My cat has been in a fight and her nose is a bit messed up. Am i doing the right thing by...

[thelittleElf]

just cleaning it with cool water and a bit of salt? What else can i do to stop infection and should she be seen by the vet tomorrow?

TIA

I would put a little bit of savlon on

thanks plinkyplonk! might give it a go. do you think she'll need a jab or anything?

She might do. Cat scratches and bites can get nasty infections in them.

Poor kitty.

some people swear by colloidal silver for this sort of thing

NO, don't put savlon on it - it's too strong for animals! Just cooled boiled water with a bit of salt in it if you want.

antibiotics might be a good idea tho, how bad (how deep?) are the scratches?

i've just looked for savlon and haven't got any, so i guess thats out anyway?

Personally I wouldn't treat it with anything. Let the cat wash it himself and deal with it naturally. I think they have antiseptic qualities in their own fluid when washing.

BUT I would check whether or not she seems well/has a temperature regularly over the next 24 hours or so.

I almost lost my old cat as he got blood poisioning from another cat biting him. The vet explained that the bacteria from the cat's teeth went straight into his blood stream with the bite. The reaction was very quick. He was ill within hours of being in the fight.

Hope she's okay!

No savlon, no silver anything. Cats are very sensitive to these things and can be poisoned by them.

Clean it with salty water, dilution strength = level teaspoon of salt to a pint of water so the level of salt used is not excessive when the nose gets licked as it will. If the nose is not looking great and the wound drying up with no swelling within the next 48hrs then take the cat to a vet for a check up please. If there are any deep tooth wounds then the cat should see a vet anyway tomorrow.

Thanks everyone- this is my little cat and TheLittleElf is very kindly taking care of her for me whilst I am working away in France.

You have all been very helpful.

Just out of interest; how does one take a cat's temperature?

i've cleaned her nose twice now, and it seems alot better than it was. I'm going to see what she's like in the morning and if need be i'll get her to the vets.
Thank you to everyone for their advice

If she is running a temperature you will quickly realise it as she will be obviously unwell/out of sorts.

I used to have a cat who was always getting into fights with the cat downstairs. She used to huddle up against the window, to try and keep cool!

I was always told to feel their ears? Is that not right then

Er - don't know! Why would you do that? Too feel if they're too hot? Sorry, I have no expert wisdom/knowledge at all!

When my cat had a temperature he was just clearly unwell, lethargic and not moving and physically very hot to touch. As well as the obvious dry nose, his nose was very hot.

Just out of interest (doesn't apply here but as cat owners will be reading this thread someone might gain something from this) when my cat got run over he had seemed okay but was quite cold to touch. I hadn't realise he'd been run over at this stage, could see he wasn't himself but thought because he didn't have a temperature he wasn't too ill. Unfortunately it was a sign his body was already shutting down.

So, I'd worry if the cat had a temperature and also worry if the cat seems a little colder than expected!

Don't use anything unless it's licensed for cats. Even something as seemingly innocuous as TCP is deadly to felines.

Poor puss - call the vet if you're concerned.

Good luck!

Well she's fine thankfully , but she did pop outside earlier, and i caught her looking over towards the neighbours garden, so i grabbed her off the fence quickly, before she got any ideas

Thank you again for everyones help yesterday!

Ok, i need your help again please. I had a visit from a neighbour last night saying he had come home to find the cat in his house , and it was his cat she had been fighting with?
She was never like this before this other cat moved in a few doors down, and don't really know what to do about her going in someone elses house? I did have a word with her about breaking and entering but her response to my lecture was to roll on her back for a tickle
The neighbour isn't there all the time,and i'm worried about her being in their for hours and fighting with the other cat?
What the heck can i do? Any ideas????

difficult, the cats may well sort things out for themselves, otherwise perhaps your neighbour should invest in a water pistol. If the cat is entering through a cat flap and it becomes a big problem i guess you could offer to go halves on a cat flap that opens in response to a special collar, obviously worn by your neighbours cat and not yours.

Otherwise, I guess you could suggest feline mediation? Relate??

Hmm might go and have a chat with him tomorrow, and suggest the water pistol. As much as i don't want her squirted, if it will stop her then i guess it's worth a try?
As for Relate......

It is cat nature - We have two cats that wanted to come in our cat flap after our cat when we moved here. I just used to hide by the catflap when I knew they were about and make lots of scarey noise banging it. They don't bother to come here any more now. A water pistol or garden sprayer usually has the same effect. The aim is for the neighbour to make the place unpleasant for your cat to be there but obviously not to hurt it.

Ultimately if he doesn't like your cat coming in his cat flap he should change the flap so he can control which cat goes in and out, or maybe he should allow out only on his flap for his cat to get out, and lock it to in and make sure he lets his cat in the door every so often instead. It is unreasonable for him to expect you to stop your cat going in his catflap though. I do think though that keeping him on side with friendly chat is a worthwhile thing to do and it does seem like a good idea for neighbour relations to offer to go halves on a controllable catflap as lucyellensmum suggested.

Good luck - cats - who'd have em!?