Advice on Wound Please

[Tina]

Hi Folks!

Was stroking Mousie in my lap during one of her very rare quiet and calm moods on Monday night, and felt a rough lump on the side of her neck/shoulder. Upon closer investigation (with MUCH struggling) we discovered what looked to be a small scratch and a patch of matted fur (that was the lump). We tried (rather unsuccessfully and again with MUCH struggling) to clean up and untangle the fur a bit, but couldn't get Mousie to stay still long enough and were afraid of hurting her.

We've been keeping an eye on the area, checking it every couple hours, and tried again several times to clean and "un-matt" the fur.....but still no success. Last night when I got in from work, I checked the spot again to discover that the matted fur was GONE and is now a bald patch the size of a pound coin (slightly smaller than a quarter for the Americans here)!! :shock:

It is now clear to see that there is a very definite smallish scratch that looks just like the scratches on the backs of mine and hubby's hands from Mousie's idea of "play-time". :roll: So we're pretty sure it was accidentally self-inflicted, likely whilst in one of her "my back leg is evil so I will teach it a lesson" modes when she attacks her leg while her foot repeatedly hits her in the face, head, neck.

The area is now, as said, bald with this scratch in the middle of it. There doesn't appear to be any further bleeding......or very little at any rate.....and the area doesn't look too raw. We've been cleaning it a bit with warm salt water and applying a wound powder (for cats) every few hours. There doesn't appear to be any signs of infection. We are keeping a close eye on it, and Mousie seems to be keeping it clean herself.

We don't want to take her to the vet for an unscheduled appointment unless absolutely necessary as she gets so upset when she has to go there.......for obvious reasons! And if I ring the vet he will almost certainly ask us to bring her in so he can look at it. Do we need to do anything else? Can she cause it to get worse by licking at it? How will we know if infection sets in? Is she more prone to infection in a wound what with her immune system being messed up?

After all the various things we've dealt with in regards to Mousie's health and general well-being we thought we were pros and could deal with anything confidently......but we have no clue what "danger" signs to watch for with this as we've never dealt with a wound before! :lol:

Any advice/comments much appreciated. As one member once said "It's always something with poor Mousie"! :lol:

[Leesy]

Hi Tina, these cats they keep us on our toes don`t they, I am having the same probs with Maxi at the moment there always seems to be one thing after the other going wrong and a constant stream of backing and tooing to the vets.

When we first got Maisy she had been involved with a bit of rough play with her brothers and sufferd some bits and scratches on her neck, she to lost some fur wich grew back but she still had some lumps under her skin, so concernd that they might be infected we took her to the vets, he examined the lumps and said they were fine he said that they weren`t infected because they didn`t feel spongy they were hard, so we had to keep our eye on them to make sure they didn`t go spongy.

So just keep a check and make sure it dosn`t go spongy.

Hope that helps:-D

[Tina]

Thanks for the advice Leesy, we are keeping a close eye as Mousie has very low immunity!

You're right they do keep us on our toes LOL! I just don't want to have to take her to the vet unnecessarily, she'd be sooooo upset as she already has to go every 4 weeks for blood work and she'd think that was what she was going for LOL!

[Leesy]

Maxi always gives me that oh no not again look now when he sees the cat carrier, it`s a shame for them isn`t it, they don`t know its for their own good do they.:(

[Tina]

I know, poor things! Mousie yowls all the way to the vet.....and believe me she can yowl LOUD!!! Surprisingly, she did really well on the Christmas trip (2 and 1/2 hours) to the in-laws......after about 20 mins of yowling she realised we had gone too far to be going to the vet's, and she settled down with just the occasional yowl every 10 mins or so LOL! Our other cat, Miw, is very well-travelled and never made a sound the whole trip in the car.....just looked at Mouse in the cage next to hher whenever she yowled, and rolled her eyes as if to say "what IS all the fuss about?" :-D

[Tina]

Mousie's wound still looks clean and shows no signs of infection (I think!) but she keeps licking and chewing at the spot (maybe itchy?) and the bald patch is getting bigger! :shock:

[angieh]

You know Mousie best Tina and I do appreciate that you need to be very careful with her low immunity to infection but as you have bathed the scratch and applied powder, if it shows no signs of reddening or oozing and Mousie isn't acting strangely (for her!) then I would just keep an eye on it and try not to worry.

[angieh]

Just seen your latest post Tina - is it possible she has some skin irritation? If so, perhaps she does need to go to the vet as it could be due to her medication or perhaps some sort of parasite?

[Tina]

Thanks Angie, will ring the vet and see what he says. I think she just licks and chews at it because it's itching as it heals.....but will see if I should get it checked to be safe. She is an indoor cat and has no access to any other cat besides Miw (also indoor) so not sure how she could catch anything.......but you never know!

[Elaine]

Poor Mousie, always getting herself into scrapes;)
She's a constant worry for you so sending some hugs to you too.
I agree with what Angie and Leesy have said about the wound, it's probably nothing too serious but due to her imune system being low, it may take her longer to heal than the average cat. Are there any leaflets included with her meds that might tell you of side effects such as skin irritation?
Fingers crossed it's nothing to worry about xxx

[Tina]

No leaflets with her meds, but have rung vet and he said that her steroids can sometimes cause dry skin which may cause itching. He also said that if she ripped a layer of skin off with the fur that came off then that will cause alot of itching as well as the skin heals and dries out and stretches. He said to keep an eye on it and to bring her in tomorrow if still worried. The scratch seems to be healing up nicely, and there is no redness still so we'll give it another day.

[angieh]

Is there any "moisturiser-type" cream or ointment that can safely be put on a cat? I don't know - wonder if anyone else does? I suppose it would probably only make her lick more though.

[Elaine]

Pet shops sell creams and ointments for wounds and itchy skin, dont know how effective they are.

[dandysmom]

I might be tempted to rub just a tiny dab of olive oil on it to alleviate the itching; couldn't hurt her if she licked it off. The saliva does have some healing properties anyway. Poor Mousie!

[Leesy]

Yep I think just a little dab of olive oil like dandysmom suggested should help with the itching, bet it is driving her nuts.:(

[Tina]

Thanks for the advice folks! Olive oil sounds like a pretty good bet actually because it will soften and stretch the skin a bit.....I think it's the "tightness" of the healing skin that causes the itching! Also, I have plenty so it's already easily available instead of me having to go looking for something LOL! She doesn't seem to be too bothered by it......just gets over-zealous about licking it at times, but she isn't losing sleep or playtime over it LOL!

[dandysmom]

Hope it helps, Tina, do let us know how it's doing.

[calismum]

Hope the olive oil has helped. I would say that as long as it is not red, swollen or weeping then it is probably ok.

When alfie was small he had a bad scratch on his side (no idea how) the fur round it was matted and it all came off with the scab from the wound. Only then could we see what the would looked like. It sounds like the same kind of thing and I'm sure Mousie will be fine. (but enjoying the extra attention!!)

[Tina]

Thanks again for all the advice folks! We've tried a dab of olive oil on the wound and it seems to provide some relief........though when we first put it on, she had a lick at it and gave us a rather nasty look! :lol:

The wound still appears to be "healthy", no seeping, bleeding, redness, or swelling! The scab area is quite large about the size of a 5p piece, I think because of the lost skin when she ripped the fur off. The scab's quite hard and that's what's causing the irritation I believe as you can see it "pulling" on the surrounding skin. The olive oil has softened the scab a bit and the skin around it doesn't look so tight anymore, so we'll just keep with that a couple times a day till it heals up!

And yes, CM, she is indeed enjoying the extra attention! LOL!