Advice on DCat's wound

[PuttingOnTheKitsch]

Got DCat from the rescue late Jan. A few weeks later I noticed quite a thick scab on the side of his face, but well hidden by his fur. He wasn't going outside and I had deflead (with Advantage, so decent stuff) and never any signs of fleas so I wasn't concerned. His coat otherwise looked fine.

Then he picked the scab off and scratched the area until bled. Repeatedly. So we took him to the vet.

He had a 10 day treatment of:

Cone of shame
Prednisolone
Wound cleaned twice daily with dilute hibiscrub
Antibacterial/Antifungal cream
Flea treatment. (Still no sign of fleas, ever and I've checked him all over)

After ten days, all was healed. Just a tiny (about the size of a pencil end) patch of bald fur.

So we took the cone off. Within a day, he had attacked the site again. Even clipping his back claws made no difference.

Took him to a different vet on Monday. She recommended pet derm healing cream. He had two days of that and was still attacking the wound, so we've put the cone on again until we see the vet on Monday.

Apologies for the essay, but any tips on getting it to heal more quickly and any ideas as to what might be causing it to be so itchy for him?

Hmm, I'm wondering if he's got an allergy..

The majority of fleas are in the environment, not on the pet - might be an idea to treat your household with a flea spray just to be sure.
You need to kill the whole life cycle of the flea as they could still be hatching, biting him and then dying but you need to kill any eggs in the house.

I had this with one of mine. Used advantage, no sign of fleas etc. Took him to the vets after he scratched an unholy gouge out of his neck. He did have fleas. It took months to sort out, several more gaping wounds around his neck and throat area. A combination of Johnson's spot on/flea tablets (with breaks in between!) and him wearing a small soft foam collar I made myself (lined around the neck with a knee length trimmed sock) finally sorted it. Treated the wounds daily. He's still scarred and the fur never grew back over. I've had cats for decades and this was the worst. Poor little bugger.

I would say fleas too.

You treated the cat but have you treated your home throughly? Used a flea spray and washed all the soft furnishings etc?

Thank you everyone for the advice so far.

@GayforMoleman Could you kindly take me through step by step what you did to treat your cat?

I started with Johnson's flea tablets. They kill them within, I think, 20 minutes. I crushed them between two tea spoons and gave to cat hidden in layers of Lick-e-Lix.
Then made a cone of shame out of kids foam paper (like art and crafts stuff). Cut the bottom off a knee high sock and put that around his neck with the foam collar on top.
Cleaned the wounds with a little salt mixed into sterile water three times a day.
It took a few weeks but he healed up nicely.

I use Johnson's spot on flea treatment rather than the tablets now.

Have you posted before about the two layers of lick-e-lix before? If so, you are a legend! That was the only way I could get the prednisolone down Dcat, and it worked a treat.

He's currently got a cone of shame on and I'm cleaning it twice a day and applying pet derm. Hopefully, that will help it heal.

I'm seeing the vet on Monday and I'll ask if stronger flea treatment is worth trying, as he only had Advantage prescribed and given a few weeks ago. If he gets that, I'll also spray the house.

I've also switched him back to Classic Cat food. It might be completely coincidental, but him scratching his face did seem to coincide with me changing him to Sheba pouches.

Yes, I have! It's a miracle thing!
Best of luck, it's awful to see them like this and you just want to make it better!
Let me know how you get on. These furry overlords have to submit to love every now and then

I wouldn’t use Johnson’s after my friends cat was poisoned by the spot on and had to be admitted. I wouldn’t risk any OTC meds on them now.

If it was my cat I’d use indorex on the house, a program injection to stop fleas breeding and bravecto drop on which is 3 monthly.

Just an update. Dcat's wound has been completely healed for a while now. After trying various wound healing creams and another session in the cone of shame, what worked was:

Leaving it alone.

I gave it a wash with a saline solution and left it. He did scratch it a few more times and then he left it alone and it healed. The cause of the itching was me, washing it, applying creams, etc. He wasn't itching anywhere else on his body, I was the problem.

It's been an expensive lesson to learn (that first vet visit was £115!), but I would honestly recommend that if your cat has a wound, which doesn't require stitching, less is more.

I'm so glad the wound has healed.