat again).

 

[m1stify]

One of my yard cats had this issue end of last year/beginning of this year. There was constant bleeding unfortunately, it sounds like yours have not gotten that bad yet? She was very irritated and every time she shook here head as a result blood droplets would go everywhere. Tried everything I could for months with the vets, drops/antibiotics & even off label treatments but none made any difference. Vet advised a total ear ablation but could not guarantee it would not come back in the other ear. She was already compromised only having one eye so sad decision was made to pts. Sorry not to have a better story for you.

 

[Supercalifragilistic]

I have a cat with ear (and nose) polyps. She needs antibiotics fairly regularly because of infections, but she is an old girl with a few things going on. My vet does a long lasting antibiotic injection that works better for her than tablets. We did remove one polyp but it grew back, as she has a lot going on and doesn’t do well under GA we are now just keeping on top of things and making the most of the time that we have with her. She has been living with the nose polyp for about 6 years though.

 

[rara007]

I think you might need the overpriced drops, but maybe not if there’s no ear canal left to apply to. You can always ask for a written prescription but it might not work out much cheaper.

 

[GypsGal1718]

Sorry no experience with this but I hope it goes well

 

[skinnydipper]

However, over the past week Ive noticed her ears are smelling not nice. I got some anti-bacteria/antiseptic/fungal etc. ear drops and have been putting those in every 2nd day (she hates it). They seem to smell ok for a couple days then it comes back. Of course, Im concerned she has an infection but I feel the vets will simply give me overpriced drops or just tell me she'll now be prone to infections due to the state of her ears

Ear infections are painful.

Take her to the vets. Ask for their advice.