Cat Eye Swelling and Face Skin Lump

by Miranda

Abby: Age 12, Tabby Cat.

Abby: Age 12, Tabby Cat.

My cat is suffering from symptoms of cat eye problems including redness, swelling in the right eye, blood and puss coming from the eye, with a lump on face beside eye (near cheekbone). It all

started yesterday, but the lump on the face started 2 weeks ago.

She is an indoor cat. We have one healthy 3 year old male cat. She is a good eater and has been drinking. She sleeps like a cat but the last two days she has been a bit more lethargic.

With there being so many possibilities does this look like one of the illnesses more specifically? She is still eating and drinking and isn't acting like she is in pain. This happened suddenly. The only other strange occurrence is that she has a lump on the side of her cheek/cheekbone that appears and disappears and has been there for about a month.

Her nose appears to be red or possibly bleeding as well (by the lump on her face. She has been generally a healthy cat over the years.


Veterinarian Suggestion for Causes of Lump on Face and Cat Eye Problems


Hello Miranda,

You are right, there are a lot of potential causes for the symptoms you describe, and I’m having trouble coming up with just one problem that explains them all.

Here are a couple of possibilities, though. The lump on her face plus/minus the drainage from her nose could be caused by an abscess, perhaps related to a damaged tooth. The swelling could disappear when the abscess drains and reappear when the pus starts to build up again. I suppose it’s possible that the abscess or related infection is also somehow affecting her eye, but that might be a bit of a stretch.

Many cats also have latent viral infections of the eye that can flare-up during times of stress. Perhaps whatever is going on with the lump on her cheek resulted in a reoccurrence of a viral infection. Whatever is going on, I do think a trip to the veterinarian for diagnosis and treatment is in your cat’s best interest.


Regards,

Jennifer Coates, DVM

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Jan 04, 2018
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by: Dusky

Hi Miranda,

We've had multiple cats for the past 45 years. As such my family has experienced a myriad of cat maladies.

Our most recent episode was almost precisely as you've described... Gus, our 13 year old tabby Maine Coon had swelling (in our case severe and fast), runny eye/nose with bleeding. Appetite was ok, drinking, urinating, and evacuating normally, fairly active but a bit lethargic with occasional bouts of sneezing or coughing.

It all started when in an effort to avoid getting swiped by a younger brother, Gus banged his head on a heavy table leg, causing damage to his upper teeth on his left side.

We paid a visit to the vet the next day and had the damaged teeth extracted... All seemed normal for about a month. Then the swelling, running/bleeding eye/nose discharge symptoms started.

Vet initially diagnosed as a URI... administered antibiotics injections twice for a month (every two weeks) with only a minimal improvement.

Another visit to the vet with severe swelling and obvious distress produced a more serious diagnosis, as a matter-of-fact THE single diagnosis you hope never to receive... "probably a tumor".

Many years ago, with an earlier feline member of our family we had heard a similar diagnosis. Having put our "child" through many months of painful, costly surgeries, and chemo, we eventually lost him.

My wife and I swore the we would never force another family member repeat that scenario again.

We gave Gus his final vet visit just after this year began (2018).

As hindsight is always 20-20, the symptoms indicated an abscess or a cyst that could have indeed been resolved... but then this is probably shoulda-coulda-woulda thinking.

So if you haven't already, DO pay a visit to your vet... and DO take care of your tabby ASAP... It's highly likely to be an abscessed tooth (which is what I suspect was my cat's problem.. and from the look on our vet's face as he looked at the gums was something similar)

BTW, most of "guys" typically live with us for 16 to 21 years.

Best Regards
Dusky
W3RPZ@protonmail.com

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