Beginning of November 2001 – Earless just came into our lives one evening. She entered our home through our bedroom window and started to move around the house. She had a blue collar so we figured she belonged to someone and probably just came for a short visit. She was a beautiful friendly white cat with one strange thing – she had no ears. For the next few days Earless spent more and more time with us so we gave her some food and added a tiny red barrel to her collar with a note inside asking for her owner to give us a call. As Earless became closer to us we noticed that she had some stitches on the remainder of her left ear and some kind of lesion on the remainder of her right ear. Since we hadn’t heard from her owner for a week or so and Earless kept scratching her ear and opening her lesion we decided to take her to the vet.

18 November 2001, First visit to the vet – my spouse, Boaz, and I decided to miss work that morning & took Earless to see Dr. S. (we live in a small province near Haifa, Israel and we went to the same animal clinic for 12 years with my dog Mack). Dr. S. was very surprised to see a cat with her ears cut off and thought it was some kind of abuse or a strange treatment for something (but for what ?).Earless behaved exemplary but Dr. S. didn’t want her to suffer anymore than she already had so he wanted to make a thorough examination of her ears in general anesthetic. We came back in 3 hours. The diagnosis was: ‘Parasitic otitis’ caused by the Otodectes cynotis

Parasite & an ulcer in her right ear (the stitches from her left ear were removed and the left ear was just fine). Dr S. injected her with something to fight the parasite, something that should reduce the itching in her ear, and gave some antibiotic pills (Clavamox 62.5 mg twice a day) for two weeks.

He told us to come back for another shot (for the parasite) in two weeks and even gave us 20 % discount for taking care of a cat we found on the street (or found us at our home).

The following days – Earless continued to scratch her ear causing bleeding from her ear tips (all over the furniture) when she shook her head. She still came and went when she pleased and still no word from her owner.

30 November 2001, Second visit to the vet – Dr. S. wasn’t at the clinic and we were seen by Dr. E. Her right ear looked real bad; he gave her the second shot for the parasite, told us to continue with the antibiotic for another week, wash the ear with chlorhexidine liquid & apply otibiotic ointment. We also asked for and got an Elizabethan Collar to keep Earless from scratching her ears (this collar remained on her for the rest of her short life).

The following days- we didn’t let Earless go out anymore, we were afraid her collar would get caught in fences or bushes (and besides, we didn’t want the other neighborhood cats to make fun of her). Earless didn’t mind staying indoors because those days were cold and rainy. She was an amazing cat and besides her ear she looked healthy and happy.

19 December 2001, another visit to the vet – Dr. S. noticed some improvement. He told us to continue with the ointment and come back in two weeks.

04 January 2002, another visit to the vet – This time we were seen by Dr. M. Earless’ ear looked really red and swollen and had black layer of pus and scab (we called it ‘little pieces of ear’ and we could find them all over the house). Dr. M. gave us a different kind of antibiotics and told us to come back in 12 days. We also asked Dr. M. to estimate Earless’ age and she told us she was 3 or 4.

13 January 2002, another visit to the vet – Earless’ ear looked even worse, her lesion had spread. Dr. M and Dr. S. decided to give her some steroids (a ¼ of prednisone 20mg once a day) and continue with the antibiotics.

25 January 2002, another visit to the vet – Earless continued to scratch her ear (her collar actually but it was enough to cause some damage. Dr. E. told us to stop all her medicines and just wash her ear with chlorhexidine. We also got her a new and clean Elizabethan Collar.

01 February 2002, another visit to the vet – Earless’ condition remained static, no improvement. Dr. S. didn’t know what else could be done and suggested we see a specialist and maybe take a biopsy afterwards. Israel is a small country (on the contrary to the amount of noise we make) and there are only two recommended dermatologists. We chose the one in Neve Monoson, some two hours drive from our home because Dr. S. said he was nicer (It was a really bad choice, although at that stage it was probably too late). Dr. S. wrote us a letter with the details of Earless’ case to give to the dermatologist.

03 February 2002, a visit to the dermatologist – the drive was a nightmare, Earless didn’t want to stay in her carrier or in my lap and cried and fought me the whole trip.

Dr. E, the dermatologist, was also surprised to see a cat with her ears cut off. He asked us a few questions and tested for parasites and for ringworms (with the ultraviolet lamp) and determined it was food allergy (he didn’t suggest biopsy and didn’t even mention the possibility of more serious things). He injected her some steroids and asked us to change her diet to hypoallergenic food.

04 February 2002 – I went to see Dr. S. to tell him about our visit to the dermatologist. Dr. S. wasn’t enthusiastic about the diagnosis because it didn’t get us anywhere but told me to try the hypoallergenic food.

06 February 2002 – we’ve noticed something strange about Earless, she had some kind of paralysis in the right side of her face. She couldn’t shut her right eye and she meowed only with the left side of her mouth (kind of like Elvis).

07 February 2002, back to our vet – Dr. S. examined Earless and diagnosed Horner Syndrome. He told us that this is caused by something that pressures on a nerve that goes from the ear to the throat and in Earless’ case it was probably caused by the swelling in her ear or maybe from wearing the Elizabethan Collar for a long time. He gave her some more steroids, this time it was ½ of prednisone 20mg once a day. We were told to come back in two weeks.

21 February 2002, another visit to the vet – There was some improvement in her ear. Her ulcer shrank and Dr. S. was pleased. He told us to continue with the steroids for another two weeks.

07 March 2002, another visit to the vet – Earless’ ear got worse. The ulcer grew bigger and was really contaminated. After reading some on the internet we suggested to test her for FIV (the cat’s Aids) Dr. S. agreed but didn’t have the FIV/FeLV test kit. He ordered the kits. He also told us to wean her gradually from the steroids and added antibiotics again.

10 March 2002, another visit to vet - Earless didn’t move much that weekend and seemed to have problems with her balance. We thought it was because we gave her less steroids or something to do with the antibiotics. That morning she felt better but we decided to take her to see Dr. S. anyway. Dr. S. didn’t find anything in particular and because she felt better, sent us home. We took her to see another vet that day but that vet is not worth talking about.

The following week – I’ve decided to try ‘Yunnan Baiyao’ some powder my father brought from china. This powder is used on people but I read on the internet it helped some wild life (so why not my cat ?). I mixed the powder with IV solution I got from Dr. S. and put on her ear twice a day, It didn’t help much. At the end of the week we suddenly remembered that Boaz works at a company which manufactures laser products. He knew that they were selling veterinary products mostly in the U.S. but he asked at work and got a name of a vet in Ramat Gan (another two hours drive) who has used these products for three years. Boaz called Dr. S. (a different Dr. S.) and she told him that a laser treatment can help in some cases but first a biopsy should be taken (finally…).

17 March 2002 – Again Earless didn’t move much all weekend. On Saturday she didn’t eat alone but agreed to lick the food from my hand. I had to go to a conference in Tel Aviv that morning but I called Boaz from the train and asked him to take Earless to the vet again. Dr. S. examined her and discovered that she could not open her mouth for more than half an inch. He told Boaz to leave her at the clinic -- he wanted to consult the animal hospital and run some tests and X-rays and he also told him he knows Dr. S. and he can speak with her. Dr. S. told us to come back at 7 p.m that evening. Dr. S. called me a few times at the conference to let me know what he was doing with Earless. I couldn’t concentrate and all I wanted to do was go back to be with my Earless. At 5 p.m I drove crying to the clinic to wait for Dr. S. there. Earless looked better, she was alert and ate by herself (not the hypoallergenic food but a/d).

When Dr. S. came he showed me the X-rays he took (He also took a biopsy). He told me that she had some kind of mass that prevented her from opening her mouth. He also remembered something about a disease of white cat who stay in the sun but he wanted to read about it some more. We opened a book and read about Squamous Cell Carcinoma. The book didn’t say much and we decided to wait for the biopsy results.

18 March 2002 – I drove to work that morning although I knew I couldn’t work, eat or concentrate. On the way my dad called to ask how Earless was and I started crying again. I couldn’t stop crying and Boaz and I decided to go back home to be with Earless. Earless felt fine for a few hours but stopped moving around noon. At Evening we put her on the floor to see if she could walk but she just stayed where we laid her. At 9 p.m we used the emergency phone of Dr. S. and he told us to meet him at the clinic. Dr. S. injected her with some steroids and pain killer and she began to feel better. We all felt that waiting for the biopsy results was just a technical matter.

The following days – I stayed with Earless the whole week. She agreed to eat from my hand and some by herself but became weaker and weaker. She didn’t march in place on my body anymore and she didn’t come to sleep with me on our bed. On Thursday morning she went to her litter box but missed (not a good sign…). Thursday evening we noticed her nose was leaking when she ate. I took her to see Dr. S. Friday morning, but the biopsy results still hadn’t arrived.

22 March 2002 – Earless was so weak I’ve decided to remove her Elizabethan Collar, but at the moment I did so she managed to open the lesion and actually ran away when I wanted to put it back on. At noon Earless went to a sofa in another room and just stopped moving. She didn’t want to eat, and was now drooling from her mouth. At 5 p.m we couldn’t watch her suffer anymore and we used Dr. S. emergency phone again (It was Saturday, our day off in Israel). Dr. S. told us to meet him at the clinic at 7 p.m. Earless cried when we moved her to the carrier, she was in a lot of pain. Dr. S. examined her and told us that there is no need to wait for the biopsy results because Earless made the decision for us. Dr. S. told us about the procedure and asked us if we wanted to stay during the euthanasia. I couldn’t do it, after the first shot (general anesthetic) I kissed her, told her how sorry I was and left the room. We came home with the empty carrier feeling some relief because Earless didn’t suffer anymore but so empty. We collected all off Earless stuff and put them away in the storeroom (except for the pillow she used to sleep on which is still remained next to mine).

23 March 2003 – Dr. S. called to tell me the biopsy results, it was positive for Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

The following two weeks – I had some time off from work because of the holidays and I spent it reading about Squamous Cell Carcinoma. In every site I found, it said that the only way to treat Squamous Cell Carcinoma in the ears is partial amputation of the ear. The whole picture was clear now, Earless’ first vet diagnosed the disease, did the amputation, but it wasn’t enough so her first owner probably threw her away.

I found a nice link that describes the surgery that should be done to fight the disease (http://www.lbah.com/Feline/scc.html). They recommend to do it with a laser product which is manufactured by the company Boaz works for (how ironic…). I couldn’t help thinking that if Earless’ vets (and she was seen by 5!) had known the disease, or taken the biopsy sooner something could be done before it spread to the lymph nodes. I printed the stuff I found in that site and gave it to Dr. S. (My contribution to the next white cats he will see). I also wanted to sue the dermatologist for malpractice (after all, he is supposed to be a specialist) but I will probably just send him a letter letting him know how to diagnose and treat this disease.

I’m looking for a new cat now to fill the huge empty space Earless left in our home and in my heart although I know no cat can ever take her place.