My cat was in a fight, I can not get his wounds to completely heal. Does anyone have a suggestion or solution for this? Thanks.

Got in the fight over 2 months ago. Got puncutures at his neck. I cleaned the wound with soap and water and treated with h. peroxide. Got infected and swelled up, and then it popped, ozeed puss. Cleaned wounds again and treated with witch hazel this time. The next time I got some blue liquid from a friend who uses it for her pet's wounds(came from the vet). Wounded area keeps healing, swelling up, then popping again. The swelling is minimal and he is active and eating normal.

PS: Yes, I know the vet is the best solution, unfortunately that's not possible for us now. I hoping this forum will be able to provide me with cost effective advice.

Thanks for any help

Because puncture wounds like this almost always become infected, heal from outside in and continue to fester inside, resulting in oozing puss and possible toxicity to the blood if left untreated, antibiotic therapy really is needed.

You can try to keep cleaning it and draining it two to three times a day yourself if you have no other option. Open the wound, clean it with LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of water with disinfectant in it, apply a triple antiobiotic ointment and bandage it. Do this OVER AND OVER AND OVER until it the puss is gone and stays gone and the wound begins to heal from the inside out instead of outside in. I don't honestly recommend this, but if it's the best you can do it's better than no treatment at all.

Wounds like this, kept clean and treated correctly by a vet, usually heal fairly quickly. The cat's immune system usually will fight the infection unless there is bacterial toxicity or an underlying immunosuppressant illness going on. However, left untreated or treated incorrectly, they can lead to the death of your pet. Do the very best you can on your own if that's really your only option, but if you can find any way, anyone who'll help you out, a vet really is needed here.

Cat bites tend to push hair and other debris into the wound... not to mention the bacteria already on the fangs. If it has gone this long, opening the wounds will likely be necessary. How you convince the cat that the wound needs to be open is another problem.

Might also try washing of the open wound with a salt water (saline) solution. You can make it up yourself or they actually have spray cans of it in pharmacies that might be better because the jet of water comes out with moderate pressure - giving a cleaning action without your actually having to scrub the wound.

Audra is 100% correct. This sounds like it's almost certainly a situation that requires antibiotics. He is suffering from an infection. That's why it keeps filling with puss, and that's why it hasn't been able to heal on its own. The filling up with liquid and swelling are symptoms of an abscess. Absolutely do not use antibiotics left over from another pet!

Do you know what caused the puncture wounds? I took care of a cat who was bit by a snake. Is it possible this is what happened to your cat?

Another thing that concerns me is that there might be something you can't see that is lodged inside. Since you are not a vet or a doctor, you should absolutely not go in to see if something is there or to fish it out if it is. There are major blood vessels and nerves in the neck, and quite frankly you could kill him if you made a mistake.

The part of your post that I keep repeating to myself is "2 months." two months? Doesn't that seem like an awfully long time for a wound not to heal? If you ask me, it is not time to see a vet -- it is beyond time to see a vet.

Now, I understand that times are tough for many people right now. However, as a responsible pet owner, you should have something put aside for emergencies. Without it, what would you do in a real emergency? Technically, you should have had this started from day one of your pet ownership, even just by adding a dollar a day. However, you have also had two months since the injury to scrape up the money to have him treated properly. In my opinion, if this means eating rice and beans everyday, then it means eating rice and beans. If it means asking friends or family for help, then do it. If it means asking people you don't know for help, then do it. If you need to sell a lamp from your house, then pawn it. If you need to shovel driveways, then shovel them. That's how I see it.

One thing you can do to help your financial situation is to find out if there is a vet in your area that will accept a payment plan. I get the financial difficulties. For all I know, you or another member of the family might be ill or laid off, etc.. Still, your cat should be getting the care he needs as a member of the family. If he's not a member of the family, and if you can't care for him, then I'm wondering what he's doing there. I'm sorry for sounding so harsh and coming down on you in a tough sounding way, but I'm getting tired of finding people on the internet who are looking to do the job of a vet by the information they scrape up from who-knows-where. Still, I'm glad you're trying. The truth is that my sympathies do go out to both you and your cat.

Thanks for hearing me out. Please let us know how things go for him.

Call around.. maybe you'll find a vet in the area who'd be willing to just help out because he's somebody's "baby" if things are really that bad. I know there are a couple of them here in our area who're doing that on occasion (though we're not exactly supposed to spread that around.) It can't hurt to ask. For his sake, make a few calls, okay?

I agree with everyone who advises you to take your cat to a vet. I have just gone through something very similar recently. About a week ago, my INDOOR cat managed to get out when someone left the front door open. Sure enough, he got in a scuffle with a neighbourhood stray. It wasn't really a fair fight actually as my cat was running back in the house when this other cat got him from behind. This happened around 8:00 am, and around 8:00 pm that same day... he was lethargic and was in obvious pain. Having worked at an animal hospital, I knew what could happen with bite wounds and I knew that my cat HAD to be seen by a vet as that really is the only way to treat infected bite wounds.

I am on a limited budget (single mom... NOT by choice... before anyone comments about THAT! ) and of course, every penny I earn is already allocated to my many bills and whatnot. However, having said that, I knew that as a pet owner, it was my responsibility to provide my cat with the care he needed and so I brought him in to the vet. His wound was cleaned properly, they examined the wound and the rest of the cat to ensure that they got it all and he was prescirbed some antibiotics.

Although I didn't really have the money to do that, I HAD to do it. That is what responsible pet owners do... having a pet is a privilege, not a right and people need to remember that.

There are a lot of animal hospitals out there that are sympathetic to pewt owners who are trying to do the right thing by their pets and will therefore work something out with you in regards to a payment plan. Please, for your cat's sake, take this route and bring your cat to a vet.

Please get your kitty in to see a vet. One of my friend's cats got out, and he got bitten in the back. He had to have drains inserted into the wound, plus anti-biotics. Your cat's body is really trying to fight this, but he can't do it without meds. Please keep us posted...

You owe it to your cat to find a way to get it treated. We just had a round of MRSA go through our clinic and the story was very similar.

He can't git up

He has bobos

He is lanig in the bath room

He or she ned to go to the vet

Its been a long time since the original post but in my area you can call and ask your local animal shelter and ask for a voucher. They will call and send about $40 to the vet so that you can actually get your pet seen. Sometimes that will also help with whatever pussing needs to be done or bone put back into socket. The pain meds and antibiotics are extra but sometimes they can do a pay plan with you.

The reason it keeps flaring up is because it was not sufficiently cleaned out in the first place. Most of these abscesses reach back under the skin farther than a cat will let anyone clean, without some serious sedation.

Not your fault, as we do what we can do. Initially, the would would have been thoroughly flushed with peroxide, and, well here it varies because there is no prescribed treatment other than kill all the bacteria, what I have done is flush the remaining peroxide out with a disinfectant surgical rinse, such as betadine. You have to leave an opening so there is some chance for drainage. After several days it usually has stopped weeping and begins to heal. The cat is also given a healthy dose of antibiotic, and sent home on similar antibiotics for another week or 10 days..

Failure to get a thorough disinfecting of the abscess usually results in a prolonged healing process. It isn't too late to try to do what wasn't done initially... get the pocket cleaned out. Putting medicine or anything on the outside is ineffective... it must get under the skin.

Stick with the peroxide, not the witch hazel. A 10 cc syringe (less needle) would work better, but anything like a giant dropper (a baster? Plenty big enough, or something smaller may work. I imagine there is a hole about a quarter inch still there.

Try about a tablespoon's worth of peroxide and squirt it into the hole. It doesn't hurt... probably has no feeling around the area at all by now, but a friend may be a big help... the bubbling peroxide freaks some cats out. (recommend doing this either outdoors or somewhere easily cleaned up... maybe put a towel over him until the peroxide finishes bubbling out.) Twice is better than just once. And later, if you can squirt a disinfectant (try the drug store... Povidone or betadine will work fine and won't sting) in the same hole, same amount and way. This time, cover the hole and gently press around on the area to work the disinfectant all through the nooks and crannies under the skin. Again, be ready to wipe any excess medication up. Rubbing alcohol usually cleans up any spill/drips.

Keep the opening open as long as possible. It should keep getting smaller and smaller until it closes completely. This gives it a chance to let any drainage or whatever out.

Now, that is what I would do if it were my cat. I'd have to do it at home, because I am retired now, but that's what I'd do if I didn't want to go to the vet's. You may continue to do as you have, if you wish.

This thread is two years old. I'm closing it.