My cat has this injury. How to treat??

[Dragone]

My cat came home with a big lump on his head 2 days ago with blood coming out a tiny hole. Now it looks like this photo ove attached. How should I treat it? He's been licking his paw and frantically rubbing the area for about half and hour now.

Bathe it with some cooled boiled water and put some antiseptic cream on as it will help soothe it. Then get him to the vets asap as he probably needs painkillers & antibiotics.

Don't use human antiseptic creams on it as they can be toxic to cats!

Wake them up ffs. Don’t let him suffer.

If he’s always being attacked, invest in cat fencing or an enclosure. It doesn’t have to be like this.

Is he neutered?

As others have said, it's an abscess. My cat had one a couple of years ago; the vet said he must have been fighting, got a puncture wound, and it became infected. The smell was quite something (not envy). When it was cleaned out he had a crater in his head which I was horrified by but the vet was very happy about. It healed up remarkably well.

Unbelievable. So that poor cat has to suffer all night.
If one of your children was ill I'm sure you would take them to hospital in an emergency.
This is no different. Your cat is in pain.

Poor thing. He needs to go to a vet now (and should have gone earlier).

My cat had a abscess drained at the vets after a bite around his shoulder... unfortunately he already had an infection and developed sepsis and had to have his leg amputated. Cost 900 quid in total and had a very poorly puss. All from a bite. Def see the vet asap.

My boy is super duper on 3 legs now

There's a whole host of reasons why I cannot go to a vet now, not just sleeping children. One nearby opens at 8.30am tomorrow. I will get DH to take him then.

There are out of hours vets.

Don’t be cruel or neglectful to your pet.

For the first time ever I'm going to have to hide a thread.
This has reduced me to tears.
I'm going to say it...some people should not be allowed to have animals.
I don't care if I get flamed. It's cruel beyond words

Out of ours vets are massively expensive!!
I’m sure the cat will be fine for a few hours. The OP is doing her best. It’s 10pm on a Sat night!
Animals are excellent at healing themselves. Ring them in the morning OP. Some vets will let you send a photo instead of actually bringing the animal, do you think you’re vet would allow this, seeing as he gets so distressed?

Can I just add that I’m a nurse and I can assure you that many, many people go about their every day lives with abscesses and although painful they are extremely, extremely rarely life threatening.
Honestly, it’s a cat bite abscess, cats get them all the time. He is eating and drinking. He will live until morning!

Looks like a cat bite abscess. Ours had one few months ago. Vet lanced it and squeezed all the puss out. We had to bathe it several times a day and give him antibiotics. Eventually sorted itself out. The amount of gunk in it was insane though. Poor thing. Vets first thing for sure. Let us know how you get on OP

Yes give is clean with some boiled salted water. Be gentle and get him tucked up somewhere warm for the night. Vets first thing and I'm sure in a few days he'll be much better.
Please keep us updated? Lots of us are interested in how he is doing. Good luck op

Yes. Painful. He needs pain relief and antibiotics. It’s not a few hours, it’s over night plus however long. This is what insurance is for, if you don’t take it out, you need to be prepared to pay when needed. The abscess covers a large % of one side of the upper head. When people have abscesses they get on with things, but they also have access to medical care. The OP is denying the cat health care.

Oh dear God. Dramatic much Bellabonkers

I have 2 children and knowing them well along with gut instinct has stood me in good stead about when to take them to the docs or straight to hospital. The same goes for my cat. He is showing NO different signs/behaviour than normal.

We waited to see how it developed as he's been in many fights before with no ill effects and nothing some home first aid has not sorted out.

Now it's going into day 3 I was starting to suspect that we should take him to a vet, even with his issues with vets. As I'm concerned I thought I'd post asking for advice.

I don't think it warrants waking my children at this time of night and trying to get him to a vet with a whole host of other issues stopping me going right now.

Agree with EleanorLavish about treating tomorrow being sufficient given other info about cat's overall form. It would have been a lot more painful and toxic to the system before it burst, when you didn't know about it. (I.e. if there was a point at which you should have been sprinting off to the OOH vet, that would have been it). It's also only about another 14 hours til you're there.

However, it does look quite icky still. Suggest you bathe it with salted cooled boiled water. Don't use antiseptics as could be toxic to a cat via their paws from washing.

Letus know how you get on...

I am an RSPCA cat rescue centre volunteer. That photo made me shudder. Your poor cat has a large infected wound that needs urgent attention. Please get him to a vet quickly.

Going into day 3?!?!
This cat is undoubtedly in pain. They are very stoic and hide pain incredibly well. We had no idea old girl had bloody awful arthritis until a routine vet check showed it up.
Out of hours. You have pets? You have a duty to keep them out of pain and get vet help ASAP as needed.
Poor bloody cat.

Day 3. Give me strength. So if you’d gone in earlier you wouldn’t have needed an OOH vet appointment...

Ps - any chance of vet visiting you at home given the pooing in the carrier on way to/from vet? Or can you time car journey just after trip to litter tray? (Our old cat used to do this - i just remembered grom your post. Vet staff were great and would clean her up, but all a bit grim.)

So what we do is hot flannel treatment. Big bowl of boiled water. Dissolve salt in it. When it's cool enough to soak the boiled flannels in we soak the site of the infection. Wipe soak wipe soak. Keep using clean flannels as the water needs to stay clean.

You should eventually be able to squeeze the site and a lot of pus will come out and probably some fairly solid lumps. Often smells rank. Keep soaking and squeezing til you really have everything out. Then disinfect the shit out of it.

I've done this to a lot of cat abscesses. I've only gone to the vet for one once. Farming background maybe that alters the way we do things a bit. They've always healed fine so far but you should do what you think is right. He'll be more comfortable with less swelling though.

Absolutely disgusting. You’re on day 3 and still haven’t taken your car to the vet.

Some people really shouldn’t be allowed to have pets.

One you've disinfected dry the site.

Take him to the vet you selfish cow. He is in pain and is clearly injured. You've had plenty of time while whinging and posting on here about your other issues. Stop farting around and get him seen to - you are now verging into neglect and cruelty. Shame on you. If you can't responsibly look after him you shouldn't own him. And really - do you need to ask what to do? You should know!