Cat keeps licking wound!

[Celen]

Hi all

My girlcat has clearly got into a tangle with another cat & a very small chunk of fur is missing from her near her tail/bottom of her spine.
There's a small amount of blood but I've looked at it and it's not deep, just a skin wound. She doesn't appear to be in pain and eating well still.

But she keeps licking it - is it because it's just freaking her out/possibly irritating her? It's such a small wound that I'm not inclined to take her to the vet but wondering how long I should leave her trying to lick it before going as I'm worried it'll never heal.

Any thoughts? It's only been 12ish hours since she got it. Thank you

Vet nurse here. If she were mine I'd probably take her in. If she's been licking it a lot, she will most likely have already given herself an infection. It's probably also irritating and painful if she's paying that much attention to it. And lastly, I've found that cat hair can very much disguise the extent of a wound! Has she let you have a good look under the fur?

At the very least, I'd find a way to stop her licking. Do you happen to have a buster collar?

Hope this helps!

Ah thank you so much for the reply. I've just caught her licking it again so think I will have to take her, the little furry pest! Thanks so much for the advice, really appreciate it

Good that you're taking her in.

Cat wounds can be funny things - not much showing on the surface but a lot going on underneath the skin and fur. Added to that, there's not a lot of flesh or loose skin on tails so a greater chance, I think, that a bite in that general area will get through to something like bone or nerves - and cats have really filthy mouths and claws when it comes to fighting wounds.

I wouldn't take any chances with a wound in that general area that was still giving her irritation.

Good luck - and let us know how she gets on?

I will do cozie, can't get to vets til later but hopefully won't be a too long/expensive visit!

Poor girlcat

She's got a buster collar on and fought every second of getting it on poor darling. She had an antiseptic bath on her wound & painkilling injection too. Vet mentioned a stitch or two but wanted to give it a chance to heal without going down that route first.

She's "prowling" about, bumping into things & currently under our bed feeling sorry for herself. She managed to eat a bit of dinner though despite the collar so that's good. We're going back Monday to get it checked up again. My poor sweet girl

My old cat was so distressed by his buster collar that he tried to run backwards to escape from it, when he tried to run backwards downstairs DH decided to take the collar off and I managed to make a baby vest into a catproof wound protector (wound was on chest/armpit area so a bit easier to keep covered)

How is girlcat today?