Bald Patches

MarcusTheCat · Mar 20, 2019

Hello,
Today when I let my cat inside I saw a bald patch on his head and it looked like it was shaved. There also was an injury on his ear. I can't afford going to the vet so I called a petsmart and one of the employees told me to put Polysporins on it. My father went and bought it from the store but while I was researching I realized that you can't put polysporin with pain relief on cats. I'm very scared and want to do anything to help him but I'm lacking the money. By the way these photos are from earlier this morning and now it's more of a pink than red, and just to be safe I dabbed a cotton pad with some warm water on his bald patch. Is there more I could do? And how fast should I do it? (It's been about 12 hours since I first saw the bald patch).

LTS3 · Mar 21, 2019

Yeah, triple antibiotic ointment with pain relief is a big no-no for cats :nono:

But your dad didn't know when he bought it from the pet store :alright:

If the pet store employee said specifically to get the ointment with pain relief, I personally would call the manager of the store to address the harmful advice given.

If you can get regular triple antibiotic ointment such as this one, you can use that. A trip to the vet is still a good idea especially if the red spot get worse or your cat is constantly scratching at it. Look for a low cost vet clinic if your regular vet is too expensive.

Financial Aid for Pets

No Money For Vet Care? How To Find Help And Save Your Cat's Life

Keep your cat indoors until the red spot heals.

di and bob · Mar 21, 2019

Triple antibiotic with NO pain relief is fine, it is the pain relief that is bad. it can be one of either two things- ring worm, although the picture of his ear doesn't look like it, (and you better hope it isn't, VERY hard to get rid of) Or it is wounds from a cat fight. Punture wounds quickly lose the hair around them and look like what your cat has too. If it is ring worm it will spread quikly and make more bald spots and spread to you too, so wash your hands. Keep him inside, he will get into more fights and you need to know what it is. You might dab it with a half peroxide, half water mixture, once only to cleanse it. If it starts swelling up it means it has formed an abscess, and that needs further treatment. It is very painful until it bursts.
Is he neutered? If not he will be constantly getting into fights and receive a lot more serious wounds then these. Neutered males still defend their property but are not as aggressive about fighting. The big Toms usually ignore them. Believe me, getting him neutered should be a priority. My unneutered ferals are blind in one eye, have their ears torn off and are constantly limping around from abscesses, not a good life at all!

MarcusTheCat · Mar 21, 2019

Thank you so much!! So can it be any regular triple antibiotic ointment or that one specifically? Is there any other ingredients I might want to watch out for?

LTS3 said:
Yeah, triple antibiotic ointment with pain relief is a big no-no for cats But your dad didn't know when he bought it from the pet store If the pet store employee said specifically to get the ointment with pain relief, I personally would call the manager of the store to address the harmful advice given.

If you can get regular triple antibiotic ointment such as this one, you can use that. A trip to the vet is still a good idea especially if the red spot get worse or your cat is constantly scratching at it. Look for a low cost vet clinic if your regular vet is too expensive.

Financial Aid for Pets

No Money For Vet Care? How To Find Help And Save Your Cat's Life

Keep your cat indoors until the red spot heals.

MarcusTheCat · Mar 21, 2019

But do you think that ringworm came in a hour or so? Because when I let him out I didn't see anything on his forehead. He had it when he came back, but I'm very confused as if to how another cat could cause such a wound? For the past couple of weeks I have been training him on a leash (before the cat fight) and he doesn't seem to mind it so I'm wondering if that might be a solution for after the wound heals and he wants to go out, what do you think?

di and bob said:
Triple antibiotic with NO pain relief is fine, it is the pain relief that is bad. it can be one of either two things- ring worm, although the picture of his ear doesn't look like it, (and you better hope it isn't, VERY hard to get rid of) Or it is wounds from a cat fight. Punture wounds quickly lose the hair around them and look like what your cat has too. If it is ring worm it will spread quikly and make more bald spots and spread to you too, so wash your hands. Keep him inside, he will get into more fights and you need to know what it is. You might dab it with a half peroxide, half water mixture, once only to cleanse it. If it starts swelling up it means it has formed an abscess, and that needs further treatment. It is very painful until it bursts.
Is he neutered? If not he will be constantly getting into fights and receive a lot more serious wounds then these. Neutered males still defend their property but are not as aggressive about fighting. The big Toms usually ignore them. Believe me, getting him neutered should be a priority. My unneutered ferals are blind in one eye, have their ears torn off and are constantly limping around from abscesses, not a good life at all!

di and bob · Mar 21, 2019

I really don't think it is ring worm. Although it can appear rather quick and spreads to 4 or 5 spots in hours. That's how you really know what it is, other bald spots appear so fast. Since his ear is wounded too, I'm almost positive it was a fight.
And really, just a generic triple antibiotic works well. Without pain relief. they also have wound sprays and ointments at your local farm supply store too, like Orschelns or Tractor Supply. That is what I use. Make double sure it is for cats. Except I saturate a cottonball and apply it, the spray sound scares my cats. You only get one spray in!
As to how that kind of wound could happen, with the hair gone around it, it is most likely from a bite wound. A scratch could do it, but it would have to be very deep to pull a part of the hide off. Walking him on a leash would be ideal. Any time you take a chance and let a cat outside alone there will be a good chance of fights and death from dogs and cars. My 12 year old (and so many strays) died on the road after crossing it for that many years. It seems sooner or later it will happen.

MarcusTheCat · Mar 21, 2019

I returned the polysporin with the pain relief and got the regular one! I used a cotton swab, because it was about the size of the wound. And then put a small amount of the polysporin on the cotton swab and dabbed it on the wound. I don't think he liked it when I was putting it on his wound but he didn't seem to mind a few seconds later. Also the wound is on his forehead so I don't think he'll be able to reach it. By the way, do I leave the polysporin on? Or should I wash it off? Anyway, thank you so much for your help and a lot less stressed out about these.

di and bob said:
I really don't think it is ring worm. Although it can appear rather quick and spreads to 4 or 5 spots in hours. That's how you really know what it is, other bald spots appear so fast. Since his ear is wounded too, I'm almost positive it was a fight.
And really, just a generic triple antibiotic works well. Without pain relief. they also have wound sprays and ointments at your local farm supply store too, like Orschelns or Tractor Supply. That is what I use. Make double sure it is for cats. Except I saturate a cottonball and apply it, the spray sound scares my cats. You only get one spray in!
As to how that kind of wound could happen, with the hair gone around it, it is most likely from a bite wound. A scratch could do it, but it would have to be very deep to pull a part of the hide off. Walking him on a leash would be ideal. Any time you take a chance and let a cat outside alone there will be a good chance of fights and death from dogs and cars. My 12 year old (and so many strays) died on the road after crossing it for that many years. It seems sooner or later it will happen.

MarcusTheCat · Mar 21, 2019

I cleaned the wound with warm water before doing anything though.

MarcusTheCat said:
I returned the polysporin with the pain relief and got the regular one! I used a cotton swab, because it was about the size of the wound. And then put a small amount of the polysporin on the cotton swab and dabbed it on the wound. I don't think he liked it when I was putting it on his wound but he didn't seem to mind a few seconds later. Also the wound is on his forehead so I don't think he'll be able to reach it. By the way, do I leave the polysporin on? Or should I wash it off? Anyway, thank you so much for your help and a lot less stressed out about these.

LTS3 · Mar 21, 2019

Leave the ointment on. It will get absorbed by the skin, just like it does if you apply it to minor wounds on yourself. If the wound doesn't look better in a couple of days or gets worse, a trip to the vet is needed.

di and bob · Mar 21, 2019

It sounds like you are doing good, keep us posted!

MarcusTheCat · Mar 21, 2019

How often do you think I have to put polysporin on the wound in a single day? And when should I stop? How do I know the wound has healed?

Here is an updated phtoo from today about an hour and a half after I applied the polysporin. Sorry for the hair in the middle. I didn't want to bother him because he was sleeping

MarcusTheCat said:
I cleaned the wound with warm water before doing anything though.

And a

LTS3 said:
Leave the ointment on. It will get absorbed by the skin, just like it does if you apply it to minor wounds on yourself. If the wound doesn't look better in a couple of days or gets worse, a trip to the vet is needed.

MarcusTheCat · Mar 21, 2019

Will do!! But for someone reason I tried to upload it said the file was too big, I really wanted you to see his progress♡

di and bob said:
It sounds like you are doing good, keep us posted!

MarcusTheCat · Mar 21, 2019

MarcusTheCat said:
Will do!! But for someone reason I tried to upload it said the file was too big, I really wanted you to see his progress♡

I was talking about a picture btw lol

MarcusTheCat · Mar 21, 2019

Please ignore the second part of this lol I'm still trying to figure out things on here

)

MarcusTheCat said:
How often do you think I have to put polysporin on the wound in a single day? And when should I stop? How do I know the wound has healed?

Here is an updated phtoo from today about an hour and a half after I applied the polysporin. Sorry for the hair in the middle. I didn't want to bother him because he was sleeping

And a

di and bob · Mar 21, 2019

I completely understand, I'm really scary on a computer!
Put the Neosporin on at least once daily, twice would be great. I would put it on for 4 or 5 days until you see it is healing well. Once it is dry and scabbed it should be fine. It takes a while, weeks, for the hair to grow back. All the luck!

MarcusTheCat · Mar 21, 2019

Thank you so much for all your help!! I'm going to take very good care of him, and make sure he doesn't get into anymore cats fights

di and bob said:
I completely understand, I'm really scary on a computer!
Put the Neosporin on at least once daily, twice would be great. I would put it on for 4 or 5 days until you see it is healing well. Once it is dry and scabbed it should be fine. It takes a while, weeks, for the hair to grow back. All the luck!

MarcusTheCat · Mar 21, 2019

I don't know if you guys can see this but this picture is about a day after I first saw the wound. I think it's good progress for one day!!

MarcusTheCat · Mar 21, 2019

Sorry I don't seem to be able to upload any pictured because the file size is too big

but if I figure out how to do it, I'll surely post update pictures

di and bob · Mar 22, 2019

It must be the whole file you are trying to upload, somehow you have to get just a single picture. You could contact an administartor here, they will be glad to help you. You don't want ME to help you!

MarcusTheCat · Mar 22, 2019

I don't know if you can see this properly, but is this a good or bad sign? It's almost like a like higher on the sides? Does anyone know what this means?

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