posted Tue 10-02-2009 21:56:36, in the personal () category

Last weekend I noticed that Sam, one of my cats, had a weird black skin anomaly, between his right ear and eye (the animal itself is completely black, so it was hard to notice, and it also means I have no idea how long it's been there). I took him to the vet today, but he was uncertain: it's either a sebaceous gland infection (or in Dutch: een talgklier ontsteking) or it's a melanoma (or in Dutch: een melanoom, huidkanker dus). This means that it's either something completely harmless, or something extremely deadly. Poor Sam.... I received an ointment I need to apply thrice a day: if it works and this thing starts shrinking, then it's an infection and all is well. If it doesn't shrink, then it's a melanoma and Sam will need surgery to remove the damn thing. In the latter case, I really hope there hasn't been any metastasis yet... It's a relief for me that I'm quite sure Sam doesn't feel any pain because of it: when the vet tried to break the thing in order to determine if it was a mere blood blister, Sam didn't react at all. Only after thirty seconds of being held uncomfortably by the vet did he start to hiss at him ^_^

More on this this Friday!