Need advice from people who have cats

[Candibee]

Ok so there is a wild cat that runs around between my house and my parents house and my fiance and I let him in our house so he can get warm and get stuff to eat/drink. So day before yesterday he came in with a HUGE knot on his head and then today he had lost fur in that spot and it is scabbed over well now it's bleeding and at first it was bad and now it's slowing down some but I need some advice on how to make it stop. We can't afford to take him to the vet right at the moment or I would but we don't want anything to happen to him because we love him. And the wound stinks, I have rubbing alcohol but I don't think that would be a smart choice to put on him. Even Silver is worried she keeps trying to go check on him

[MikaTallulah]

Maybe a feline rescue in your area can help out.

[Candibee]

Unfortunately I don't think there is one around here...only thing close to us is the animal shelter and they would more then likely just put him to sleep

[CrimsonLuvsLola]

Look into the vet bill help thread on sick/injured section. Maybe one of those sites can help you.

[SweetLifetime]

Because the wound smells so bad, I'm worried it may be infected. I'm not sure how feral the cat is, but hopefully you can tend to him a bit. You need to clean it the same way you'd clean a person's wound... flush it out with warm water and get some Neosporin on there. Your primary concern is getting the wound clean and stopping infection. Hopefully the bleeding will stop when the wound is clean and can scab up.

Unfortunately, that's really only a stop gap measure. The cat really needs to see a vet. I would look into the information about getting help with vet costs. Also, to look for a cat rescue, try going on petfinder.com and searching for cats in your area. See if anything other than your local animal shelter comes up. If you find something, this sucks but consider letting the cat go into someone else's care so he can get the health care he needs right now.

[gryhndnut]

Originally Posted by SweetLifetime

Because the wound smells so bad, I'm worried it may be infected. I'm not sure how feral the cat is, but hopefully you can tend to him a bit. You need to clean it the same way you'd clean a person's wound... flush it out with warm water and get some Neosporin on there. Your primary concern is getting the wound clean and stopping infection. Hopefully the bleeding will stop when the wound is clean and can scab up.

Unfortunately, that's really only a stop gap measure. The cat really needs to see a vet. I would look into the information about getting help with vet costs. Also, to look for a cat rescue, try going on petfinder.com and searching for cats in your area. See if anything other than your local animal shelter comes up. If you find something, this sucks but consider letting the cat go into someone else's care so he can get the health care he needs right now.

Great advice!!!!

[Candibee]

So we cleaned it with warm water and it finally stopped bleeding. It's not smelling as bad as it did last night. So I'm going to go to the store today and get some Neosporin to put on it. After we cleaned off the blood last night he started trying to clean it also. I looked on Petfinder but the only things coming up are the animal shelters which are kill shelters. And I'm friends with the one closest to me on Facebook and they are overcorwded for the holidays I guess because they have quite a few animals in the "Emergency" picture folder. So I don't want to take him there because they will just put him to sleep. I'm not quite sure how he got this...I mean he gets in cat fights when others come up on the hill but none of them have ever caused this kind of wound. Like it turned into a big knot. And I know it's weird but it looks like since it bled some last night that the knot has went down. I'm going to look into the vet thing that was previously posted. Thank you guys a bunch!!!

[skittlz]

hmm its possible the cat may have a wolf worm if he does you can squeeze the lumpy area until you see the tip of the worm and pluck it out with tweezers.. If you want to read more, How to Treat Wolf Worm in Cats | eHow.com

[Dolcesmama_xoxo]

The bad smell indicates that it is infected. The neopsorin and cleaning will help only temporarily. This cat is most likely going to need oral antibiotics. Depending on the type of infection it is, they will probably prescribe something like cephalexin 250mg dosing being weight based. You can try calling a local vet and ask them what they think before taking him anywhere. They might even call in a prescription for an antibiotic for you to a walmart or something (usually a $4 prescription) since you can't afford to take him in to get tests etc at this time. It never hurts to ask!

[vickip]

Kitty probably HAD an abscess....sounds like it blew out and not is probably on the mend clean it with peroxide, keep an eye on it and say a prayer...it will probably heal on it's own. Give it a little time. If the area does'nt clear up in a few days well you know what to do.

[Candibee]

Well sometimes he will run off and we won't see him for a few hrs and I hate keeping him confined in my house when he's meowing and crying to get out so we check it every time he comes to the door wanting in and my mom is an RN so she gave us some kind of prescription antibiotic ointment and we have been putting that on him and it looks soooooo much better. Only thing bugging me now is I guess it itches and he keeps scratching at it and we just need him to quit scratching which I know he's not going to do. But like I said on the plus side it looks a TON better then it did when I originally posted this.

[Dolcesmama_xoxo]

that is great news! the fact that it is itching means that it is healing and probably scabbing at this point. If he scratches it too much to the point that it keeps breaking open and is not going to heal, you may want to try and bandage it and if you can, keep him supervised inside for a night. if you can't which is understandable, maybe try to put a small bandage on his head anyway. It may fall off from him scratching at it, but it will protect it for short while at least. Try and do this for a few nights to let it heal a little faster.

[navillusc]

Originally Posted by vickip

Kitty probably HAD an abscess....sounds like it blew out and not is probably on the mend clean it with peroxide, keep an eye on it and say a prayer...it will probably heal on it's own. Give it a little time. If the area does'nt clear up in a few days well you know what to do.

I agree this is a very likely possibility...abscess. Agree...clean with peroxide. You can pack with baking soda and drip vinegar...if the cat will allow it...and that will draw infection, etc., out. Works on humans, too...insect and arachnid bites and stings, etc., or other infected wounds...just make a ring (or pack) to hold the soda in place, pack the ring with soda, then drip vinegar into the soda until all the soda is gone and no more foaming happens, then wipe it all off. It tastes funny if they lick it, and they could get a bit of sodium, but it is temporary and not usually dangerous.

You can pack with sugar to stop bleeding...or honey, which will also help heal the wound and not be terribly harmful (honey) for the cat. Cats are great healers on their own, and I have been advised more than once by some of my vets to allow cats to heal on their own...including from a dislocated hip! There are times, of course, when emergency measures are in order...and I have the vet bills...and kitties...to prove it...!

But, this sounds like a minor injury to me...and I had a stray cat show up at my house once with a similar situation, except the abscess had not blown out yet...and we didn't know it was there. We took him to the vet for shots and neutering, and the vet discovered, and took care of draining, the abscess, too.

If the cat seems healthy except for the wound, no coughing, etc., there is probably not a lot of danger and I'd do the above and watch to see how the cat does. If a week goes by with no sign of healing, or it gets worse, straight to the vet I'd go. If you need help, and want to see the cat placed in a good home, check out no-kill shelters...like the Humane Society...who may be willing to help the cat.

Good luck.

- Cat

[gracielove]

I care for several feral cats that are on the surrounding property I live on. A feral cat will not come into a house on it's own.At least not without considerable taming first. The cat you have must have had some human contact at some point during it's lifetime. It could possibly have been in an accident or it could have been in a fight. If the wound is swollen it could have a great deal of infection under the skin. You can buy some antiseptic spray for animals at your local Tractor Supply or other pet supply store. Holding a wet warm cloth on it to open up the wound to let it drain may help but if it is badly infected he needs antibiotics. Homeless cats suffer terribly and it's a shame that most people feel no responsibility to help ease the suffering. It's nice that you at least care for this little creature. I hope someone will be able to help you to help this one.
If you cannot take care of him you may need to take him to a no kill shelter. If there is not one in your town you can google to find the nearest one to you. Hopefully they will take care of him for you so he won't suffer any further.

[gracielove]

Is he an un-neutered male? Whole male cats fight a lot and tend to get feline leukemia. As it advances the wounds stop healing as quickly as they should. Many no kill shelters and some towns and counties have low cost spay and neutering clinics that will give the cats shots and do the surgery for less than half of what a regular vet would charge you. If you care about this guy you might consider looking into this.
I got tired of seeing the cats around my home suffering and cats and kittens dying. I started taking one at a time to get their shots and spay or neuter. Now there are no more reproducing cats in my area though I do feed several on my patio. We found homes for many kittens and tamed the feral cats enough so they can come in out of the bad weather though they prefer to be outside and hunting in the woods.I did have to have one male put down because he had a advanced case of feline leukemia but the rest have tested negative.