please help me and my cat! we dont know what it is *pics*

[kookykate328]

I dont think its ringworm because our cats have had that before and it doesn't look like it and no one has it it doesnt really smell well at least not horribaly and there isnt really any pus would the salt thing still possible help

 

[Nicola]

yes it should help wash away whatever may be causing the irritation also its a good cleansing thing to use on mild infections

my cat had a big long gash on his side from a fight

see and i washed it with a salt water solution and it healed up fine, as there was no major infection in it, Now if your cats wound starts to ooz, i would take him( or her) to a vet.

 

[AinaWGSD]

I wouldn't rule out ringworm just because it "doesn't look like it did the last time they had ringworm." Ringworm can look like a lot of different things in addition to the normal presentation. How do I know, because we've had ringworm cultures come back positive from skin lesions that looked like mange, allergy hair loss, and even a positive ringworm result on a mass we removed from a dog's foot because we thought it was cancer (it wasn't, just a very odd presentation of ringworm). And unlike dogs and humans who always have skin lesions if they have ringworm, cats can be asymptomatic carriers...meaning a cat can have ringworm and not show any lesions at all until their immune system becomes stressed and the ringworm takes off. So if your cats have had ringworm before, that would be my number one suspicion for this skin lesion.

Cleaning the area with a saline (ie salt) solution won't hurt anything. It will help keep down the risk for developing infection (or worse infection if there is already a mild one present) by washing off any surface bacteria and a saline solution is less likely than betadine or peroxide to damage healing skin cells. I would agree though that you need to get the hair away from the wound either by using electric clippers or, if your cat flips out at the sound of clippers, plucking the hair by hand (my dog gets hot spots on his cheek about once a year and really hates the clippers that close to his face so I have to pluck the hair around the area by hand...he doesn't like that much better but at least I am able to get the hot spot exposed to air to help dry it up). I also agree that you need to trim at least his back nails so that he does less damage to the area when he scratches at it.

 

[kookykate328]

ok thanks and we just didnt want to trim his claws because we thought it would make them more rough and jagged and do even more damage

 

[Nicola]

Use nail clippers and just cut the tips off, as a blunt edge, dont go near the pink bit in the claws as that will make him bleed. I have to trim my outdoor cats claws regularly, as they get needle sharp and he knows it. As your cat isnt used to it, he may freak out a bit, so do it as quick as you can.

 

[ChickenWisperer]

It sounds more like he's got in a fight and is constantly licking the wound, rubbing the skin right off - or it's possibly infected. It calls for a trip to the vets office.

Elliot, rest his soul, has a SEVERE one on his shoulder. That thing was there for months and came back. But he loved taking his medicine!

 

[kookykate328]

this is it now right after i put salt water on it and it looks a lot worse than it did in the first pictures i posted even though its a better less blurry picture

 

[kookykate328]

Quote:
we have 2 other cats so thats very possible but its too expensive to go to the vet

 

[Nicola]

Wow that is red raw D: I would be trimming the Furr around it, and trimming his claws, have you put anything on his skin before this happened that you haven't used before? That could cause an allergy? are there other cats in the house that could of scratched him?

While you are at it, trim the other cats claws too

Yes vets are expensive but you really do not want that to turn into one of these http://www.pbase.com/image/44478805 WARNING GRAPHIC!

 

[ruffles]

If you get red gunk out of the ears, it is mites, if not, is it round and spreading, if so, could be fungus, or ringworm,

Could be a bite or sting, what I do know, being involved with veternarians and shelter animals for 20 years, cats, get infections sooner than dogs, it should be attended to, it will infiltrate, and that will
cost more money, the cat most likely has an infection, which require antibiotics, and or if mites, ivomec, which I put in my cat's ears. Or, you can get a once a month pill that kills heartworm, fleas, and mites oh and I think, ticks. But, once again, cats get infections more easily than dogs, I would hate to see a scenario, that, it becomes more inflamed fills up with water and has to be lances surgically and then, a drain is left in.

Or as someone said, it could be food,