My Siamese cat has an infected, swollen salivary gland and is in pain

by BARB
(SARATOGA SPRINGS NY)

Fluffy came to me six yrs ago from a Navy couple who left him and his mom and auntie in two different homes.

They didn't tell me Fluffy, the champion son Siamese, was ill, but they knew I came from a medical family.

So Fluffy went to the vet, and we were told the previous owner misfed Fluffy, by feeding him only cheap dry cat food. Vet told me to give Fluffy 1/2 can of Fancy Feast in a.m. with a little Purina Urinary Tract Health System dry food.

Fluffy's teeth were abscessed, and some had to be pulled.

This past spring, Fluffy had 4 teeth or 3 teeth pulled.

Now fluffy has a severely swollen salivary grape-size gland on the left side of his throat. He vomits after he eats as well, which he has been doing occasionally since the surgery. I comb fluffy often, to prevent fur balls, etc.

Fluffy is in pain, and he is on Clindamycin (antibiotic), but it doesn't seem to be reducing the swollen grapesized salivary gland.

His blood sugar was a little elevated when the vet did his surgery, but not enough he said to worry too much.

Fluffy's salivary swollen gland is right under the area where fluffy had his teeth pulled. One cause of swollen salivary gland can be trauma.

Another might be a severe mouth bacteria infection. Another might be due to diabetes. Another might be due to obstruction of saliva, due to trauma or tumor or bacteria infection
Or HIV (feline aids) or other things, I read.

What do you think? I'm not sure what to do. The vet who pulled his teeth, was a ''farm vet'', so I am worried about going back to him.

An animal support group sent fluffy to this vet, because he was cheaper for their budget, since fluffy is a rescue Siamese.

He vomits, he's in pain, he puts his cheek and throat to my body to keep it warm, and to let me know it hurts.

I'm worried.

He is also seemingly I believe to be missing some facial hair right under his two ears, on his face. It seems scaly and white, where the rest of his facial hair and face is black.

This is fluffy's story .

Help me know what is the cause of his swollen salivary gland, and what can I do to fix it.

He also has been exposed to two nasty motel rooms since October, that the NY state county here has placed us in. I got out of both of them, after many weeks though.

Fluffy would crawl up into the box spring of the nasty room's bed, to hang out and to sleep. One motel was backed up (toilet and tub) and was mold-infested.

We forced the county to place us at a clean quiet motel, which they finally did. But we suffered from October 5th til January 6th at filthy motels. So I think he may have picked up a motel's nasty bacteria infection possibly or some disease.

The dental surgery, the horrid county paid motel nightmarish filth, diabetes, trauma from dental surgery last spring, six yrs of dry cat food diet by navy young kid owners who didn't know better, tumor, calcified blockage of salivary gland on just the dental surgery side of his throat/jaw, ....

And then whatever the cause, what do I do for fluffy now asap?

Thank you ever so kindly.

Fluffy's owner Barb