Cat swollen cheek

[TiddleTaddleTat]

Any ideas what it could be? Have just noticed one side of his head is swollen. He seems to be acting as usual.
I wondered if a wasp or bee sting, any other ideas?

Poor sweetie. I hope he feels better soon.

Yes I might start keeping him in overnight. Could set the cat flap to enter only I suppose , as he comes in for dinner and a cuddle when we eat and then often after if we watch tv. He doesn't like the litter tray though and so we got into the habit of letting him out at night because he had giardia and diarrhoea was often on the sofa in the morning. Seems to have cleared up after treatment though.

If he got the injury in his cheek then at least he's fighting back. My cat would get bitten in the arse as he ran away.

I would definitely keep him in at night. Mine have a curfew! Is he neutered?

Oh yes neutered. I said he's little; I mean physically very small. He's 5.

My girls are quite small too. But feisty!!

Today 08:18 TiddleTaddleTat

I've tried to feel the swollen area a bit more this morning and there seems to be something sticking out of his cheek. Potentially another cat's claw (he's come home with a claw stuck in his eyelid before!!). When I fiddled with it a bit it started dripping pus...so infected wound/scratch seems about right“

Our boy came in one day with a twig, about an inch long, poking out of the corner of his eye. Vet said he’d probably sustained it falling out of a tree (he was quite young at the time and practising frequently ) he was incredibly lucky. It had lodged itself in about the only place that wouldn’t sustain any serious damage. Smidge to the left or right snd he probably would have lost an eye.
Daft nugget was straight up the tree again at the earliest opportunity!

The anti-biopics should work soon but if he will let you it's always best to let an abscess drain

I had a cat who was always getting them (he was a ratter) he was very good letting me clean them and it's IH so satisfying

@TiddleTaddleTat how is fat face this morning?

Well we kept him in last night and he's been fine, his usual friendly affectionate self. Interested in the mention of a ratter, I suppose it could have been a rat that did this... The wound is visible now and seems fully drained for the moment. Vet said to remove any scabs and keep an eye on it if it gets puffy again.

That all sounds really positive. Super pleased.

Take to vet asap.

The only experience I've had of this was one cat who had a tooth abscess but he was very quiet with it, unlike his normal self. We took him to vet straight away and it was soon sorted.

@TiddleTaddleTat

I've tried to feel the swollen area a bit more this morning and there seems to be something sticking out of his cheek. Potentially another cat's claw (he's come home with a claw stuck in his eyelid before!!). When I fiddled with it a bit it started dripping pus...so infected wound/scratch seems about right

Oh you had a lucky escape! Old cat had an abscess on her face, vet was in the process of draining it when old cat disengaged herself from the vet nurses grip and shook her head violently, evicting gouts of pus at a rate of knots .She managed to get all three of us in the face, though the vet was particularly unlucky as her mouth was open, vet very nobly said that it was ok and that draining abscesses was still one of her favourite vet jobs.

That is something you are not going to forget in a hurry viques!

Claws embedded in another cat invariably become infected and it sounds as though that is what has happened to your cat TiddleTaddle. I hope you've taken to the vet.