Pet Forum / Miscellaneous / Animal Health / July 2005

I took in a stray cat two weeks ago which at first glance looked like
it had an URI - green/yellow excretions running out of the nose and
eye. Upon closer examinatation, she had a large absess over her left
eye, which was draining through the sinuses, and her skull feels
abnormally formed (sorry for the vagueness, I can't describe it any
better). After phone-consultation with my vet, I lanced the absess,
flushed it daily and treated her with Clavamox for five days - my vet
then spayed her, and I asked him to take a look at her teeth at the
same time, as one canine has an exposed root. She concluded that the
absess was not caused by the tooth (no visible swelling/inflammation of
the gums surrounding the tooth and something about the canines not
being connected to the sinus cavities), but that it could be caused by
trauma to the skull (we did find her in a dumpster), cancer or a brain
absess. She suggested conservative treatment for now i.e. continue on
antibiotics to see whether it gets resolved. I had to switch to Baytril
after seven days as the opening was still oozing pus. Now, after seven
days of Baytril, there's still no improvement. I am taking her back to
the vet on Monday to do x-rays, prior to that, does anyone have any
pointers to where I can get some background on cancer/brain absesses?
Would osteomyelitis also be an option, since we don't know how she
ended up this way? Thanks!