Cat with recurring staph infection

[Sickkshouting]

My younger cat, Mr cuddles, was a stray when we took him in so I don’t know anything at all about his history I found him when he was just over a year old. He had his vet check ups etc. a few months after I brought him home I noticed a nickel sized bald spot on his chest, within a couple days it was nearly his whole chest, open, more fur loss toward the middle, leaky looking etc, we went to the vet they determined thru skin scrapes & Other tests it was staph, they gave antibiotics and sent me home with antibiotics for about a week after. They did tell me this could come back if he gets a scratch, sore etc which worried me because my cats play rather rough but I just figured I’d give him his meds and keep a close eye. Everything was fine for a few months but just recently he had a small scratch on the side of his mouth that erupted into a large sore that grew within a day to the whole side of his face. Another vet appt but this time they just gave antibiotic shots & no meds to take home. This also concerned me because I did tell them about the last flare up but he cleared up quickly wearing a cone. The problem now is the cone rubbed off his fur near his neck & that has now erupted into a large flare up. I will be taking him back to the vet and insisting on take home antibiotics. Has anybody else had experience with this? To my knowledge there has to be an underlying issue causing the staph to flare up. I have just never seen a tiny scratch or anything that breaks the skin just barely turn into a huge open sore in less than 24 hours. I want to find the root cause so we can stop him having to deal with these flare ups & get some permanent relief. Basically I’m curious to hear anybody else’s experiences that may be similar to this, anything I can maybe do at home to keep these flare ups from happening? Any advice at all would be very appreciated

 

[gilmargl]

My gut feeling is that his immune system is not working properly. Did the vet do a blood test to rule out all underlying causes of infection? Young cats are prone to these infections when their immune systems are not fully developed, so I hope this is the case for Mr Cuddles.

But, to answer your question, I have only witnessed it myself in much older cats with FIV. I hope it soon clears up completely. Good luck!

 

[Sickkshouting]

That’s what I’m thinking too, that it’s an immune system issue. He also has issues with his teeth, he’s lost quite a few for only being a year & a half old, poor guy can’t catch a break. No they didn’t do any blood tests, when we go back I’m gonna ask them to do that as well as send me home with meds. I just wanna get some relief for the poor dude.

 

[gilmargl]

Some cats are just unlucky. Katy was no more than 7 months old when her 3 kittens died soon after birth, She was not well but her blood test didn't show any irregularities. A year later she had a lot of her teeth removed, but after nine months most of the remaining teeth also had to go! Last year she was hit by a car, broke her upper jaw and lost the use of one eye. This year she has had a number of cysts removed. She is 8 years old and I hope that her run of bad luck is finally coming to an end! She is once more an indoor cat so some of the dangers have been removed.

Good luck with Mr Cuddles.