I mentioned the fact that my cat grew a horn on his head in a previous blog. But someone suggested I should give it a blog of its own in case there are people out there looking for information about it. Some of my cat health posts are very popular (epilepsy, asthma, cryptorchidism). So here we go!
My Cat Grew A Horn On His Head
Treacle Is Trouble
Our cat Treacle is trouble with a capital T. He can be very cute and cuddly but has to be the center of both attention and controversy. He regularly gets into fights with the other cats and he also has a nasty habit of marking the furniture if we don’t keep an eye on him. Last year he attacked Stevie Mouse and damaged her eye. She nearly lost her eye but luckily we were able to save it. Now we have to give her eye drops twice a day for the rest of her life!
We often say what a little devil Treacle is. So it seemed quite fitting that he should grow a horn on his head.
It Started Off Being Funny
I was cuddling him one evening and noticed that when I stroked his head there was something sharp. I couldn’t see what it was in the light. Next morning, when I looked, it looked like a thorn or even another cat’s claw sticking out of his head, just in front of his ear. I tried to pull it out but it didn’t move and it didn’t seem to hurt him at all. So I thought I would leave it and have another look as it was bound to start to move.
But it appeared to be really stuck to him. I tried over a couple of days to remove it and then realized that it wasn’t something stuck in his head, it was something growing out of his head. Literally my cat grew a horn on his head.
Rapid Growth
Over a few days it grew at quite an alarming rate and really was hard, like a finger nail. I arranged a time to take him to the vet the next day to have it checked and removed. That evening the end of it was starting to lift slightly as you can see in the photo. Of course Treacle then disappeared outside and didn’t return for 24 hours. When he came back, the horn was no longer there but there was a big hole left in his head! There was no blood, the hole was quite dry and it gave him no discomfort. The vet thinks he must have caught it on something.
Anyway, with nothing to remove and test the vet could only speculate based on my photographs. He said it was a subcutaneous growth. He said that if we were very lucky, the whole thing had come out and it wouldn’t grow again. But in his experience these growths were often cancerous and might come back. If it did it would have to be removed for biopsy.
There is no sign of regrowth so I think we have been lucky! There is a tiny scar that I check every now and then but hopefully that is enough of that scare.
However, fast forward to October 2023 and I was cuddling Treacle and noticed what I thought was a scab on the side of his neck. Looking closer I thought it was a thorn sticking in his neck – then I realised it was another of these horny growths! Luckily, that one dropped off after a week. So it pays to be alert and keep checking!
About Subcutaneous Horns
Apparently these horns are more common that I thought, often growing on a cat’s paw. And mostly they are not dangerous. They can appear on different parts of the cat’s body as you can read about in this article. They are caused by an overproduction of keratin which is the same thing that make our finger nails. So I was right when I said it reminded me of a finger nail.
If you want more information, put ‘subcutaneous horn cats’ in your search engine!
Cat Art Images
Check out my cat art images at my Art Heroes (Europe), Pictorem (USA and Canada) and RedBubble (worldwide) stores.
Before you go
My name is Dorothy Berry-Lound an artist and writer. You can find out more about my art and writing at https://dorothyberryloundart.com.
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Thank you for reading!
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