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- Feb 23, 2024
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I’m new so plz bear with me- I’m also panicking a bit so if I seem all over the place I apologize in advance.
So we have 6 rescues. They are all adults and have all been fixed. Even though I’m close to all 6 kitties, Axl is my baby. I bottle fed him and his brother when they were newborns who had been abandoned by their mother. He’s now almost 7 years old. He’s a gray short haired tabby. He does seem to have some sort of reoccurring health issue that pops up usually in the Summer where he will get these weird sores all over his face and sometimes they will be accompanied by a fever. He also seems to have asthma. These issues showed up over the past couple years but it was unfortunately right when my husband (who is the sole provider for our home) unexpectedly suffered a heart attack and ended up on life support for awhile. The Drs learned he has end stage COPD and CHF. They refused to release him back to work, which was extremely difficult financially as I have to stay home to provide 24/7 specialized care for our youngest who is SEVERELY mentally and physically disabled (in fact, she’s a Make A Wish kid). It took the last few years to get my husband on Social Security and so we have barely been able to get by financially during the interim. We are JUST NOW getting back on our feet- and even then we’re not fully there yet. I’ve been looking forward to having the money soon to take Axl to the vet, especially BEFORE Summer hits and he starts struggling again.
Since it’s Winter, he’s been doing fine but then about 6 days ago I noticed that some of the hair to the left of his anal area looked matted, like something sticky was on it. However my daughter had just spilled some syrup by where he had been sitting so I assumed he had sat in it before I got it cleaned up. His bottom looked fine and he immediately went to clean it so I thought that was that. Then the next day I noticed this open, weeping wound directly to the left of his anal area. I started doing some research and quickly found that it was an anal gland abscess that had burst. He didn’t seem to be in pain and was acting normal but I was still very concerned so I grabbed some Banixx and cotton balls and cleaned the area real good. I wanted to trim the hair from the area but I was nervous because he kept moving and he’s a big, strong guy so I couldn’t take the risk. I know a lady who runs a cat rescue and she gave me a few days worth of amoxicillin for him. I looked up the typical dose for a cat his size and started giving him 45mg. His proper dose is more like 50mg but I wanted to error on the side of caution since it wasn’t actually prescribed for him. I noticed he was obsessively licking it so I put a cone on him but he couldn’t reach his food or water so I trimmed the cone a little. Once we put the cone on him he’s been even more clingy than normal and just lays around super sad looking. He eats fine, and originally I saw him drinking water (he always drinks a TON of water) but I haven’t noticed him drinking as much as normal which worries me. I’ve continued to clean the wound and to give him the amoxicillin the past 5 days. The wound seemed to be healing. Yesterday he found a way to reach it with the cone on and he kept licking it. We kept stopping him but he was obsessive and kept getting to it. Today he started jumping on me like he does when he wants to go outside. He prefers to go outside to use the bathroom, and I hadn’t notice him use the litter box at all the past few days - it’s hard to know for sure because I can’t be with him 24/7 since I have to also care for my youngest and my husband and we have 6 cats so we never know which cats have used the litter boxes and which haven’t. We took him out to the yard and walked him around. He kept going from spot to spot trying to go to the bathroom. He would arch his back and make these painful meows but nothing would happen, then he would go to another spot and try again. He did this quite a few times until he was finally able to go a little bit. I thought the poop would be hard because he was acting like he was constipated but then a tiny bit came out and it was mushier than usual. We brought him back inside and I went to look at the wound to clean it and his whole anal area looks stretched and swollen- I can’t see the wound clearly because of all the hair there but it’s DEFINITELY weeping some sort of fluid. The whole area is VERY wet. And now that whole side is VERY swollen and his anus is swollen and odd looking. It wasn’t swollen previously. I reached out to the lady I know who runs a cat rescue and they’re going to help pay for him to see a vet but the soonest they can get him in is Monday afternoon. It’s Friday right now. I’m so worried. Has anyone else gone through this? Someone suggested I put neosporin on it but I’ve heard that’s very dangerous to put on cats. Also I’m trying to determine how often to give him the amoxicillin and if I should give him more than 50mgs (he’s a little over 14 lbs). Does anyone have any ideas on what I could do to help him and how I can get this swelling down? Does anyone have any opinions on what might be causing him to swell real big, and even his anal area swelling like this, when he seemed to be on the mend previously? Is it dangerous that he hasn’t gone to the bathroom and can’t seem to (maybe because of all the swelling)? We have to wait a few more days to get him into the vet and I’m worried how dangerous it is if he’s unable to go potty in that time- how dangerous or deadly is that??? He seems to WANT to go - he tried with all his might to try to push out his poop but only the tiniest bit came out. Any help, tips, and comfort would really help. I need to get him through the next couple days and then he gets to see the vet but I cannot lose this kitty. Especially because this is the cat that is also my special needs daughters comfort kitty. Plz help! Thank you!!!!!
PS - I’m going to attach photos of his wound. The first 2 photos are from the first day when we noticed it and the last 2 photos are from today when we noticed his whole anal area and the area to the left of his anus is way swollen and weeping fluid. To be honest the last two photos of today don’t show just how swollen the whole area is.
So we have 6 rescues. They are all adults and have all been fixed. Even though I’m close to all 6 kitties, Axl is my baby. I bottle fed him and his brother when they were newborns who had been abandoned by their mother. He’s now almost 7 years old. He’s a gray short haired tabby. He does seem to have some sort of reoccurring health issue that pops up usually in the Summer where he will get these weird sores all over his face and sometimes they will be accompanied by a fever. He also seems to have asthma. These issues showed up over the past couple years but it was unfortunately right when my husband (who is the sole provider for our home) unexpectedly suffered a heart attack and ended up on life support for awhile. The Drs learned he has end stage COPD and CHF. They refused to release him back to work, which was extremely difficult financially as I have to stay home to provide 24/7 specialized care for our youngest who is SEVERELY mentally and physically disabled (in fact, she’s a Make A Wish kid). It took the last few years to get my husband on Social Security and so we have barely been able to get by financially during the interim. We are JUST NOW getting back on our feet- and even then we’re not fully there yet. I’ve been looking forward to having the money soon to take Axl to the vet, especially BEFORE Summer hits and he starts struggling again.
Since it’s Winter, he’s been doing fine but then about 6 days ago I noticed that some of the hair to the left of his anal area looked matted, like something sticky was on it. However my daughter had just spilled some syrup by where he had been sitting so I assumed he had sat in it before I got it cleaned up. His bottom looked fine and he immediately went to clean it so I thought that was that. Then the next day I noticed this open, weeping wound directly to the left of his anal area. I started doing some research and quickly found that it was an anal gland abscess that had burst. He didn’t seem to be in pain and was acting normal but I was still very concerned so I grabbed some Banixx and cotton balls and cleaned the area real good. I wanted to trim the hair from the area but I was nervous because he kept moving and he’s a big, strong guy so I couldn’t take the risk. I know a lady who runs a cat rescue and she gave me a few days worth of amoxicillin for him. I looked up the typical dose for a cat his size and started giving him 45mg. His proper dose is more like 50mg but I wanted to error on the side of caution since it wasn’t actually prescribed for him. I noticed he was obsessively licking it so I put a cone on him but he couldn’t reach his food or water so I trimmed the cone a little. Once we put the cone on him he’s been even more clingy than normal and just lays around super sad looking. He eats fine, and originally I saw him drinking water (he always drinks a TON of water) but I haven’t noticed him drinking as much as normal which worries me. I’ve continued to clean the wound and to give him the amoxicillin the past 5 days. The wound seemed to be healing. Yesterday he found a way to reach it with the cone on and he kept licking it. We kept stopping him but he was obsessive and kept getting to it. Today he started jumping on me like he does when he wants to go outside. He prefers to go outside to use the bathroom, and I hadn’t notice him use the litter box at all the past few days - it’s hard to know for sure because I can’t be with him 24/7 since I have to also care for my youngest and my husband and we have 6 cats so we never know which cats have used the litter boxes and which haven’t. We took him out to the yard and walked him around. He kept going from spot to spot trying to go to the bathroom. He would arch his back and make these painful meows but nothing would happen, then he would go to another spot and try again. He did this quite a few times until he was finally able to go a little bit. I thought the poop would be hard because he was acting like he was constipated but then a tiny bit came out and it was mushier than usual. We brought him back inside and I went to look at the wound to clean it and his whole anal area looks stretched and swollen- I can’t see the wound clearly because of all the hair there but it’s DEFINITELY weeping some sort of fluid. The whole area is VERY wet. And now that whole side is VERY swollen and his anus is swollen and odd looking. It wasn’t swollen previously. I reached out to the lady I know who runs a cat rescue and they’re going to help pay for him to see a vet but the soonest they can get him in is Monday afternoon. It’s Friday right now. I’m so worried. Has anyone else gone through this? Someone suggested I put neosporin on it but I’ve heard that’s very dangerous to put on cats. Also I’m trying to determine how often to give him the amoxicillin and if I should give him more than 50mgs (he’s a little over 14 lbs). Does anyone have any ideas on what I could do to help him and how I can get this swelling down? Does anyone have any opinions on what might be causing him to swell real big, and even his anal area swelling like this, when he seemed to be on the mend previously? Is it dangerous that he hasn’t gone to the bathroom and can’t seem to (maybe because of all the swelling)? We have to wait a few more days to get him into the vet and I’m worried how dangerous it is if he’s unable to go potty in that time- how dangerous or deadly is that??? He seems to WANT to go - he tried with all his might to try to push out his poop but only the tiniest bit came out. Any help, tips, and comfort would really help. I need to get him through the next couple days and then he gets to see the vet but I cannot lose this kitty. Especially because this is the cat that is also my special needs daughters comfort kitty. Plz help! Thank you!!!!!
PS - I’m going to attach photos of his wound. The first 2 photos are from the first day when we noticed it and the last 2 photos are from today when we noticed his whole anal area and the area to the left of his anus is way swollen and weeping fluid. To be honest the last two photos of today don’t show just how swollen the whole area is.
There's also Meloxicam (sold as metacam) which is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) but it should be used with caution.
