Rodent ulcer experience?

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Anyname

Anyname

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Just wondering if anyone has had any success treating rodent ulcer in their kitty? Also what pain killer would be ok to give? He is on antibiotics but his normally robust appetite has dwindled. He won't eat the food we've made for him at home. Rabbit and spatchcock. He is only eating a little bit of chicken because everything else I give him makes him itch. He won't eat the things that don't make him itch. Would it be ok to use Metcam just the once to see if it helps him get some appetite as he's eating very little and I'm sure we all fear what not eating eating means. Anyone know what painkiller would be ok?
 
Hi, we have had experience with rodent ulcers on our civvie kitty. She get's them whenever she eats mocha's wet cat food .. not sure why, but we stopped feeding her wet cat food and she stopped getting them, except of course, when she sneaks bites! Her lip swells up terribly and the only treatment course we have had done are steroid shots. It usually takes about three days for her lip swelling to come down. Our vet told us that her lip shouldn't bother her when it is swollen, it isn't painful ... Don't know if that is true or not ... She doesn't seem to get itchy anywhere on her body, the ulcers are always concentrated directly on her lips and her appetite never dwindles from it. I personally would not give metacam and if I remember right, it has been black listed in the US for use on cats .. others hopefully will join in soon with more info ...
 
thank you for your reply. Little Boy is diabetic so I don't think steriod shots are an option. He was on a course of prednisone this time last yr for it. The ulcer improved but he got FD. Our kitty has a large ulcer on the back of his tongue. It is causing eating to be difficult and painful because it's so large. He needs treatment for his but I don't know what else there is besides steriods. Tinned Fancy Feast sends little boy into a frenzy of itching all over - even the smallest amount of it causes him to bite at himself. Does your kitty eat beef that isn't out of a tin?
 
Painkiller Buprenorphine is good and safe for cats.

It takes time to transition cats over to food which is better for them. Please read the transition advice Dr. Lisa Pierson has from her website for helpful tips: http://www.catinfo.org/docs/Tips%20for% ... -14-11.pdf It works for any type of transitioning, not just dry to canned. But you may be dealing with some similar issues if Little Boy was previously on dry food.

Please don't give up on Little Boy. Has the vet mentioned surgical removal of the ulcer?
 
Anyname, no, our civvie does not eat any beef that is not out of a tin .. We first had her on wet cat food that contained beef, then we saw a lot of cat's have allergies to that, so we switched her to a chicken wet food and she still developed ulcers .. then we switched to three different brands of wet, including "high end" and she still developed ulcers ... so we decided to try and put her back on the dry she was on for the previous 6 years of her life without any ulcers and she stopped getting them. ... She had two in the year since, but we both believe that is because she snuck into mochas wet cat food .. I really hope you can get this figured out ..
 
:::Please don't give up on Little Boy. Has the vet mentioned surgical removal of the ulcer?

I don't think it can be surgically removed. We are backwards in Australia in this regard (I mentioned it ages ago and vet said no). It's on the horizon of his tongue- difficult to get a proper look at without offending him. Basically this cat is like a child to us. He practically talks to us. He is a total lamb about blood testing. He just hops up to the table to have it done when ever it's been a while since the last time. Sits there quietly while it's done. I think we started him on the ground rabbit around the time the growth was acting up so he wouldn't have eaten much anyway. We are going to the vet this afternoon. It's just that it's becoming such a big effort to keep him comfortable - a losing battle - but he's only 11 yrs old and he looks really well. His FD numbers go high when the ulcer is playing up. It's all down the the allergy problem - caring for the FD is easy in comparison.

Question: Can he take steriods and we just give him appropriate levels of insulin to counter balance the damage the prednisone does to his blood sugar? Without something to shrink the ulcer he's in big trouble - whether we euthanise him or not. I don't want him to suffer because we can't face making the difficult decision of saying goodbye to him. I just don't want him to suffer.

I will email the dermatologist we saw before xmas.
 
Just as a precaution, you might want to limit the amount of plastic that has contact with him.. I know plastic is everywhere but anything that he touches a lot in particular. We have some kitties at work (shelter) that have had them.. I will check their med records tomorrow and see if there are any meds they are using besides steroids. Usually we try them on a novel protein diet like rabbit because it is an allergic response -(since its a shelter its usually dry and canned RX food)

Rodent ulcers are part of a complex of allergic issues called Eosinphilic granuloma complex. Googling that might get you more info. I dont think I have ever heard of a rodent ulcer on the tongue, they are usually on the lips. How are Little Boys gums? I ask because down in the throat sounds more like stomatitis to me---ah I guess eosinphilic granulomas can be in the throat.
http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_eo ... uloma.html
http://www.vetbase.co.uk/information/rodent-ulcer.php

Seinding lots of cyber hugs and feel better vibes to you and Little Boy
 
Thank you for your comments and help. Actually I have it wrong. Little Boy has eosinophilic plaque on his tongue - not an ulcer. The plaque is ulcerated. (kinda splitting hairs IMO) I don't know where I got the name rodent ulcer from but I read on Dr. Google that it was thought that cats caught it from rats. Our vet said that this is an old wives tale.

Anyway, we've been experimenting with antibiotics. He has just finished a 7 day course or oral a/b's. Today the vet was perplexed as to why LB isn't eating. He said the plaque looks better than it did 10 days ago and offered a further long lasting injection for LB. It's a new type of antibiotic and is meant to help with skin conditions. In the mean time we will keep LB off the food that he reacts to. He gets very itchy if I feed him Fancy Feast tinned food and beef. He's only eating chicken at the moment. I've tried to get him on fresh rabbit but he's not eating much so I'll leave it until his appetite picks up. He's a big, big boy unlike his name suggests, so he can go a while without too much food. He's in a very caring environment and wakes me up during the night if he's feeling like a cuddle.

I've read some very interesting information on the internet about eosinophilic granuloma complex. We will keep trying to keep him comfortable.

I really appreciate the input - it's lonely when a pet is ill.
 
Stupidly didn't get the name of the antibiotic. Vet said it's new. It is meant to last in his system for two weeks. Side effects are diarreah (sp?) or prophilactic shock (sp?) which didn't happen - (I suffered badly with dislexia and still can't spell!). He is responding to it well so far. Eating more. Probably need to give him yoghurt though.

I spent a long time reading old messages on FDMB last night. Mostly wondering about pancreatitis. Maybe the tongue plaque is a red herring. Except for how much difficulty he's been having chewing. He was making funny popping noses in his purring the other night - suggestive of airways blocked up a little. I'm fairly certain his problems are to do with the plaque. Next time we will do the blood test for pacreatitis.
 
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