So I did a little clean-up of his wounds, and man does it smell bad. I cleaned him at first with a soapy cloth, and when it was clear that was not getting the job done, I manned up, put on long sleeves and pants, and took him to the bathroom and put his ass under the faucet. It cleaned it out a good bit, and the wound is clean, but I have no neosporin. All I have is hydrocortisone. Is that ok?
Also, I have no idea what an abscess looks like on a cat, this just looked like a nasty pus-filled hole. I’m worried enough that I will get him to the vet ASAP in the morning, but he is not acting sluggish (more so than usual) or in pain, so maybe you all are right and this is a common cat injury. I tried to keep that jackass indoors.
I repeat- that smelled disgusting. And is hydrocortisone ok?
*** Update ***
Edited because you all have filthy minds.
General Stuck
You need the triple antibiotic gel with neomycin in it. Cortizone may not hurt administered topically, though generally not recommended for infections, can cause em to get worse. Just clean the wound and git to the drug store for the triple antibiotic.
HumboldtBlue
Why would you put cortisone on the wound? Keep it clean and take him to the doc, the doc’ll fix him up but good.
dr. luba
No. Hydrocortisone won’t help treat an infection (which the pus suggests he has), and it can suppress immune response. Hydrocortisone is good for allergic reactions/itch, not for this sort of thing.
Do a good scrubbing with soapy water or iodine. Topical antibiotics might be useful, but, if there is cellulitis (infection of the tissues), something systemic (oral or shots) would do more good.
With abscesses, draining them and cleaning them out is most important. If Tunch looks otherwise healthy, antibiotics can wait till tomorrow.
(Note: I’m not a vet, just a people doctor, but there are similarities in care)
demkat620
I don’t think hydrocortisone has any antiseptic qualities. I don’t think it will help.
That being said:
I know what you mean but jeebus we are going to be a porn blog soon.
raholco
Get the antibiotic cream. Hydrocortisone won’t cut it unless he’s picking at the wound.
If you soap was antibiotic in any way (ingredient list would show ‘triclosan’) then that’s good.
Bruce (formerly Steve S.)
I would just leave it alone until you take him to the vet. Cats usually do a remarkably good job of keeping their wounds clean and you shouldn’t mess with stuff that isn’t specifically formulated for cats.
Not touching that line with a ten foot pole.
Darksyde
Cortical steroids reduce inflammation, they also inhibit the immune system. An antibiotic would be much better.
Michael
Neocortisone IS NOT OK. You’ll turn off his infection fighting in that area – you already have a bacterial thing going.
demkat620
Gah, I’m in moderation.
ken
typical cat injury. He done got ripped a new butt hole.
He will not die overnight. Let it air out and bring him to the vet. Get ready for a vet bill.
General Stuck
@dr. luba: We are all Gawd’s critters of one kind or another.
Michael
Also, I’d suggest if you have a non-stinging agent around (hydrogen peroxide may work), you couldn’t hurt anything by applying it.
demimondian
No, hyrocortisone won’t help with the infection, What you’re describing sounds very much like a ruptured abscess, which looks like a puss-filled, nasty hole. They’re quite dangerous in cats; so you do want to take him to the vet ASAP.
In the meantime, a short trip out into the heat to buy neosporin might well be worth it.
abo gato
Yeah, now that you’ve cleaned him up, leave him alone till you get him to the vet tomorrow. The last abscess we had around here was when our cat, Clarence, got a puffy cheek. He wouldn’t let me look at it for a day or so and I finally got him held down to see that he had a puncture wound in his face and the whole cheek was puffed up and pussed out. The vet got it cleaned up and we had a week or so of squirting it with the saline and giving him an antibiotic. It cleared up nicely, but what a pain in the rear it was. Cats and medicine do not mix.
General Stuck
@ken: I ran into our animal control officer in these parts not long ago, and we got to talking about cats and dogs and there physiological toughness to survive on their own. He told me cats are just incredibly tough and resilient compared to dogs. I have only had a couple of cat pets in my life. I guess that’s where the 9 lives saying came about for cats.
mattt
As others have said hydrocortizone will not help, it’s an anti-inflammatory that helps with irritants like poison ivy or insect bites, but bacteria laugh at it. Neosporin is a different animal, and a good ally.
You’ve already done the best thing, though, by cleaning it out. Draining abcesses are ugly but bodies (human and otherwise) are good about healing surface infections. We got by with such things pretty well before penicillin was invented in the 1940s.
But, since we have the benefit to live after the invention of penicillin….do take him to the vet and etc.
mr. whipple
One of our cats bit another of our cats, and the wound closed, got infected and puffed up like a golf ball.
The vet opened it up and drained it, filled him full of antibiotics, and then we had to wash it 2x a day with hydrogen peroxide and water. Cleared up in about a week.
stuckinred
@Michael: Tell John what you think of veterans, asshole.
Corner Stone
Wha..what…WTF?
TuiMel
Good job getting the wound cleaned out. As others have said, I think that should hold ’til you can get him to the vet tomorrow. Good luck; I hope Tunch is back in fine fettle soon.
Rachel
I’d avoid the hydrocortisone, it won’t help the infection and may sting or burn. Do you have any neosporin or triple antibiotic ointment ( you can get it here in FL at the dollar store)? I’d wash the area, keep it clean/dry and apply some antibiotic ointment. It the surrounding tissues are involved, you may have a cellulitis, which will need oral or injectable antibiotics. I’d call the vet in the am and see what he says or if you can bring him in. If Tunch is otherwise healthy( good appetite, energy etc) waiting to see/call the vet in the morning is just fine. I’m not a vet, I’m an RN in an oncology ward and my husband is a dermatologist who loves cats(we have 6 of them). If you hear from a vet, they’re much more knowledgable than we are, but I love your site, your animals and the way you love them and I wanted to chime in! Let us know what happens. Rachel
Toonces
Having cleaned the wound as best you can, leave it be until tomorrow. The Vet will repeat the process, and most likely leave the wound open to drain and heal on its own.
The last time I took one of my kitties in with an abcess (which was on his chest and had to be opened before they could clean the gunk out) they left the wound open to the air and it healed remarkably quickly. The best thing my vet did was give him ONE SHOT of some type of long acting antibiotic. No pills required, thank the FSM. This guy was a former feral and not someone easy to give pills too. The vet did have to give him some “happy gas” in order to get his wound properly cleaned out.
Not to get all up in Tunch’s business, but is this wound a round hole very close to his anus? If so, what he has is a spontaneous anal abscess (we went through that with our calico) and was also easy to treat with a special powder called “Predef” that you puffed on the delicate, affected area. Killed the bacteria and helped with pain as well.
Either of these problems should be pretty simple and inexpensive to treat, though Tunch may think otherwise!
rekster
@dr. luba: I vote for Dr. l.
Oh, this is not Yahoo Answers?
I still cast my vote for the human doctor, or is that doctor of humans?
Whatever, he is right on!
rekster
@Corner Stone: That should be pus(y). Though, as a nurse I have seen some nasty pussy holes.
Corner Stone
Fucking moderation. It’s really killing my mojo.
Mnemosyne
Gross nasty hole with pus = abscess. Good thing you already made a vet appointment for him tomorrow. As long as he’s doing the four necessities (eating, drinking, peeing, pooping), he’ll probably be fine overnight.
Josie
If you have some epsom salts and some patience, you can soak a cloth in the salts and warm water and hold it on the wound. If you don’t want to go out to get the antibiotic ointment, just keep the wound clean and moist, so it won’t close up and let the vet handle it in the morning. A long time ago, the vet gave me a small plastic bottle of yellow powder called furacine (sp ?) that works well on those types of wounds. You might ask about that.
Amylw
pussy nasty hole = pus-filled nasty hole, not what some of you are thinking.
harlana peppper
John, this is a typical cat-scratch infection, which tend to abscess because of nature of the wound. Because cat claws are sharp and curved, they create puncture wounds that can fester deep under the skin. The fact that he has a hole and the stuff is draining out is actually a good sign.
Keep it clean, of course, I know you are doing that. He’ll be fine with some antibiotics. Again, get Greenies pill pockets for the pills the vet is going to give you, so you won’t have to go through the harrowing experience of trying to get a pill down his throat.
PurpleGirl
@stuckinred: I shouldn’t tell you this but I LOLed.
TaMara (BHF)
He will be fine John, it is such a typical cat wound. Now that it is cleaned out, you are halfway there. Use the HP and by the time you see the vet tomorrow, you might not have to do antibiotics – trust me, if you’ve never had to give a cat antibiotics before, you probably don’t want to start now.
Also, can I put in my pitch for non-clay litter if you’re not using it yet? A wound is a great excuse to switch. There are great alternatives out there.
demimondian
@harlana peppper: FWIW, pilling a cat really isn’t all that hard. It takes patience to learn the trick — aim the pill for the delta at the back of the throat and give cat a long scratch (or maybe even a treat) after the pilling — but it really does work.
Nick
I second the recommend on Greenie’s Pill Pockets.
stuckinred
@PurpleGirl: Here’s what he thinks
Mnemosyne
@Amylw:
Well, we are talking about a cat, so maybe it is the right word?
PurpleGirl
John, why don’t you have Neosporin or other triple ointment at home for yourself?
I am sorry Tunch is hurt.
LiberalTarian
@TaMara (BHF): I’ve started using the Feline Pine. The Swheat Step something or other is pretty good for odor control, but it becomes this glutinous mass that has to be removed from the cat box with a metal implement like a shovel or something.
Sorry to hear about Tunch’s new pain in the ass. Hope it gets better quickly.
sukabi
Ummm, if it’s a puncture wound (most likely it’s a cat bite) you don’t want to put anything oily on it, even if it’s an antibiotic cream… keep it clean tonight and take him to the vet tomorrow… more than likely they’ll shave the area to see what’s up, and then they’ll drain the pus… if Tunch is a pain in the ass as far as pills or meds go, ask them about giving him a shot of a long lasting / antibiotic… My vet did this for one of my cats this spring that had gotten into it with another cat and got a bite on his tail that turned into an abscess. He healed up fine, and I didn’t have the daily fight to try and get him to open his mouth for pills or syrup….
PurpleGirl
@stuckinred: Yes, I know what he said in that other thread. That’s why I laughed at the idea of him telling JC.
RSR
can he reach it? Cats often will clean the wound once it opens.
Our Alabaster had a huge unruptured (ruptured, not raptured) abscess a few months ago on his inner thigh, and the doc prescribed a liquid oral antibiotic, and said if it didn’t open on its own within a few days to bring him in (this vet makes housecalls).
Well, it did open–next day I think–and it was like a crime scene. Hadn’t seen so much blood since the birth of our second son. And man did it smell like death. Could be one of the worst things I’ve ever smelled. (Doc had warned us, but it was still worse than one could imagine)
But once it ruptured, Al cleaned it himself (he didn’t want me near it, as the swelling caused a lot of pain, even after rupturing) often, and we kept up with the daily antibiotic dosing. Within a few days he was back to his old self.
Sentient Puddle
Thank you all for blockquoting John to immortalize what he said for people like me who missed it.
John Cole
@PurpleGirl: I usually just let things bleed out and then wash with soap and water once it had dried up.
harlana peppper
deleted
stuckinred
@PurpleGirl: He’s enjoying the attention.
freelancer
TG4RSS
eemom
@Mnemosyne:
does anyone remember the Steve Martin routine where he was talking about a woman, and he said something about “her p*ssy,” and when the audience snickered he said something along the lines of, “You people are disgusting! Your minds are filthy! I was talking about her CAT!”
[Pause]
“That cat was the best fuck I ever had.”
YellowDog
Just get him to the vet in the morning. The puss and the smell indicate that the wound has been there longer than you think, but he should be fine until tomorrow. Cortisone will do nothing for the infection.
mclaren
Yes, no cortisone. It’s a steroid that suppresses the immune system and that’s the exact opposite of what you want. Get Tunch to the vet for a shot of antibiotics and he should be fine.
Pus is just white blood cells flocking to the site of an infection. Icky but natural and unexceptional.
kommrade reproductive vigor
How does he seem? Is he mopey? Sleeping more than usual? Nose hot and dry?
If not, don’t panic if those symptoms all manifest tomorrow. Just take him to the vet STAT.
Putting stuff on it won’t make a difference at this point other than to piss him off.
He’ll probably need surgery to make sure all the infection is cleared out. Just don’t laugh at his shaved ass.
RandyH
If you had another cat in the family, they would probably be keeping Tunch’s wound clean for you. Not sure if Lily’s close enough with Tunch to care for him in his time of need but don’t be surprised if she does it anyway… The vet will probably give you the liquid antibotics that smell like bubble gum and may put a small piece of rubber hose in the wound to keep it open and allow it to drain. You got it cleaned up though and that’s all that matters right now. Tunch will definitely survive the night.
mr. whipple
The liquid antibiotics are a breeze to give. You just put some in a syringe, stick it in the corner of their mouth and squirt it in.
General Stuck
@stuckinred: I am sure this is a wp blockquote fail. But I didn’t say this.
stuckinred
@General Stuck: Most assuredly. I tried to post the fucking moron’s reply to you. My bad.
@PurpleGirl: Here’s what he thinks
” Michael”
Hippie punching is necessary at times. So is soldier spitting.
harlana peppper
@demimondian: I’ve just never been able to pull it off, for me pill pockets were a god-send
General Stuck
@stuckinred: No problem
jl
Sometimes I almost feel sorry for poor ol’ Cole, what with all he has to put up with.
But that would be no fun, so I let the thought pass.
Good luck with Tunch tomorrow at the vets.
From the Oxford English Dictionary:
pussy, adj.
Full of pus; resembling or consisting of pus; pus-like.
KRK
Leave it alone now until the vet sees it. Is Tunch a gulper or a nibbler? I have to amend my earlier recommendation of Pill Pockets for a method of getting even the most pill-hatingest cat to take ’em like tuna. They work really great for food gulpers like my Gus. If Tunch is a nibbler, he might work the pill out of the soft pocket as he nibbles.
Keith G
You’ve done a great job to this point. Keep the area clean. Do not bother with ointments as they are contraindicated for puncture wounds. You two will be at the vets in twelve hours. Relax.
Mnemosyne
@mr. whipple:
I mentioned in the other thread that the vet had us mix Natasha’s liquid antibiotics with tuna and it worked like a charm. Of course, she insisted on letting the whole mess sit around until it was warm and smelled like high heaven (tuna-flavored bubble gum, yum!) but as soon as it reached the proper level of “OMG what died!?” she yummed it right down.
jl
I made a comment that the Oxford English Dictionary says p * s s * does indeed mean what poor ol’ Cole meant it to mean, full of p * s.
But the Stalinist spam filter apparently thought it meant something dirty and put it into moderation.
I guess I should request deletion for my comment?
Edit: good luck to the Tunch household, and hope His Lord and Master does well at the vet tomorrow. When Cole has to ask for advice for his wounds he gets having to deal with a sick Tunch, he should only pay attention to real people doctors who comment.
Elie
Hydrocortisone is NOT OK!!!!
Stop!!! — step away from the cat…..
!!!
Hydrocortisone impedes the body’s immune system response (translation – makes all infections worse and may make more likely for infection)
Soap and water and thats it if that is all you got.
Wait till tomorrow for the vet
Corner Stone
@rekster: My ex is an RN.
The disgusting shit she told me about…
And she works in a chronic/long term ill children’s hospital. But even then, the rank rankosity of the rankness.
Chat Noir
Good thoughts going out to Tunch! Please let us know what happens at the vet tomorrow. Thx!
@PurpleGirl: I LOLed, too.
PurpleGirl
@John Cole: Okay. I keep Neosporin at home and Betadine for cleaning small wounds.
Elie
@mclaren:
True. Mostly.
General Stuck
I knew what you meant. These people are fucking animals. We must continue on with the eternal sunshine of spotless minds. ummph!!
Chat Noir
@TaMara (BHF):
I’ve been using Swheat Scoop for about four years now. All natural wheat, biodegradable, and no perfume smell whatsoever. My cats took to it very easily. Does a great job of neutralizing the odor.
Efroh
Getting down in the trenches and doing the hard work, Mr. Cole. You’re a good cat dad.
mr. whipple
I’m wondering if a red-hot poker and leeches might work?
John Cole
Ok, my friend Jill came by, and she and her husband are crazy cat ladies in training with five outdoor cats, and she says it is just an abscess, it is no big deal and to just wait until the vets tomorrow morning.
Cassidy
Hydrocortisone is not indicated for wound care. It’s primarily used for rashes. Stick with air exposure and clean until given a scrip for something.
Fern
@Corner Stone: I once went out for dinner with a group of nurses. Once.
demimondian
@General Stuck: Who’s been f*cking animals here? Besides Steve Martin, of course.
Corner Stone
I am so calling bullshit. You knew what you were doing. You fucking knew.
Corner Stone
@Fern:
Nurses, especially night shift nurses, are the dirtiest fucking animals in captivity.
To this I will testify.
lawnorder
get teh neosporin
JBerardi
You know, John, you talk a lot about Tunch being mean and grumpy and whatnot, and… sorry, but I am now forced to call BS on that. Any cat that lets you put it’s ass under the bathroom faucet is an freaking angel. I cannot even contemplate pulling this maneuver with my cat. I’d be bleeding before I even got to the bathroom.
I hope Tunch is ok, the obvious sweetheart that he is….
kommrade reproductive vigor
@Fern: Never. Ever. Talk to a nurse who works in an ER anywhere on the planet.
UNLESS, you’re writing a book on unfortunate incidents involving improvised butt plugs.
John Cole
@JBerardi: I think the location of the wound settles once and for all that Tunch is a lover and not a fighter. He was scratched/bitten in the ass.
HE WAS RUNNING AWAY.
dk
I couldn’t find where you described an exact location of the abscess, but it could be an infected anal sac. That would indeed smell very, very bad and would look like what you described. If that is the real culprit, it probably occurred because the anal sac was impacted and not because Tunch was wounded while fighting. A hot compress would be a good thing for an abscess, if you can apply it without having your hand taken off.
Litlebritdifrnt
what everyone else has said, cats are notorious for developing an absess due to a scratch, or anything to be honest. The vet will swill it out, get it all nice and clean and probably put him on antibiotics. He is going to be fine. Tunch may perhaps learn that the outdoors is not quite as fun as he thought it was and stay his ass indoors. One of my cats Alpha got a nasty absess on her neck under her collar, I slathered it with Neosporin for a couple of weeks and she is all healed now.
You Don't Say
@John Cole: Could it be related to what you recently had done to Tunch when he went down for his teeth cleaning?
Mary G
My vet gave me liquid oral antibiotics for Sophie when she had an infected paw – they smell like banana and are supposed to be easy to administer.
Cats don’t care for bananas.
I had to mix it with baby food; veal was her favorite.
Genine
It has been many years since I’ve had a cat, or any pet, so I have no idea what to do. Keeping the wound clean and seeing the vet first thing in the AM seems best.
In the meantime, I’m sending the big white fluffy ball of love lots of healing energy. Tunch has a special place in my heart. I love cranky animals.
WereBear
Yay for getting it cleaned out. Tunch won’t admit it, but I’m sure it feels better.
I’ll never forget taking poor RJ to the vet, only a few days after we’d gotten him. We had Labor Day weekend with him before he started blinking one eye way too much, and I was in the waiting room the minute they opened in the morning.
So they levered me in and I saw the new vet who’d just started at the practice. I brought RJ out of the carrier and was chattering away about his eye… and I noticed the vet was looking at me… over and over.
I realized the vet wasn’t even thinking about his eye infection. RJ had been really, really rescued; he was skin & bones and didn’t even look like a longhaired cat. This vet was wondering if he should call the police!
As soon as I realized I whipped out my paperwork and all was well. Except poor RJ had to have goo squirted in his ears and his eyes for the next week.
TaMara (BHF)
DO NOT LET TUNCH READ THIS, because I don’t want to get on his bad side. But really, is there anything funnier than a cat who has had a bath? Pathetic and pissed off. gotta love it.
My friend had a cat who loved to sit on the edge of the pool and play in the water. And if you floated by on a pool float, he’d jump on you. One day he missed. That image is burned in my mind. I managed not to laugh until he was in the house getting dried off.
cathaireverywhere
Very typical cat abscess description. My Onyx kitty had one on his butt a few weeks ago, and it burst right after I noticed it. (he is fluffy, so I didn’t notice the swelling) It smelled so, so bad. The vet said that butt abscesses are worse that ones on other parts of the body, because the cat grooms themselves and spreads germs from their butt to the abscess. She cleaned it out, gave him an antibiotic shot and sent him on his way. She recommended hot compresses twice a day to keep it open and help it drain.
Previously, he had an abscess on his head that required the installation of a drain. Gross. I have tried to make him an indoor cat, but his revenge peeing was a big problem, so I had to give up.
snarkyspice
@demimondian:
That sounds so great in theory. But in practice, after doing it once, my cat disappears for a week. Even when I find her, she is impossible to catch. She has issues. My other cats do fine with pills, but I’m just saying, it’s not always as easy as you make it sound.
snarkyspice
@demimondian:
That sounds so great in theory. But in practice, after doing it once, my cat disappears for a week. Even when I find her, she is impossible to catch. She has issues. My other cats do fine with pills, but I’m just saying, it’s not always as easy as you make it sound.
cathaireverywhere
p.s. Hydrocortisone is for rashes and allergies, not wounds.
wonkie
Ok so in keeping with the theme of the day I am going to tell you a cat story.,
When I lived in Seattle I had a kitten named Skykomish and I used to take him to Volunteer Park and let him play in the grass. One day Sky went to play under a rhody about twenty feet from where I was seated. A man walked up, stood bet ween us with his back toward Sky and flashed me. Well he didn’t flash–he openned his fly and stood there being all publically pornographic. I didn’t care too much about that but I ws worried about him being between me and my kitten so I leaned to one side and looked behind him. When the flasher realized that he did not have my attention, he turned to see what I was looking at. He saw my kitten. Sky was peering out from under the rhody at him.
The flasher turned to me and said,”Your pussy is looking at me.” And started laughing.
At that point I jumped up. grabbed my kitten and walked away.
Mnemosyne
@WereBear:
We got the stinkeye from the vet who was covering for our regular vet when we took Boris in for what turned out to be his final appointment (we were totally in denial that the cat we’d miraculously kept alive for four months was finally ready to go).
I think he must have read the file and talked to a couple of the vet techs about our long, dragged-out case when he stepped out for a minute because he was much more sympathetic when he came back in to administer the shot.
eemom
man, there are some serious clinical minds at work on this blog. I’ve home-remedied many a dog wound in my time — yes, with NEOSPORIN — but this thread is totally grossing me out.
The Dangerman
@John Cole:
Fixed.
dr. luba
@General Stuck:
Animals, yes. People–I have my doubts about many of us.
eemom
@cathaireverywhere:
yeah. It’s for ITCHY stuff.
MattR
@The Dangerman:
Hey. The important thing is that Tunch thought he was running.
(EDIT: FYWP)
Corner Stone
@The Dangerman:
The Dangerman
@Corner Stone:
To be fair to the sweet
littlething, overcoming the basic laws of physics can be a challenge (although basic Newtonian Mechanics is replaced by the Theory of Relativity for, um, large bodies).frankdawg
@kommrade reproductive vigor:
My sister was an ER nurse at the local destination for the wost of the worst. Most of her stories were pretty funny in a gross way.
My fav was a motorcycle accident. the victim was heavily tattooed – including a fly tattooed on the end of his penis. After he was sedated for surgery there was a constant steam of staff coming through to see it as word spread!
General Stuck
@dr. luba: LOL. point taken.
peej
One of my two will only take pills under extreme duress so I try to get his meds in liquid form. If you’re lucky enough to have a pharmacy that does compounding nearby, you can get the medicine in a tuna flavor…which goes over fairly well. The cherry flavor that is given to kids…not so much.
Elie
@Chat Noir:
I use it and corn based litter with no added perfumes. Both my kitties have done well and there is superior odor control…
demimondian
@The Dangerman: General Relativity Tunch — black hole, or collapsar in progress?
Jim Henley
@John: A little poem I wrote just for you – ten years ago…
http://highclearing.com/index.php/archives/2002/07/26/931
Jackie
Tunch is feeling sluggish, because, 1) he isn’t 100% and 2) it’s freakin’ hot.
Just browsing and, yes, it sounds like a ruptured abscess and your washing, peroxiding is doing the trick. Ointments and dressings aren’t going to stay due to licking right off.
Just keep applying moist heat to help promote drainage and peroxiding – try to hold him a minute to let bubbling “do its thing.” If no improvement w/in 48 hrs, go to vet, but don’t let him charge you to do testing/bloodwork to prove it’s an abscess. Just get the antibiotic. Then good luck getting it into Tunch’s system. You will either wear it (liquid) or find it gagged up in your bed or laundry basket. If they offer an antibiotic shot, go for it. You won’t bleed to death, have it spewed all over you and furniture/bedding, or find undissolved pills hacked up in your bed.
Poopyman
I’ve had maybe a dozen of these things on various indoor/outdoor cats over the last 25 years. The best thing is to let the vets clean it out, since there’ll be more hands to do the job, and they can get into the pockets (and they are there) that you’ll miss. Plus they can give him an antibiotic injection that gives him a big head-start on knocking any infection out. Yeah, it’s more money, but one trip and you’re done, and you won’t be worrying for a week.
Sorry if this has been covered above, but I just dropped in and don’t have time to hang around.
Keep up the party without me!
(Posted in memory of Nicky, who was a lousy fighter, but gave ground to no one. Even when he should have.)
Anne Laurie
The “good” part of this experience, Mr. Cole, is that you now know what an abcess smells like (putrid) and will be prepared the next time one of your animal companions does the small-predator “Injured? Of course not!” fake-out routine. When you get a whiff of that once-smelled, never-forgotten horror, you can start the whole-body scan for the source of the infection. (Although I once had to tell my boss that he needed to see a doctor for what turned out to be a bacterial sinus infection, and it was extremely difficult to phrase “Your breath smells like a cat’s infected wound” politely.)
Also, if the vet prescribes Clavamox, it’ll do terrible things to Tunch’s intestinal flora, so you might want to ask for some probiotic capsules you can sprinkle on his food as well. And be prepared for cat-box odors that not all the scented candles in the world can conquer!
gil mann
Is the abscess right next to his anus? ‘Cause I’ll bet that’s a burst anal gland, not a fight wound.
@cathaireverywhere:
That’s definitely a burst anal gland.
Not that it matters much; the treatment’s more or less the same as it would be for a fight wound, and since the only way to avoid a recurrence involves fisting your cat, you’re probably better off just risking a repeat bursting.
Chasm
Ridley had a very similar problem, which may be the case here: impacted anal glands. Apparently (and I’m not a vet, so bear with me) feces can build up around his anal glads and cause blockage. Eventually the pressure builds up and it literally tears them a new asshole (sorry). As I said, this happened with my cat – one day I picked him up and noticed a huge festering hole next to his anus.
The vet will drain it, sew it up, and administer antibiotics, and he will be fine.
Poopyman
PS – Yes, the smell is typical for your standard-issue cat abscess. And yes, there’s nothing that sounds out of the ordinary about this one, except that it’s on your baby.
I’ve been there.
TrishB
@eemom: But not ALL itchy stuff. I’ll leave it there and say ask a pharmacist when in doubt.
That's Master of Accountancy to You, Pal
@snarkyspice: No kidding. Getting medicine into Eddie is a nightmare. If I can catch him, I can usually get a pill down his throat, but he hides under the bed 24/7. There’s a place he can get to where the only way to get to him is to take both the mattress and the boxspring off. Besides, I like seeing him and petting him, which I can’t do if he won’t come out.
Liquid painkillers go down all right, because they’re tasteless and I can put them in some gravy. Antibiotics are trickier, not only because of the taste, but because they upset his stomach. I can no longer put painkillers in tuna juice, because he thinks it’s going to make him nauseous.
I have yet to find a food that he will consume as soon as I put it out. Often, it doesn’t get entirely eaten. Aside from Eddie not getting his medication, it means that Ringling manages to dope herself on his drugs. She *really* likes his painkillers.
TrishB
@Anne Laurie: My diabetic pup has been on Clavamox for 28 days for a UTI. Do you happen to know if it wreaks havoc on dogs?
CynDee
@General Stuck:
Hello, General. Speaking of Gawd’s critters, I just saw your pic of my goddoggie Charlie after his bath. What a lovely sight. Sooo beautifully silky, and obviously smells sweet and fresh. What a precious pup. Please give him a pat for me.
Katie5
@Elie: I agree. Anything a cat can lick, it will, even if it’s overweight. Human topical medications are not good for cats.
Pills and cats–highly variable. My one cat’s on 8 different pills and 3 injections of subcutaneous fluids a day. She tolerates them. If this was for my Tunch shaped cat, I wouldn’t be alive to comment in this blog. I second Anne Laurie’s suggestion about addressing the Clavamox, Clavaseptin or antibiotics with something. Believe it or not, cats do well with Metamucil. The unflavoured kind-1/2 t a day. Of course, you have to mix it with food and it’s never as unflavoured as they say it is.
Jennifer
This is a very common cat issue. All of my kitties have been outdoor/indoor cats, and as a result, all of them have had abcesses from cat fights at one point or another. Generally, if they scratch the abcess open so it’s draining, and they aren’t off their feed or in obvious discomfort, I even dispense with going to the vet; I just continue to monitor. I will apply antibiotic cream to an open wound because it does help fight the infection. But other than that, the kitties seem to be able to heal up pretty well from these things without further medical intervention. The exceptions are with a deep bite wound that goes all the way to the bone, or with a large tear in the skin. For the former, a long-acting antibiotic shot or daily oral antibiotics are needed; for the latter, they have to be put under and sewed up.
As for the overheated pet issue, here where I live it reaches the 90s by the middle of May and stays there – and higher – until the end of September. The temps themselves won’t hurt the animals; cats and dogs both are pretty good about seeking out shade and limiting their activity to cope with the heat. Just make sure they have shade and plenty of fresh water in a shaded area. My cat tends to want to go out for several hours each day during the hottest part of the day and it causes her no harm, though when I go to call her in, she invariably emerges from some deeply shaded area of the yard where she’s been sleeping. Cats in particular seem to like the heat; they just don’t do a lot of running around when the temps are high.
TaMara (BHF)
@TrishB: Yes it does. Luckily dogs aren’t as picky so you can usually sprinkle an probiotic on their food. Also, mine loved yogurt, so we gave them that, too.
Anne Laurie
@TrishB:
It did with our late great Flicker-Bug, which is why I consider ‘Gentle Digest’ the greatest veterinary invention of the last 20 years. If it was going to upset your girl’s system, I think you would be aware of the problem by now… apart from the loose, smelly stools, when Bug was on Clavamox, her gas attacks actually frightened our other dogs. She also made it clear that her tummy hurt from the pressure buildup (being the mean little beyotch she was, usually by biting me when I tried hand-feeding her). If your girl starts picking at her food, antibiotic-related intestinal distress is one thing to consider, but as I said, you’ll probably get plenty of warnings!
The Truffle
Just ordered a Tunch t-shirt for my mom and hoping the Tunchster recovers soon.
joeyess
John, I have 10 cats. A nasty, pus filled hole is bad. Get that man to the vet. It sounds to me like he’s been bitten by another cat or worse. And it sounds like he’s been bitten deeply. Cats have a very resilient skin. They heal very quickly. This doesn’t sound like he’s healing very quickly.
Don’t wait, brother. Take him tomorrow. Make sure he gets a tetanus shot. My chief concern is this: Has he been inoculated against Feline Leukemia? From your description and the time involved between your discovery and his last voyage outside, I doubt that this is the case, however Go. To. The. Vet.
CynDee
@dr. luba: Probably a number of us here are starting to wish that you were our doctor.
asiangrrlMN
@Sentient Puddle: Ditto this. I had no idea what the edit was. I am glad we have so many knowledgeable people on this board.
Cole, please let us know how Tunchie is doing tomorrow. Hopefully, he will not need the Hannibal Lecter gear in order to be treated.
TrishB
@TaMara (BHF): This is one of those picky dogs, but I could probably mix yogurt with her kibble. I’ll have to ask the vet, but I would guess regular plain yogurt should be okay for a diabetic.
@Anne Laurie: I’ll look up Gentle Digest. For the diabetes, she’s on an extremely high fiber kibble, so loose stool isn’t an option, but she hasn’t been eating so well lately. I do still wonder what the neighbors think of me when I follow her around the back yard with a glucose/ketone strip.
Corner Stone
@joeyess:
Jeebus fucking christ.
Nate Dawg
FWIW,
Applying hydrocortisone to an infection is like throwing fuel on a fire. Don’t do it. Ever.
Best of luck!
General Stuck
@CynDee:
Will do:-)
hamletta
I’ve dealt with a kitty abscess before; I guess I lucked out in that it opened when I wasn’t there. But it sure was scary-looking.
My Sophia got really sick a few years ago, wasn’t eating, and was horking up spit instead of hairballs. When I took her to the vet, they opened her mouth, and there was a small abscess in there that had just opened up.
They thought she’d swallowed something like a needle, and they X-rayed her and couldn’t find anything. It turned out to be a bot fly larva (eek!) that had been embedded just under her jaw.
They stuck the little bug(ger) in a vial of alcohol and gave him to me. I still have it in my jewelry box. Someday I’ll make a necklace out of it.
CynDee
This thread has probably saved our household from our own carelessness and neglect. We have NO neosporin in the house. Going straight to the Dollar Store tomorrow.
We do have hydrogen peroxide. But I’m glad to get the clear messages on cortisone. What a lot of people on here who care greatly that the right info is available.
Had a hard week, but this makes it easier. Animals and the people who care about them make things better for everyone. Wonder if we could build a working political system on taking care of all living creatures.
hamletta
@CynDee:
Shit, CynDee, we can’t even get it past the spam filter at this very blog!
Beej
@Toonces: While none of my cats has ever had the abcess break, several have had to have the gland (it is a blocked gland that causes the abcess, I think) cleaned out. The process of cleaning it out mostly involves the vet inserting gloved finger into anus and pressing on the gland from inside. It’s sort of like popping a pimple. Needless to say, my cats did not appreciate this and showed their displeasure by shredding the poor vet tech who was trying to hold them.
ErikaF
Sounds like you’ve gotten some good advice, but here’s some more ;)
Get some puppy pads for Tunch for a few days – it’s nicer on the butt for him in the litter box. Put a pad in the litter box, and then put Tunch’s cat litter on a corner of it.
If you have to pill him, and don’t want to use the greenies, try this trick. Open their mouth (the hard part) and toss the pill towards the back of their throat. Then hold their mouth shut, and puff directly in their face. Most cats will involuntarily swallow, and down the pill goes.
With my cats, once the abcess is draining, I layer Neosporin on it once a day for a few days. If my critter is looking puny or listless, I’ll take them to the vet. If you’ve drained the abcess, wash your clothes twice – believe me!
And now for a funny cat story – a friend of mine was getting ready for his shower, and his cat came into the bathroom. Kitty saw something dangling enticingly, and, being a cat, leapt for it. I don’t know who screamed louder – my friend or the cat. But for the rest of his life, the cat was terrified of the bathroom.
AlanDean
Haven’t time to read all the posts but hydrocortisone is for itches, like insect bites and hemorrhoids.
Triple antibiotic right into a cleaned out wound– H2O2 is good for that also iodine but iodine can irritate. Make sure he does not lick at this stuff.
And the stench is normal. Good luck with the boy. I remember when my first cat got into a fight– I didn’t sleep that night worrying so much.
Gina
Chiming in late, of course, but THIS to every suggestion to avoid hydrocortisone – it’s for suppressing immune response, like with allergy issues, very bad for an infection.
I just skimmed the posts, so not sure if I missed it, but is Tunch vax’d for rabies? I’m in the area of NY between the Catskills and Hudson river, we’ve had several local cases here. Notable last year when there was a rabid raccoon doing the zombie walk right on our street. Distemper, feline and canine, can be carried by raccoons as well.
For home treatment of topical infections, I’ve had good results with betadine scrubs, but even better with a boric acid solution. Boric acid powder is available in the pharmacy section, it’s anti-fungal as well as antiseptic, and best of all you can make a nice warm solution of it and it doesn’t sting one bit when applied to any wound. My older dog Mo had some crappy abscesses from bite wounds on his face, the vet was closed for the long weekend, and I managed to treat it well enough at home to not need major intervention. I did have to clip and shave the wound area to get better access and air to the wound.
I am not recommending no vet, just saying that if it’s not doable immediately, this could help and could be easier applied than stinging solutions. Mo just hated the “solution” part, anything to do with water/wet/liquid is a huge deal (i.e., hissy fit) for him, but using a big fluffy compress well soaked in it seemed to be negotiable. I was cleaning it about every 4 hours or so, leaving it to the open air. Note that the wounds were not super deep, however.
I’m really worried about rabies, distemper, FIV and FELC for Tunch though.
TrishB
@CynDee: Hydrogen peroxide can be an effective tool in the doggie first aid kit, just not for wound cleaning. It is helpful if the dog ingests something non-corrosive. If you get the appropriate amount for the dog’s weight shoved down the throat, after s/he’s ingested oh, let’s say recreational greenery (dropped out of a shirt pocket at someone’s party), human heart pills (in a guest bedroom), a box of bourbon dark chocolates (divested of Xmas wrapping under the tree), a tube of toothpaste (dragged right off the counter) this will buy you some time getting to the e-vet. I recommend splash guards for the overflow. It is not helpful at all if your dog has ingested cooked turkey bones, a few yards of yarn, or a cassette tape. Those will require different methods of extraction via your vet.
Oh, and you’ve never lived until you’ve spent a night at the e-vet with a friend and 2 Jack Russells who ate the recreational herbs that fell out of some dude’s shirt pocket. Damn, stoned JRTs make the regular ones look sane. At first. Then it gets scary hella quickly. First, all the party goers were laughing at the doggies, next thing we knew, someone admitted to having lost something and I’m shouting for the owner. So yeah, a few folks in Halloween costumes with 2 stoned JRTs makes for interesting night at the emergency vet clinic.
Zuzu's Petals
Sometimes it’s hard to explain to people who have never read this blog what makes it such a compelling read.
But compelling it is!
LiberalTarian
@joeyess: Dude. I have 4 and they are driving me fucking nuts.
We (i.e. me and the cats) experimented briefly with outside sojourns, but on Sunday a baby bird was trotted into the living room and so the outdoor sojourns are over, kaput, no more.
I am wondering though … what did it used to be like to get a full night’s sleep? And, why, oh why, must cats rise before the sun??? And, why can’t I go back to sleep after they leap on me as the sun is coming up? Really, they have to walk on me and not around me? Do I not promptly kick them off the bed? Sigh.
Anne Laurie
@TrishB: Gentle Digest. It’s also available at the big-box pet stores around here, now. This link says the capsules contain chicory, which I suspect you’ll want to ask your vet about. But if your girl’s been off her food, it may well be she’s reluctant to fill a painful tummy, and that’s not good for her diabetes either. Our Flicker wouldn’t touch yogurt, not even mixed with strained baby chicken, but she’d wolf down her canned food with the probiotic powder sprinkled on it. By that point she’d lost a chunk of her intestines to colon cancer, and had chronic UTI problems secondary to bladder stones, as well as the heart problems that eventually killed her. But the Gentle Digest helped give her another 18 months as the queen of our household.
limniade
BTW, if you can’t get a long-term shot or a liquid antibiotic, you can still buy a 12mL syringe (look for them in the bird section of Petsmart), put the antibiotic pill in with a little water (about 5ml), wait for it to dissolve, and then administer to the cat. My cat is extremely easy-going EXCEPT for taking pills (as verified by my vet as an official hard-to-pill cat) but he puts up with the syringe method with resigned aplomb. Be warned that it’ll probably taste bad and he’ll spit some of it out, but then again the cat can spit a pill out too, so you break even in the end. To administer, sit behind the cat and aim the syringe at the corner of his mouth (you may need to hold his head–plenty of pets and smooches will make this go more smoothly). Squirt in 2 mL, do a 10-count, squirt in another 2ml, 10-count, squirt in the last bit, give treat and praise. You might want to practice with regular water because some syringes are easier to depress the plunger than others, and you don’t want the medicine to squirt all over the place and waste it.
Seanly
My wife & I are thinking of getting a cat as a companion for our remaining dog. After hearing all these tales of exploding anal abscesses, I may change my mind. Still have a few weeks as we’re waiting for wife to finish chemo & radiation.
Losing a beloved dog of 8 years and then having wife go through chemo (even if only 4 treatments) sucks. I don’t recommend it. Good thing I’m on bupropion…
Something Fabulous
@Seanly: My goodness– my best to you and your wife!! And if you do still think about a cat from time to time, for what it’s worth, I’ve got two, and while they’ve got their issues, no butt-explosions (so far).
cathaireverywhere
@gil mann:
no, my cat’s abscess was on top of his tail, at the base. There were two very clear top teeth marks, and two very clear bottom teeth marks, so it was definitely a bite. There has been a new cat in the neighborhood lately, and I think that’s who bit Onyx. Between the antibiotic shot and a couple of days of hot compresses, he is all healed up, except for looking like half of a lion with the shaving on his butt and halfway up his tail.
cathaireverywhere
It is generally above 90 degrees here May- October, with a few weeks above 100, and my kitties and dogs do fine. (we don’t have humidity, though) They actually seem to prefer to be outside under a bush, and are frequently cool, damp and covered with mulch when they come in. They also like sleeping in the (empty) bathtub and on the tile floor in the closet (cool and dark). I do put a few ice cubes in their water bowl every morning, which they seem to enjoy, but their favorite beverage is still lukewarm pond water from the backyard.
cckids
@LiberalTarian: Ah, yes, the early morning wake-up. The little secret I was never told by a cat owner. Then after I acquired 3 (adopted a litter), EVERYONE I know who has one says “why yes, they do wake you up”.
My tortie still, at 7 years old, walks up my body to peer into my face sometime around 5 am to basically say “you can relax, the sun is coming up again”. Then crashes through the blinds to watch it. Gotta love her.
Lesley
All I have is hydrocortisone. Is that ok?
NO. This topical cream is a steroid used for rashes. Not infections. It must never be used on broken skin, especially!
You need an antibiotic cream if possible. Sounds like the wash was thorough. I hope the vet visit goes Ok. If Tunch has cognitive ability he might even draw a line between action (going out) and result (being assaulted and then having to go to the vet where he’s blindfolded). Hehehe. I know, not a chance.
suzanne
@Seanly: Oh, don’t let these stories scare you. I keep my cats indoors, and always have, which avoids these sorts of issues, for the most part. I know the kitties love going outside, but the statistics don’t lie—the average indoor/outdoor cat only lives three years, according to what I’ve read. When they don’t come into contact with other cats who aren’t family, they get injuries like this relatively rarely.
asiangrrlMN
@Seanly: Good luck to you and your wife. I have two boys, and I haven’t had to deal with any ass explosions at all (except for the occasional missed litterbox). They are totally worth it, and my boys are indoor cats.
BradWS
Betadyne.
(Also known as Povidone iodine solution) is what you should have on hand for yourself and your pets. It’s a miracle worker.
I’ve had cats and dogs all my life and have treated many bites and puncture wounds successfuly (usually from dog on dog activity) without a vet simply using a syringe (without needle) and irrigating the wounds daily until they healed up.
I usually mix it with Hydrogen peroxide, 1/2 and 1/2 for the first few rinses.
I’m NOT saying to skip the Vet! I’m saying “be prepared” and know how to deal with first aid, for yourself AND your pets.
In fact, I’d suggest you ask the vet about treating minor wounds this way
TrishB
@Anne Laurie: Thanks for the info. I’ll make sure to ask the vet about it when we do a curve next week. Pepper’s off her canned food. She was having mechanical issues and ended up wearing more of it in her brows, beard, and paws than she was ingesting. She’s had much better luck with wetted kibble that’s been nuked for 20 seconds. Not sure whether any of this is attributable to having half her teeth or being blind.
Gatsby
Don’t put anything with cortisone in it on an infected wound! It will only make it worse.
HeartlandLiberal
I know this was yesterday, and you have probably taken care of this today, but get the to the vet and get some anti-biotic tablets for the cat. The cat needs this to help speed healing of the wound internally. Salve is NOT enough.
If this is your first experience with an abscess on a cat, count yourself lucky. Having always had from two to four cats in the household, and always indoor/outdoor cats and mighty hunter or territory defending cats, I have dealt with far more of these than I care to remember.
They are common with cats. A wound gets infected and cannot drain, and presto, an abscess.
And you literally have not lived until you have first cut open and then squeezed and cleaned out an abscess. I can say no more. Such fond memories of many of our past cats.
Staging a Comeback
@Seanly:
Pets are like kids in that way-somebody is always requiring your attention for some issue or another. Like another poster said, if you keep the cat indoors these types of injuries are usually avoided. Good luck to you and your wife with her treatment.
Staging a Comeback
@LiberalTarian:
Although mine are all in the habit of sleeping in the bed with me now, I am actually a proponent of not letting pets in your sleeping quarters for that very reason.
bemused
@frankdawg:
That penis tattooing story is making my mind reel. I imagine that would be extremely painful but then, I hear some people are really into that. Then I started thinking about tattoo artists who will tattoo those private areas….just ick.
Keith G
Given the events that nudged Cole over to the good side, I am fascinated by the number of “lefty Bill Frists” that are commenting here.
Redkitten
And John, if I may make a gentle suggestion? Considering that you have two dogs and a cat, and that you are somewhat accident-prone…you might want to update your first aid kid. Get some proper antibiotic ointment and some saline wash, for starters.
grendelkhan
The proper adjective that goes along with the noun “pus” is either “purulent” or “pustulent”, depending on your mood. The former appears to be more apropos, though I’ve been using the latter. They have the added advantage over “pussy” and now “pus-filled” of sounding really damned gross.
Laura Clawson
What JBerardi said:
I mean, I can’t actually pick my cat up, and that time I tried to hold him with one hand and brush him with the other was about 14 months ago and I still have a scar. So my standards may be a little off, but still. He let you put him under the faucet? Freaking angel is right.
Mumphrey
@grendelkhan:
I don’t know; pus is nasty. Why shouldn’t the word we talk about it with be nasty, too? We can always write “pus-y” to keep it straight from “pussy”…