Hi! I hope everyone is having a nice day!
Last week, we noticed our Siamese cat had what appeared to be an absessed tooth - his lower jaw was really really swollen. I looked in his mouth, felt around the outside of his jaw and didn't see/feel anything that would indicate an absess, bite, puncture or anything. Well, we thought we'd let it go and see how it progressed and then yesterday, I noticed that all of a sudden there was a bald spot about the size of a dime and blood. :( The swelling did go down some and we put peroxide on it and let it be. Well, today I noticed the bald spot is bigger and it's way more bloody. He scratched it and ended up with more fur on his paw from the scratching. Oh, and though it looks like a puncture wound, it's hard to tell exactly what happened. He is an indoor/outdoor kitty (mostly indoors).
My question is: Should I take him to the vet, or clean it w/ more peroxide and maybe Neosporin? If I do clean it myself, should I dress the wound? And if I do dress it, how do I do that? I have all the gauze, tape, etc... that I would need... just don't know HOW to do this...?
Thanks!
Well, it's not an abscess, as I can place my finger inside and push on the gum and he shows no discomfort. However, the outside looks like it's draining. I'll call the vet today and get him in. Thanks for all the advice!
Jaws just don't swell up for no reason, he needed to be seen last week. You certainly don't know it's not an abscess because you can touch the inside. Please get him to the vet today. Sigh.
It sounds like a parasite, poor kitty! Take him to the vet!! I am the worst owner ever and I would have taken him the minute it started bleeding!
I mean we are talking a bald spot on his chin right? VET! now!
Oh, good grief. Take the poor cat to a vet. It's been a week!!!!
You NEED TO take him to the Vet.
Abscessed things, needs to be looked at and meds given for it. Or it can quickly turn into a serious matter.
How is he eating being injured like that?
Take him to the Vet.
Do not self fix it.
You need a Vet to diagnose it properly and clean it out.
Go to the vet, do not use peroxide as it will do more damage than good.
Most likely he got into a scrap with another cat outside and has a abscessed/infected bite wound. If that's the case, he will need antibiotics and possibly his rabies vaccine boostered, depending on what the law is where you live. Or it could be dental/tooth related, or something else entirely (i.e. tumor). Point being, this is not something you can figure out or fix yourself - you need to take him to the vet. Really, you should have brought him last week when you first noticed an issue. We also don't recommend using peroxide to clean any kind of wound - it actually ends up doing more damage to the tissue than cleaning.
Call the Vet asap! If it's not an abcessed tooth, he probably got a puncture on his jaw. 99.5 percent of punctures on a cat are from other cats. Cats mouths have nasty bacteria - ask any vet. Bites from a cat that break the skin should not be messed with and treated professionally (this includes a person bitten by a cat). Unfortunately it's hard to detect a bite when it first happens because they have so much fur and because they will lick it and clean it at lot so we don't really see any blood or evidence until it gets infected. Hope your kitty feels better real soon!
Poor baby, take him to the vet.
Take him to the vet! They'll wnat to put a cone on him so he can't keep scratching it and making it worse. You need to have it checked to make sure it isn't cancerous tumors. It could be infected. I would have had my little one in as soon as I saw it.
You kitty may/probably needs an antibiotic for infection. Please take him in to the vet. Believe me I know how expensive these things can be, so I hope you have an understanding vet that will let you make payments if you can't afford a lump sum bill.
Blessings to you and your pet.
Take him to the vet. Cats tend to mask their true discomfort so the injury may be more serious than it appears. All my cats have been indoor/outdoor and we've had a couple injuries that were pretty serious. The longer you wait the worst it'll get.
I'm a RVT, a veterinary nurse. It sounds alot like an an abcess to me. Facial abcesses can be very difficult to heal on their own an cats really need antibiotics to clear the infection. They get painful and the resulting fevers can get very high. My own cat had a fever of 108 during recovery because we found it late due to his long hair. Please take him to the vet.
Take him to the vet. I had a kitty a long time ago, he had an abcess on his tooth also. I had planned to take him to the vet the following day but he passed that night. I think he'd had it a couple days at that point. Best wishes for your kitty..
Cats don't show pain.... it's a sign of weakness. So your poor kitty is probably suffering way more than you can imagine. Take him to the vet now. Go to an emergency clinic if there is one nearby. He needs to be seen. You have NO idea what you are dealing with. Poor thing. Peroxide is extremely painful on open wounds.
I'd definitely take him to the vet.
Poor kitty. He'll be better after the visit.
Take him to the vet. If he has an infection the vet can give him a shot for an antibiotic. You also want to know if there's a problem inside his mouth, possibly from an injury or a bad tooth. He may have had an abscess that ruptured. I would get him seen ASAP.
Could be feline acne or ringworm...or worse. Probably not one you're going to be able to cure at home :( Good luck!
