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[mhitesman]

Of course everything scares me now, but Maxwell, my 12 year old short hair cat has a rather large open sore on one side of his face.  No other symptoms.  Appetite good.  Normal behavior.  I am taking him to Comet's vet tomorrow.  The sore is red and oozing looking, large black rim, hair all gone in the surrounding area, and it appears to have a depression in the middle, like a puncture.  My mother is here visiting and she said she was petting him a couple days ago and felt a lump there ...  Could someone please describe the blasto lesions?  Does this sound like blasto lesion?  Is there sometimes just one?  Something else I should be looking for?  I have read that cats can get it too but its less common for cats.  My cat does like to roll in the dirt.

[luvmyjacks]

Good grief what next???  Neither of my dogs had lesions but the infectious disease Doctor I talked to at a horse show said that if they are squeezed they often have black material come out several holes - (like a pepper shaker).  He didn't mention any kind of depression.
My Vet told me that he has seen it in horses and it is in cats on occasion as well.  Once again I think the difficulty in diagnosing it means that lots of animals probably have had it and for one reason or another the owners don't go to the next level based on what they think is wrong.  In a horse if the eyes were involved I think the owners would just have the animal euthanized and not look further.  Likewise if an x ray showed a mass on the lungs..... 
I hope your poor kitty just has something that needed to burst in order to start healing.  Crossing fingers - again.

[mhitesman]

Well, it does not sound like what you describe.  It also does not appear to be "oozing".  But it is nasty.  I will call the vet and take him in tomorrow.  I put some triple antibiotic cream on it.  DUH.  It did not take him long to wash it off with his little paws.  Hopefully, he just got snagged on something.  I blocked off (with dirt ...wore a mask ...) below the fence line so he cannot get out of the yard anymore.  The good news is that Comet is feeling just wonderful.  I want to cry when I look at my beautiful dog's stitched shut eye, but I am so glad to have him.  It all just happened so fast!!!

[Jen]

Along with her respiratory problems, DB had one larger lesion on her back, about the size of a quarter.  It was a sore that wouldn't heal, kind of black except for where it "oozed" in the middle. It was never red or bloody. She also lost all the hair around it.  After her initial diagnosis, we noticed several other very small black sores around her feet and ankles. Those all cleared up fairly quickly after starting Itra, and we used an antifungal cream on them as well.  Wilson3's sores were much different looking and required LOTS more care and treatment, so I couldn't say that there is a "typical" blasto lesion.
 Sorry about Comet's eye, but hopefully that's the worst of it.  Good luck w/kitty.
jen

[luvmyjacks]

How is the sore on your cat's face?  Now I am paranoid and convinced everyone and every pet has blasto!  There are so many symptoms.  Hope kitty is recovering and blasto free

[mhitesman]

Maxwell's open sore is a wound. Probably from a neighborhood cat since my cat is an escape artist and digs under the fence faster than I can fill...  He is trapped inside now unless I can watch him when he is out.  The wound turned out to be a blessing, though, since the vet at Tech (previous vet missed it completely) diagnosed him right away with hyperthyroidism.  Apparently pretty common in middle aged and older cats (Max is ~12 near as we can tell).  Symptoms are weight loss despite CONSTANT hunger and eating, lots of bathroom activity, extreme restlessness and grouchy as well as starting to get an unkempt coat look about him.  Also a rapid heart rate.  He is on meds to treat this for two weeks when we return to have liver checked and also to check for other ailments that might have been caused and masked by the hyperthyroidism such as heart disease or kidney failure.  The liver check is to check for adverse side effects of the meds, which he is given twice per day.  There are three treatments for this condition.  One would be to continue the meds twice each day for the rest of his life.  This would treat the condition but not cure.  The other two, surgery and radioactive iodine treatment (one sub-q shot) are considered to be cures.  The shot is the preference of the two and is the treatment for humans as well.  He would be, however, radioactive for a few days and would have to stay in the hospital in isolation.  Both surgery and the shot are expensive -- around $1000 as near as I have been able to figure out from web research.  If Max turns out to have cardiac disease or severe kidney damage he is not a candidate for radioactive therapy and perhaps not even for surgery.  Blasto is rare in cats.  Thankfully, it is not that. 

Thank you so much for asking.