Cat Chat Feline Forum

Hi,

First time poster looking for a bit of advice please. My girlfriend's cat, Chester, came home with a nasty-looking cut earlier and we are unsure whether he needs to visit a vet, or perhaps whether we can do anything to prevent infection. The attached photo was taken whilst he was eating reassuringly enthusiastically but he is a bit jumpy and hissed at his owner which is out of character.

I would be grateful for any opinions as to the likelihood of the wound healing without intervention.

Ouch! Poor chap!

The cut doesn't look too deep, but it's very open. A good first aid measure is bathing with salt water (teaspoon salt to pint tepid water) but this may sting and if he's nervous of you going near the cut, this might not be doable. I'd certainly get him to a vet tomorrow, just to be on the safe side, get him checked out in case of any other injury, and prevent infection/abscess.

Poor old lad, please give him a fuss from me if he'll permit it, and please let us know how he goes on.

I would definitely bathe with salt water if he will let you - boiling the water, adding the salt and letting it cool makes it easier to dissolve the salt. I would also plan on a vet visit after the weekend - it is not an emergency if he is eating and perky, but as Lilith says if he has been in a scrap with another cat there may be abscesses lurking. I can't quite tell from the photo - could this be a burst abscess rather than a cut? Can you see clean edges, or is it more like a rather oozy hole? In my experience clean cuts usually heal fairly easily, abscesses usually need antibiotics. They will heal if you can keep them clean and open to allow draining, but it can be a long process.

Thanks to both of you for your thoughts, it is almost certainly a cut rather than a burst abscess as the edges appear clean. We will attempt to bathe the wound with salt water in the first instance, hopefully he will comply but any tips on how best to approach this would also be welcome - don't want to make it unnecessarily stressful for him.

I find chicken helps most things! Offer him a treat, have dampened, not too wet, cotton wool ready, and touch very gently while feeding scraps of something delicious. Best not to hold him down, or you are unlikely to be able to do it a second time...

Hi, the bathing needn't be too stressful; if he normally likes his head stroking, you could get him sitting on your knee, then damp a piece of cotton wool (or lint is better if you have some handy, the non-fluffy side) with the salt solution and apply the lint gently to the wound, slowly dabbing rather than wiping. As long as he doesn't seem distressed, you could do this several times, repeating the bathing every three or four hours or so.

You could put some of the salt solution into a small bowl (throw that and the used lint away afterwards and scald the bowl) as the original solution will keep all day (you can always re-warm it in the microwave for a few moments.)

They always do this sort of thing at a weekend, don't they? Good luck.

just to add I would keep him in until it starts to heal, to avoid any dirt getting in to the wound

and if he won't let you clean it, there are pet wound solutions on the market which come in the form of a spray, and that would be easy to apply to his head - Vetericyn Plus is one, and if you happen to subscribe to Amazon Prime you could have it tomorrow

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Vetericyn-Woun ... 185&sr=1-1

Thankfully he is allowing it to be cleaned and seems to be his usual needy self today, the cut is looking far less angry too. He is going to be kept indoors for the time being, he usually plays second fiddle to the other cat of the house, Belle, whenever they are together, but even she seems to sympathise with him!

Oh that's looking much better - congrats, and good lad Chester

ps Fjm, didn't realise, I seem to have duplicated your post on bathing back there. I hadn't realised you'd already posted - sorry!

Great minds, Lilith! Excellent advice on reftrigerating the solution and scalding the bowl, too - I keep chuckable yoghurt pots etc for just these occasions.

Just wanted to let you know that Chester now seems back to his usual self, his cut has all but disappeared now too! I wish I bounced back from stuff so quickly... Thanks again for your help.

Hey that's great news and congrats and thanks for the update. Bless him - please give him a fuss from me.