Need advice for cat with draining abcess on shoulder

Whenever my cats have gotten abcesses (usually from fights), the only successful outcome has been letting the vet flush the wound and following up with antibiotics. If your vet is too expensive, find a farm vet. Even if you live in the city, the cost difference will be worth the drive. Farm vets are usually a lot less expensive than the townie vets, and they have a realistic view of what you can and can't spend on your barn cats.

hi there, my cat (and dogs) frequently get abscesses and our close friend is our vet. the last time this happened to my dog they told me the main thing is to keep draining it, that if it scabs over, to pick the scab and push out the pus daily. then flush with peroxide. they said most of the time, no antibiotics are necessary.

our vet is old school... no fancy stuff and it's worked great for us.

good luck with your kitty.

Hope this suggestion works for you as well as it does for us.

We use GSE oil (Grapefruit Seed Extract). You can find it at any health food store. Maybe even the health food aisle in some larger grocery stores.

Follow the directions for diluting it and wash the wound well.

With our cats it normally only takes one cleaning and the abcess is gone.

What I think happens is: The cats lick the excess fluid away after treatment, ingesting the GSE so it not only is working topically but internally. The bacteria causing the infection is killed both ways and the abcess goes away much quicker than with peroxide. We LOVE it and use it for all sorts of things.

Do a search to find out more but basically ...

"Grapefruit extract is used as an antibiotic, antiseptic, disinfectant, and as a preservative in food and cosmetics. GSE is also non-toxic, environmentally safe, and quickly bio-degradable. It causes no side effects and is often dramatically less expensive than existing treatments or chemicals for similiar applications, whether human, animal, or agricultural in scope."

Mary Ann

I sure appreciate the support here, Oscar is doing okay with the abcess so far. He let's me wash and soak it with the epsom salts. I've been putting on antibiotic cream after washing it.

The area changed last night. All lumpy, liquid feeling bumps are gone. Now it is a semi-hard area around the opening. The area is flat and about the size of a silver dollar. He is not limping or showing stiffness nor is he sensative about me touching the area.

Any thoughts? I'm going to go get the GSE oil today unless someone thinks I need to take him to the vet right away.

Thanks again for walking with me in this. I love my Oscar and am trying to do my best for him while being fiscally responsible for my family. Ahhhh..the walk of balance in life.

Peace-

I'm just catching up with this post after searching online about cat wounds. I have a cat who has been healing with a wound for a while now. Going on 5mths, several vet visits for surgeries, wound infections, hydra therapy and so on. you name it, we've done it. To make a long story short, while waiting for his wound to close from the inside out, he has another infection. I've been cleaning with Epsom salt daily and applying antibiotic cream. He has some oosing beginning, which is another infection, I'm sure. Same thing happened about 2 mths ago and that vet visit was $200 alone. I want to try the route of giving him some penicillin on my own this time. Have spent $2,000 in vet bills and am tapped out. Went to my local feed store today and purchased some Durapen (is this the correct penicillin?) Just want some advice about the previous post on how much to inject. Other sites recomend .5 cc for rabbits- every 2-3 days, but I can't find anything on cats. He's 12 lbs. but I am nervous about doing this as I've never done anything like this before but am willing to try. Also, does this have to be injected and can't be given orally? Any advice is appreciated, waiting on a reply before I do anything.
Thank you so much.

during kitties flee bath did you notice cuts on your arms hands and face