Twygal and her "bump"

Twygal's bumpy face

Last night I finally had the pleasure of Twygal’s company on my lap for a bit. For a couple of weeks now she has been avoiding me because she fears that I may be trying to torture her in some way. You see, we are going through another medical “crisis” here.

Twygal started sneezing some weeks ago but it wasn’t severe and I was more concerned at the time with her lack of appetite so we didn’t really pay much attention to her sneezing. A couple of weeks later she had resumed eating but she was still sneezing, though again, not severely and with no discharge. One day, however, I was looking at her as she talked to me (she’s got to have some Siamese in her because she is always telling me about her day) and thought that her left eye looked different. I looked closer and realized that she had some swelling between her eyes that was affecting her left eye and left nostril.

I felt really bad at the time because I’d been concentrating so much on Rainbow’s trouble (see my posts here and here) that I may not have noticed Twygal’s swollen face. I’m sure that’s what was causing her to sneeze. But then it may not have been visible before. I mean, no one else noticed it either.

So, anyway, of the many things it could be infection was the easiest to treat. Dr. Adam suggested that we may need to take X-rays and maybe get an MRI in the future but the swelling and possible infection would only obscure anything else. We started her on a regimen of oral antibiotics and nasal drops. That is why she has been avoiding me. She is getting tired of the struggle we go through to administer those darn nasal drops. At her last visit to see Dr. Adam we decided to discontinue the drops as long as we didn’t see any discharge since it stressed her out so much.

And now, I can finally enjoy Twygal’s company without her being all stressed that I am going to do something unpleasant to her. Unfortunately her swelling has gotten worse. We have continued her oral antibiotic in hopes that the swelling is an infection that is coming to a head.

Twygal showing the blood from her nostril

After I took this picture and enlarged it on my computer I realized that she now has some blood coming from her left nostril. This could be a sign that an abscess is opening and starting to drain but it could also indicate something much worse – a tumor. The only way to determine that is to use an endoscope and look more closely into her nostril. But that would have to be done at Iowa State and I definitely can’t afford it. I really hate knowing that there is something out there but it is out of my reach – that I can’t give Twygal every chance to beat this, whatever it is.

Showing the swelling's effect on her left eye

Please pray with me that Twygal’s condition is not as serious as it appears. And keep her in your thoughts.

Have your cats ever had an infection or tumor of the face? How did it turn out? Also I’d like to hear about your experiences with multiple cats becoming ill at the same time. It really is quite draining to worry about Rainbow and Twygal, as well as Mewdy Blue who has decided he doesn’t like to eat anymore and Meadow who has a UTI! How do you cope?