What's wrong? GRAFIC PIC
 

I have a barn cat that seems to have some sort of abcess on her neck. I noticed it first when I was on my way out of town on Friday. It got bigger over the weekend. I got her some moist food last night as she seems to be losing weight. She ate a lot of it, but not as much as if she were well.

This afternoon she showed up on the porch just oozing puss. It's all be white or yellowish white-no blood. I washed it out with Dial soap and peroxide. The skin that the fluids were in seemed saggy. I hope they tighten up but some of it looks really nasty.

Any idea what this is? Is it infectious? I have a lot of barn cats and I don't want to see them suffer. I have an early AM vet appointment for her.

Thanks!

Feline leukemia? Infection is also a possibility.

Poor baby. Was she bitten by something? Looks very infected to me.

Please keep us updated. I hope she will heal quickly.

She may need to have it packed by the vet so the infection doesn't stay in that nice moist enclosed environment.

I'm guessing bite due to the location.

Peroxide and dial isn't really the best choice but better than nothing. Pick yourself up some wound wash or I think there's a few recipes floating around on here.

Looks like a draining abscess from a bite to me, but I'm not a med professional. If that's what it is, that's what the right antibiotic, given in correct dose and treatment course, can work miracles for. I would guess Augmentin (amoxy+clav acid) in the right dose for kitty's weight would be a choice, maybe with an injected early knockout-punch different antibiotic first, BUT I'M NOT SURE. My opinion would be that you need to take her to a vet, "barn" category or not. At the least, talk with a vet or a vet supply storefront and get the "best guess" pills and start pilling her.

Took her to the vet. He thinks she has ear mites and probably hooked a nail while scratching it and since cat's have all sorts of yucky stuff in their nails it's pretty easy to get infected. He could have sent a sample off but he was confident that it was an abcess. He said he could run a lot of tests to find out exactly what it is but most of the time it's an infected scratch. Since the skin had burst there was no way to tell 100% if it was a bite or scratch.

Either way she got an antibiotic shot, wormed, eat mite treatment and some antibiotic goop shot up in the wound pocket. You know it's big when he uses a syringe deal that we used to shoot antibiotics up my goats teat when she had mastitis. :eek: I get to give her the next treatment in 24-36 hours. He thinks she'll be well on her way to healing by then.

So $106 later I'm guessing she'll either run off or be hit by a car in the next 3 days! :help:

As for the Dial and Peroxide....the vet recommended that when I called him yesterday. Actually he said the Dial, but I wanted to make sure the deep pockets of it were getting cleaned out so I put the peroxide in it.

And for the record....cats wait until the have a full head of puss, soap and water before the shake their heads. I recommend doing this with your mouth closed! :eek::peep::stars:

Good luck with your kitty, hope is all better soon! While you are at it, I'd treat all the cats for ear mites. They more than likely ALL have them.

It is an abcsess from a bite.
Cats seem to get them often and from every. single. bite.

I have always rinsed well, put a healing salve with comfrey in the wound and then rinsed daily with an herbal tea with anti-microbial herbs.. thyme, bee balm etc..
and given Vit. A rich vitamin paste to help the skin grow back.

It looks worse than it is and the infection was just between the skin and the fascia. It's just gross with the baggy skin and the huge hole, but keep it clean and encourage healing and it should be fine.

I ahve never had a cat with a lasting problem from them.. not even my old 18 year old kitty who got picked up by a wandering dog and bitten.

I've seen a lot of cat bite abscesses over the years. I'm glad you got it treated, poor kitty had to have been in pain, but they are so stoic about injuries. It looks very typical.

My vet always said that if the wound was near the head, the cat won the fight and if it was near the tail they lost... :)

Take care of it and she should be fine.

I vote for abscess too. Cats often slap each other in the jaw during fights, even if they don't bite, the claws can hook in and cause the same thing. It could have happened weeks ago and the surface tiny puncture heals over and the thing festers underneath. Then it breaks open and drains.

Kitty probably feels much better now that it's draining. Many of the neighborhood cats healed up just fine without any attention at all(couldn't catch them even if we wanted), but with antibiotics, should be fine quicker.

Yep, our barn cat Harley has had several. However, our vet said an abscess can become deadly very quickly in a cat. Harley nearly died from one abscess because we didn't notice it right away. We've had other cats have abscesses , but Harley always seems to get the sickest from them.

Your kitty should do find now and will hopefully put on some weight. Glad you took her in!

P.S. Never use peroxide!

Glad your kitty is on the mend!

The main thing is to keep it open, cat abscesses heal from the inside out. Only don't use the peroxide again, as that will damage the healing tissue. As long as it is open and draining it will heal. If hair gets matted over it or dirt in it, a hot compress will work in getting it clean again. Cats physiology is amazing. When they get an abscess like that the body walls it off, it fills with puss, and when it gets big enough, opens, drains, and heals. I love lancing and draining cat abscesses.

Um.........then keep her somewhere safe in the house? :shrug:

And yes, dont use peroxide, it destroys skin tissue

one of mine got bit by something in 2 spots (snake or another cat) by the base of her tail couple wks ago...swelled up, and when i did get it to drain 1 side was nasty smelling puss...the other was not puss but some puss & blood colored..once that one drained, it never swelled up again & she got better. i shaved the hair around the draining holes so they could keep draining & she could clean it. saved me a trip to the vet being able to clean & drain it

Drainage from a cat bite? It looks like the one my cat had, he was bitten directly over the windpipe thank god it didn't puncture. We didn't take him to the vet but we did go and get antibiotics from them. The abscess popped and oozed, but the medicine it healed up with in two weeks. A vet visit definitely looks like its in your future though. Good Luck, I hope he gets well soon.

Our cats get abscesses all the time, especially the two toms. I really want to take them to the $10 barn cat neuter place but just about the time I think we can take one they get a bad infection on a leg. I don't want to get reported to animal control.

I always try to keep antiobiotics on hand. Injectable
Penicillin is available in feed stores. I have given it, diluted, to the cats. My dad is rather infamous for stopping a course of antiobiotics when he starts to feel better. I get them from my mom. Most outdated abx are safe to use but they tend to have lower potency. That is not so good for us but OK for cats. Use google to see if a particular outdated abx is safe.

I haven't done it yet but need to order FishMox. It is available in some states OTC but not here in IL. I would suggest keeping that on hand.

Peroxide is bad stuff. It does more harm to tissue than to infection. I wouldn't use it on an animal or a human wound. It does, however, make a great paste for cleaning grout. Used sparingly you can also mix it with Gold Bond medicated powder to make a paste that treats dog hot spots.

How is your kitty doing? Hopefully a lot better..

Cat abscesses are always so impressive, but as long as it's burst open and draining, kitty will be fine.

When I worked as a vet tech, we had one tom who came in once or twice a year, covered in abscesses. He was as sweet as the day is long, but would get into some wicked fights, leaving him with abscesses all over his body.

We'd knock him out, lance the abscesses, irrigate with betadine, stitch in drains where necessary, shoot him up with antibiotics, and send him on his warm, fuzzy, orange cat way. He always healed up just dandy.

Looking forward to an "after" pic of your gal doing just fine!

I think that's a Abscess, but not sure.

Either way, take her to a vet ASAP, that's not normal.

Yes, it was an abscess, and she already took it to the vet. Many posters already shared different methods of treatment and their experiences with abscesses.

We've treated them successfully at home w/o a trip to the vet. <shrug> Can't always run an animal to the vet in town.

True, but with that kind of injury, I'd rush her over myself.

Pretty common in barn cats, but hey, it's your money and time.

Funnily enough, I adopted a barn cat, made him into a indoor cat.

Word to the wise, the first 3-4 years? I'd rather deal with a chicken flock on crack, less energy.

LOL! :hijacked:

We stopped having cats indoors when one of the toms developed inappropriate elimination habits after recovering from a bladder infection. It became easier to keep him outside, where he is infinitely happier, as it turned out.

My little Orange Julius, however, likes to go inside and outside. As long as he remains a good mouser and a human cuddler, that's okay with me.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled thread.