A 7-year-old female spayed Domestic Shorthair was presented to a veterinarian for a pruritic skin lesion of several weeks duration located on her right inner thigh. She was a mostly indoor cat with no other pets in the home, and not on flea control.
Eosinophilic Plaque
The veterinarian used the OtoPet-USA Video Otoscope full image lens to take a picture of this raised, thickened and erythematous lesion. This picture was printed for the veterinarian’s records and for the client.
Eosinophilic plaques typically look like raised, thickened, raw areas of skin, and are usually located on the belly, inner thigh, anal, or throat areas. Cats with these lesions are commonly extremely itchy.
The veterinarian made a slide by pressing it against the lesion and then looking under the microscope for eosinophils, which were present, thus confirming this condition.
In most cases, eosinophilic plaques respond to cortisone-type medications. Typically an injection of a long-acting corticosteroid (such as Depo-Medrol) is given and most lesions resolve with one or two injections. This cat was given an injection of both Convenia and Depo-Medrol, both of which were repeated at 2 and 4 weeks, respectively. The cat was also placed on flea control. The lesion was resolved with this treatment.
If you have an interesting case that you would like to submit with pictures, please contact Dr. Jessica Melman Bhatia at jessvet3@aol.com.