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My cat, Pumpkin, has sustained a large injury on her thigh. It's pretty much just a large hole, about the 4cm in diameter, going all the way through her skin. You can see all the muscles and tendons and stuff underneath.

She hasn't been able to jump up on the counter these past couple of weeks, so we think it might have been a large abscess that finally ruptured. It looks excruciatingly painful, yet Pumpkin is acting perfectly normal. She still eats, meows, purrs, walks around, etc.

We cannot take her to the vet tonight, but we are going tomorrow. Is this something that requires my care right now? Can her muscles dry out since they are just exposed to the air? Or should I just wait until tomorrow?

Thanks for any help.

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

you might want to put some antibiotic ointment (eg Neosporin) on it...

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I don't know if she'd let me do that... She won't let me touch the wound.

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

doesnt matter if she lets you or not, infection could kill her and that is your greatest concern this very second. Neosporin has the advantage of not really hurting either just jump her and smear it she will eventually forgive you. Or try and be sneaky and then just do it but either way you need to do something to keep it from getting infected.

Empty chairs at empty tables, the room silent, forlorn.

Is it just a hole, or can you see signs of infection (redness, swelling, puss, etc) around the opening. I'd imagine she has cleaned it well already.
Is the hole neat or torn-looking?


I tend to think something that goes that close to the bone is something that requires attention and antibiotics sooner rather than later. However if it is too late to go, call the emergency number and see if they can walk you through a quick first aid job, or if they feel its necessary to treat now (they won't wanna get out of bed if its not an emergency )
If you can't go out, and can't get hold of anyone, I'd clean the wound with bottled water and apply some betadine to the exterior.

Where's Racso, he's in a vetty mood these days... nab him for a quick chat.

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

just jump her and smear it she will eventually forgive you.

Where do I put it? Just on the "rim" or on the muscles as well? Depending on which way her skin moves (cats have very loose skin), a totally different muscle is showing. I'm kind of uncomfortable about putting the stuff inside her body...

Is it just a hole, or can you see signs of infection (redness, swelling, puss, etc) around the opening. I'd imagine she has cleaned it well already.

It's pretty much just a hole, but now I see that some of the fur around the wound has pus on it.

Is the hole neat or torn-looking?

It's a very neat, round hole. It doesn't look like something attacked her.

I'm going to post a link to a picture of the wound, it is graphic so if you're sqeamish, don't look at it! [link=Click here for picture.]http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/1516/wound13ok.jpg" style="COLOR: #FFFFFF[/link] Her fur is covering up about a third of it.

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

You are probably right about the abscess thing.

Its not *too* bad, it can probably wait till morning IMO, but i'd not take my word for it.

clean it up as best you can (any syringes? hold it like a dagger use your thumb to work the plunger, and rinse it out with bottled water. you can put cream on it if you like, but i don't know if thats going to make a great deal of difference right now.

first priority is to clean it up, then try to keep it clean until you can get her to the vet

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

I have a link bookmarked for kitty first aid just in case I need it:

[link=http://www.sniksnak.com/cathealth/firstaid3.html]http://www.sniksnak.com/cathealth/firstaid3.html" style="COLOR: #ffffff[/link]

There are suggestions on there for abcesses that have burst.

basically:

not touching it with bare hands, wear gloves or don't touch it at all
flushing with lukewarm water and a paper towel if you can handle it to remove pus
hydrogen peroxide flush after the pus is gone
and then covering with a bandage

seems like sound advice to me.

I wouldn't use neosporin because it blocks oxygen from getting into the wound and tends to attract dirt, causing infection. You're much better off just getting and keeping it clean and seeing a vet asap. Same goes for people (but in that case you would be seeing a doctor). Saline solution is good for flushing nasties out of wounds and abcesses too, if you have it.

Stormy and calla gave good advice, I'm just adding my 2 cents.

Thank you all for the advice.

I managed to wash it out a little bit with bottled water, and it's looking much cleaner. She was yowling the whole time, of course.

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

Good. Let us know how she does, I hope the vet fixes her up nicely for you. Good luck.

hydrogen peroxide is always a good idea, i know it was mentioned above. i realize im about 2 days late on the post, hows the cat doing?

Nick
"Impossumable- unable to play dead"

She's doing well.

It pretty much just went as expected, we took her to the vet and they stitched her up, and now she has to be on antibiotics for about a week.

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

good save.