Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My male cat was in a slight scrap and has a bite on his leg. It has puffed up quite a bit and has a little blood on it. It, so far, is not draining. He is eating and drinking well. My husband and I held it under luke warm water today hoping that it might open up and drain but it didn't. Last time he had an injury like this the vet lanced it and drained it. He told us next time we could do it ourselves (he is a good old farm vet!) as long as we had a sharp, sterile blade and antibacterial stuff on hand (which we do from the vet) and then just to keep an eye on it to make sure there is no infection. Has anyone tried this themselves - it is not the actual procedure i am afraid of - as my husband would do it. Any suggestions?

Hi,

I think you should have this abscess treated correctly by a vet, with the cat under anesthesia hopefully. Your cat most likely isn't going to cooperate with home treatment and it's going to cause him unnecessary pain. It's not always as easy as you think to treat an abscess. The area needs to be flushed and cleaned as well as possible, and sometimes a penrose drain is needed.

Your cat must already be in a lot of pain with his abscess. He can become very, very ill if it isn't treated ASAP. The infection can travel throughout his body.

Please do the right thing and take your cat to a vet for treatment.

Regards,
PHKitkat

Thanks for your reply. I am hesitant to do it at home as well. We have treated bites before but like i said the last time we had him at the vets. Tonight i noticed that it is starting to drain a little. The vet said to leave it overnight and check it in the morning - as long as it is draining he should be ok. I will check him tomorrow although he seemed to be walking better tonight and his appetite is very good. I have read a great deal about this condition and know what to watch for. With 7 dogs and 5 cats we do alot of home medical care - but when it is serious we do not hesitate to run to the vets and i am lucky because i have so many animals he gives me a better rate. Not that money is the issue with the health of my animals that is for sure - i will keep you posted on Punky's progress! The last time the vet did it without putting him under or even freezing it.

So we did take Punky to the vet as we were uncomfortable attempting to treat him ourselves. It was close to his joint so the vet put him under a general anesthetic and cleaned it out for us as well as neutering him while he was under (we haven't had Punky very long so he hadn't been neutered yet - he showed up at our farm as a stray and stayed!). What is amazing to me is that he had his owie drained, general anesthetic, neutering and antibiotics for 10 days and they only charged me $90.00. This vet is a strong supporter of the SPCA so she said i was helping them out by taking in a stray. Not that money was an issue but it is nice to see there are still vets out there doing it for the love of animals.