Cat fight - does she need a vet?

[FrancineSmith]

Our beautiful 10 yr old cat has been in a scrap tonight. She has a wound somewhere near the base of her tail. Can't see the actual wound but the area is wet with blood and there have been quite a few drops of blood around where she has been. Initially the blood looked pale and watery, but has since got a little (not a lot) heavier and more like normal blood.

We've been watching her over the last half hour or so. Straight after the fight she came in and had some dinner, so clearly not off her food. She's been cleaning the wound lots and sitting a little tentatively on that area. She seems fine in herself, perhaps a little shaken but nothing that really worries me. Still purring loudly when fussed, eating, drinking, walking around etc.

DH is worried that we should be taking her to the vet right now (she's his first cat, and totally his princess ). I'm of the mind that she'll deal with this herself and we just need to keep an eye on her over the next few days for signs of infection, off her food or generally not herself. And give her lots of extra fuss and her favourite wet food of course

[FrancineSmith]

Sorry, pressed send too soon!

So what do you think? Vet tonight or keep an eye on things and see how she is in the morning?

[GiddyOnZackHunt]

I'd be inclined to agree with you. Unless the bleeding doesn't stop I would maybe think about a preventative antibiotic jab tomorrow or see if it heals. Mine often used to get in scraps and the first sign of a problem was them getting grumpy and off food because of an abscess.

[FrancineSmith]

Thanks Giddy, DH is a little reassured that it's not just me that thinks she doesn't need to be blue-lighted to fluffy a&e! He's set his alarm to check on her in a couple of hours, that's if she doesn't do her usual bit of jumping on him to wake him up

[DramaAlpaca]

I'd see how she is in the morning.

If she's been in a fight and has been bitten she probably will need an antibiotic shot, but if she's not obviously unwell I'm sure you can leave her until tomorrow.

[GiddyOnZackHunt]

I got my scrappers to ripe old ages with plenty of abcesses and vets trips but they always turned out fine :)

[Lilacpink40]

Advice from vet that has worked for me: Try to keep the wound open by cleaning out with warm salt water. Infection sets in when wounds close quickly with bacteria trapped.

If the wound looks large, infected or very sore when cleaning go to a vets.

[stonecircle]

If it's a bite then she should definitely have an antibiotic shot - but I'm sure tomorrow will be fine.

[RubbishMantra]

Due to the different colours of blood, I'd (personally) take her to the vets in the morning.

Are you absolutely sure the bleeding was caused in a fight?

Cats purr to self-soothe, I once saw a cat with an horrific injury to it's back leg, it was purring it's little head off. Leg had to be amputated.

[ColdFeetAndHotCakes]

Best thing to do would be to ring your local out of hours vet for advice. Had to do this a couple of times, torn ears and all sorts with my 2...

[BridgetDoodle]

Sounds most likely a bite wound to the bum as your wee one tried to get away. Extremely common! She should be fine overnight but maybe worth a trip tomorrow to assess wounds and get some AB on board to stop a cat bite abscess. As described above cleaning the area will help (if she'll let you!).
Don't fret of over the next few day to a week the area appears to be getting bigger, the damage caused usually causes more damage than you would think and the skin will slough off but healthy normal tissue will soon fill in the gap 😀
Cats are amazing healers

[FrancineSmith]

Thanks for all the replies. She still seems fine in herself this morning, the bleeding has stopped but there has been a little yellowish fluid coming from the area of the wound.

It was definitely a fight, we heard it and DH went to intervene and the other cat ran off.

I'm just trying to get my cat carrier back from it's borrower and will take her to vets this morning to get her checked over.

[iloveeverykindofcat]

For future use, get some Hibiscrub in. Dilute to bottle instructions and wipe over the area with a hibiscrub/water mixture on cotton wool. Best thing for cleaning cuts on pets.

[Icequeen01]

Just had a similar thing with one of my boys. Definitely worth a trip to the vet for some antibiotics. My boy was bitten, we think, whilst playing very roughly with his brother. He had 3 nasty puncture wounds at the base of his tail. He had an antibiotic injection and all seemed fine for a couple of weeks but then I noticed he was licking the base of his tail a lot. When I checked (he has a very fluffy tail so really wasn't easy to see) I was ashamed to find the wounds oozing and infected. He had to have another another trip to the vet where she cleaned the wound and gave him some more antibiotics and metacam. He's now fully recovered and back to rough and tumble with his brother - I'm sure it's just a matter of time until the next vet visit!

[FrancineSmith]

Thanks for the tip Ilove.

Vet has checked her over, the wound is about an inch long at the very base of her tail. He's cleaned her up and given antibiotic and painkiller. He wants to avoid stitching it as his concern was all the nerves in that area, which at the moment seem fine, luckily.

She's just glad to be home now

[DramaAlpaca]

Poor puss.

Glad she's sorted and hope she's feeling better soon.

[RubbishMantra]

Ah, I'm glad she's OK.

Nice one for taking her to see the vet.

When MCat's in a mood, he tries to bite Little M on the bum.