How long should a cat abscess take to heal?

[MyCatScaresDogs]

As per my user name, DCat appears to have some kind of body dysmorphia where she perceives herself to be the size of an Alsatian and expects all other four-legged creatures to back off if she glares at them. Didn’t work this time and she came home 3.5 weeks ago in a very subdued state. Has been grounded ever since as she developed an abscess on her head from a wound, probably from a fight.

But 3.5 weeks on, she is still grounded (and will be for another fortnight as she has just developed a new abscess or bit of one) and is still sporting the Cone of Shame.

How long should this kind of wound take to heal? We were at the vet’s within 48 hours of the incident (and would have been sooner but couldn’t see anything obviously wrong and thought she’d had a fright but perked up). Six visits later and it’s still not fully healed.

The abscess has been drained and cleaned twice under sedation. New bit has been cleaned today. She’s now had a second antibiotics jab. She’s had pain relief and eye drops as one eye started to go pus-y. We have been following instructions to wipe/bathe in cooled boiled water.

Does it sound as though she has just been unlucky or as if there’s something else wrong? She is a normally very healthy, albeit feisty, seven year old cat. Vaccinations are up to date. But am concerned as we’ve never had a fighting injury that’s gone on this long.

They can take an age. My fighting cat wore the cone of shame for three weeks. I had been away and ds was looking after the mogs. we got back from UK, and I went to see the cats, and the minute I saw fighting cat, I could smell the abscess from across the room (and the fact he was huddled on a sheepskin rug on the floor was a big clue too). Ds (23 at the time) was oblivious as he had a heavy cold and couldn't smell anything. God knows how as the smell hit me instantly.

I found the wound on an ear, touched it lightly, and sent ds off for water and cotton buds, and got most of the crap out. The next day we were in the vet. She thought she had got most of the rest out, he had antibiotic shots and had to take pills and metacam. However, there was still crap coming out when I cleaned the wound a couple of times a day, and then the scratching started, and voila, another wound. We trotted off back to the vet and had a cone of shame that was intensely disliked. We had some special iodine based liquid to clean the wound and special pads with which to do it..and still the gunk came out of both sites. Back to the vet again, and she was going to give me zinc cream, but I wanted to try sudocream as I had read it worked. I applied sudocream religiously after cleaning and patting the wound sites dry, and within 3 days everything had begun to heal. Fighting cat now has a misshapen ear, but no wounds.

We moved back to UK, and I let him out eventually. He came through the catflap and looked a bit perturbed and was sore, so off to the vet. She couldn't find anything, but gave him an injection. Two days later, I noticed the side of his face was swollen up, found the wound, degunked it, bit of sudocream, and it healed without issue. I keep telling him that at 16.5 he is too old to fight..he needs to resign himself to being a house cat.

Can take weeks! Same misperception of young god of fight (but is a 17 year old neutered fellow who isn't very large at all) so we have annual vet bills related to wounds

Thanks for replying - that is reassuring (in that they can take an age to heal). Back at the bloody vet’s today for more pain relief as the stuff they gave us ran out as soon as we got home (naturally). Thank God for insurance.

I would mind less if she hadn’t taken to sleeping at the top of the stairs on the corner step - am due to give birth pretty much any day now so apart from cat bathing not being a preferred activity at this stage, I’d really prefer not to induce labour with a tumble down the stairs...