Question for vets and cat-knowledgeable folks

Skitty has been scratching her ears bloody for over a year. I finally got some surgery that was supposed to remove the lesions/polyps/whatever that we thought were causing it.

I've also been giving her about two weeks of ointments/antibiotics, one right after the surgery, the other for six days, before I noticed she was shaking her head, but not scratching at her e-collar any longer. So, today, I took the e-collar off.

Within 30 minutes, she'd scratched her left ear bloody. (Yes kightp, it *was* her right ear that had it worse before.)

I grew up where Cats Were Declawed. That's just What One Did; one got a cat, and One Had It Declawed. And I've learned how painful it can be, and decided that I'd rather not do it to a cat, but I also know a cat can live a long, happy life after being declawed. I don't want to do it - the poor kitty's had a hard life already. But I think declawing might be better than her continuously opening up her ears. And, something has to change - I can't live with a cat who keeps spattering blood all over the house.

Obviously, we still want to address whatever-the-hell is bothering her ears. I should probably try another vet - I've started to have serious questions about my current one. But I'm hoping someone else might have some ideas, and let me know that whether the vet's going to look at me like something they scrape off the bottom of their shoe under the circumstances.

Mystery possibly solved...

Near as I can tell, what happened was that a significant piece of the surgical incision was re-opened this morning.

I don't know what this tells me about the vet, but that incision was stitched, and stitches came out 6 days ago, and the area was undisturbed, and then within minutes of the cone coming off, Skitty's got a big gash on her ear - worse than I'd realized, even.

So, this clears up a major part of my worry. How could a cat who hadn't been scratching at the cone *at all* (except right after her ointment was applied) suddenly rip her ear open to the point that it was dripping blood? It couldn't be the itchiness - not when she'd left the cone alone for a couple days. Well, it must mean her ears are so fragile, it's either keep her in the cone in pereptuity, or consider other drastic measures.

But now we have an explanation for the fragility.