In Which There's Suddenly Pus

[sessifet]

A couple of weeks ago, Loki got into a fight with another cat. We suspect it may have been Jazz, because Loki has a habit of pushing past Jazz' very obvious 'stop fucking with me now' signals until there's screaming and fur. Regardless of which cat he got into a scrap with, he ended up with what at that point just looked like scratches and a case of the insecure grumps (meaning he spent a few days being more affectionate and present than usual).

So far so good. About a week later we find out that actually, he has a suppurating hole on his head where he's obviously been bitten. So we clean it and keep a close eye on the rest of his scabs and scratches as well. All's fine until yesterday, when I notice he has a fresh looking scab on his bald spot and a lump. There's also a lump on his neck, which doesn't just feel like a large scab. He's also grumpy, unhappy and generally unwilling to be touched. When I insist on checking his lumps, he actually hisses and claws at me. Considering that's completely contrary to the easy going idiot I know and (mostly) love, I book an appointment for today.

This morning, his lump has at least doubled in size and he really doesn't want me to touch him at all. Roll on lunchtime today: we get to the vet and in the examination room, we have to extract a very sulky Loki by removing the lid of the carrier and prising him off the towel. All the normal preliminary stuff ensues, I explain the history and how he's Normally Not Like This, Officer, Honestly. Meanwhile, Loki's opting for the 'play dead' strategy and ready to make a run for it as soon as I relax my hold on him by even a fraction. This lasts up until the vet inspects the lump on his head, at which point the following ensues:

"Oh, yes, that looks abscessed. Let me see if I can remo...ah."
*busy silence*
"Well, that's emptied it. I'll go get him an antibiotics shot."

You see...when a head wound like that abscesses, there's a lot of pressure. Especially if it starts to swell at the rate that this one did (from 'hmm' to 'dude, are you smuggling quail eggs in there?'). So when the vet poked the scab, it pretty much went 'ptoing' and suddenly, there was pus. A surprising amount, just..fountaining up. It was fascinating in a nauseating kind of way.

Loki's now a lot happier (if not on speaking terms with me at the moment) but next time he has one of those wounds, he's going to the vet before he turns into a furry pus fountain again.

Comments

[cat63.livejournal.com]

Something very similar happened with our Salem when he was staying with Rob's parents once. Not fun for anybody, that :(

Do you have some Little Pink Pills for Loki? Fortunately Salem is reasonably good about swallowing those (for a cat, anyway) - I hope Loki is likewise.

[xidia.livejournal.com]

Ewwwww! I bet he's feeling loads better now!

[siliconshaman.livejournal.com]

I've had to treat that sort of thing from time to time... seven cats plus the occasional stray you know... anyway, usually cleaning it out with sterile saline works well enough. Dose of antibiotics to be sure, and some pain relief and it's usually all that's necessary... easy enough to do yourself if the cat cooperates.

[sessifet25.livejournal.com]

Just a long-acting antibiotics shot, fortunately. Loki's not too bad with pills, but he's one of those easy-going cats where you always feel bad about poking and prodding and forcing of pills. :)

[sessifet25.livejournal.com]

He's actually curled up on the back of the sofa. He's purring, but also just outside easy fuzzling reach, so he's obviously not forgiven me yet.

[sessifet25.livejournal.com]

Yeah, we did that first time around. Clean the wound, apply antiseptic stuff, check and clean the wound with saline solution for a few days afterwards. It seemed to be fine without antibiotics until yesterday, so there must have been a bit that we couldn't clean due to the wound's angle and depth (puncture wounds are the worst for that). Next time he's going straight to the vet for a shot, because I'd like to prevent this happening again.

[siliconshaman.livejournal.com]

True that, head wounds are hardest because the tooth hits bone and skitters sideways so the wound tract ends up under the skin. I usually use a wide gauge syringe to flush the wound out, and even that doesn't always work.

[cat63.livejournal.com]

Oh good. Less unpleasant all round :)

I hope he feels better soon.