Spanky status: At the vet and the resulting news
Well, it's been a roller-coaster morning. My first call from the vet had Spanky diagnosed with a really gross autoimmune disease called pemphigus, the details of which I'll spare you. The vet then remembered that Sophie had been treated for ear mites. He went back to look at what they'd removed from Spanky's ear to discover that this entire episode wasn't pemphigus but rather the result of a prolonged mite infection that got out of hand, despite my treating Spank when Sophie was treated. The short, simple version of this news, then, is that a prolonged mite infection is far less dramatic and dangerous than pemphigus would have been in the longterm.
As a result, post-surgical treatment will be far less aggressive than it would otherwise have been. Apparently it won't be much less expensive (that's the bad news, but we knew the money news here wouldn't be good no matter what), but it will be far less stressful on my old boy.
In general, the vet (who rarely sees Spank because he turns into a hell beast when I take him out of the house) says that Spanky's kidneys are smaller (about half-size) reflecting his age (15 years), but in excellent working order, and that his teeth are looking very good. With the exception of this ear thing, he's in pretty good shape. This ear thing, though? Pretty dramatic. Sophie will be getting more mite treatment to ensure this doesn't recur in either one of them.
Spanky may have a visible remnant of this experience: if they did the surgery the way the vet described, then his right ear may end up a little smaller than his left, and it may look a little crinkled. For some reason, this news upset me a great deal though it seems the least of what's happened here. I feel responsible for not monitoring him more closely and this disfigurement is a lasting sign of the price he's paid for it. I feel awful about it, just horrible.
As a result, post-surgical treatment will be far less aggressive than it would otherwise have been. Apparently it won't be much less expensive (that's the bad news, but we knew the money news here wouldn't be good no matter what), but it will be far less stressful on my old boy.
In general, the vet (who rarely sees Spank because he turns into a hell beast when I take him out of the house) says that Spanky's kidneys are smaller (about half-size) reflecting his age (15 years), but in excellent working order, and that his teeth are looking very good. With the exception of this ear thing, he's in pretty good shape. This ear thing, though? Pretty dramatic. Sophie will be getting more mite treatment to ensure this doesn't recur in either one of them.
Spanky may have a visible remnant of this experience: if they did the surgery the way the vet described, then his right ear may end up a little smaller than his left, and it may look a little crinkled. For some reason, this news upset me a great deal though it seems the least of what's happened here. I feel responsible for not monitoring him more closely and this disfigurement is a lasting sign of the price he's paid for it. I feel awful about it, just horrible.