What would you do?

[dizzymslizzy]

History:
http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=92096

So last night when I got home Tessy, my kitten with the wound on face was acting weirdly. She was more lethargic then normal, and she let us clean the wound with warm water and a mix of 70% water 30% peroxide without a problem. This is the cat that screams bloody murder when you try to clip it's claws and won't let you brush her at all without squirming, but she just sat in my lap as my husband put pressure on the wound, and cleaned it for a good 10 minutes.

So I called my vet last night and left a message with her, and she has yet to call me back. I just called now (I figured I'd give them the morning to get back to me) and I made an appointment for July 20th for her annual check up, and I was talking to the receptionist about the wound, and she said....Yeah the vet will get back to you, all willy nilly.

So of course I'm worried about my cat since she was acting strange last night, and all she wanted to do was lay around last night. *sigh*

Any thoughts?

 

[hell603]

Don't wait untilt he 20th - ask for the next available appointment - she is not acting normal and an infection can be very dangerous.

 

[yosemite]

I agree. I would treat this as an emergency and not be put off by the vet's receptionist or whatever. I'd insist that the cat needs to be seen NOW.

 

[dizzymslizzy]

Well I've left 2 messages directly for the vet itself and she should be calling me back tonight. I'll be home in 20 minutes so I'll monitor how my cat is when I get home and make a 4th call over there. The 20th is the first available appointment that they have. Ugh. I love this vet to death, but sometimes making appointments is tough.

 

[mamacat]

Originally Posted by Dizzymslizzy

The 20th is the first available appointment that they have. Ugh. I love this vet to death, but sometimes making appointments is tough.

If you push and let them know that you really consider this an emergency, they will see you. You just have to be really aggressive about it. If they still say they won't see you, ask them for the number of the emergency vet (even if you already have it) to let them know that one way or another, you are getting this kitty seen.

I'm sorry to hear things have taken this turn. How does the wound look--is there pus or anything? By now it really should have scabbed over I would think.

 

[rumpleteazer]

You might also try asking if you can drop her off and have the vet see her between appointments.

My vets are wonderful too, but very popular and very busy. But when they are booked solid but it's an emergency they will have you drop the animal off and take a quick look between patients. Then they send them home with meds and ask us to call with updates every 48 hours or so.

And if you still aren't getting a response, call a friend and ask for the number for their vet. Don't wait! Infections can be very serious for younger and older cats. Good catch to notice that she wasn't acting right.

Best of luck!

 

[dizzymslizzy]

That's a good idea as well. I think when the vet calls tonight, I will ask her if I can drop her off in the morning, and have her seen inbetween patients.

She's back to acting normally, but for peace of mind I'd rather her get checked out sooner rather then later. She met me by the door as always, and was running around my legs as I was trying to get up the stairs.

The wound looks like it scabbed over, but we'll try cleaning it again with a little warm water and some very dilute peroxide again, so it doesn't get infected.

Thank you all for your help. I'll keep you updated as to what happens with the vet tonight!

 

[cloud_shade]

Did the vet suggest the peroxide? Peroxide can be very abrasive, so you may want to try using sterlie saline (like the eyewashes that can be found at the grocery store) instead.

 

[mamacat]

Any news on Tessy?

 

[rumpleteazer]

Still no news?!

Well, let's hope no news is good news.

Got my fingers crossed for you and Tessy!

 

[yosemite]

Originally Posted by cloud_shade

Did the vet suggest the peroxide? Peroxide can be very abrasive, so you may want to try using sterlie saline (like the eyewashes that can be found at the grocery store) instead.

The wound is on kitty's face - not in her eye. And peroxide is ok to use as long as it is diluted which is what this poster said she did.

 

[dizzymslizzy]

Hi all. Sorry I haven't updated, there really hasn't been an update. The vet called me back and I explained the wound to her, and what I had done, the warm water and peroxide cleaning, and the vet told me to keep an eye on it and call her back if it started looking infected.

I told the vet about the lethargicness and the vet wasn't that concerned about it, because it was a hot week, and told me to keep an eye on her and if she didn't perk up to call her back.

So that's where I am. The wound looks like it's healing nicely, and Tessy has been running around like normal after a day, so she's healing well I think.

We have an appointment for tomorrow for her 1 yr check up, and I'll have the vet look at the wound and run a full workup just to make sure everything is perfect!

Thanks all for your concern and advice. I greatly appreciate it, and I'm glad I found this wonderful community.

 

[cloud_shade]

Originally Posted by Yosemite

The wound is on kitty's face - not in her eye. And peroxide is ok to use as long as it is diluted which is what this poster said she did.

I'm just extra careful with face wounds. Spot had an abscess on his face, just above his eye (in the forehead/eyebrow area). I was told that peroxide was too abrasive because it might drip into the eye, and I was given saline solution to flush out the area.

 

[yosemite]

Originally Posted by cloud_shade

I'm just extra careful with face wounds. Spot had an abscess on his face, just above his eye (in the forehead/eyebrow area). I was told that peroxide was too abrasive because it might drip into the eye, and I was given saline solution to flush out the area.

Oh, OK - I see where you are coming from! I can well imagine there would be a great risk of the peroxide running down into the eye. Excellent point.

 

[dizzymslizzy]

I agree with the pp's point of view with the peroxide, and I was very very very careful with it to begin with.

First of all I'm a scientist, and Peroxide is one of those materials that "falls apart" fairly easily into water and oxygen. Light, shaking the bottle, etc can cause it to lose it's molecular structure because of the extra oxygen molecule. It would much rather be water and oxygen.

So most of the time when you buy peroxide off the shelf it mostly water and partially peroxide due to store clerks dropping bottles, shipping etc.

So that's point # 1.

I then took the extra precaution to dilute it down to 30% "peroxide" It's not that strong of a solution.

And then as a final precaution, I used a qtip to apply the peroxide to a spot UNDER her eye, near her nose area, and the qtip wasn't fully saturated.

 

[dizzymslizzy]

So we went to the vet last night and it went well for the most part.

Tessy is a very healthy 1 yr old kitty, got her shots, and a nice nail trim. Both vets came in and looked at the wound on her face, and it turns out there were other wounds on her face as well that I couldn't see. The main wound has gotten bigger since the last time I looked at it on Tuesday night.

They aren't concerned as much with infections, as how she is getting them. They said that it doesn't look like "fight" wounds from the other cat since they are friends. They said if it was play fight marks they would be on the body/neck not on the face, and a real fight would be more of a scratch to the eye. They think it looks like she is rubbing her face against something that is sharp, and self inflicting the wounds.

So the verdict is for now I continue to wash with warm water, try to pick away some of the scab, and apply a cream that they gave me (I don't remember the name) 2x a day. And next week I am to call again and update them on how she's doing. If the scab continues to grow they are thinking about biopsying it to make sure it's just a normal wound and not something more serious.

 

[dizzymslizzy]

Update on Tessy:

So we've been cleaning and putting the medicine on Tessy's face wounds, and they are clearing up Hooray! Looks like she was just scratching them more because they were itchy for her. Poor baby. She doesn't like the medicine that much at all, but what can we do.

I've been holding her on my lap, applying the ointment, and keeping her on her lap to distract her while the ointment seeps into her skin. Then off she goes!!!!

I'm glad she's feeling better and is healing nicely

 

[yosemite]

That's good news. Glad she's healing and feeling better.

 

[rumpleteazer]

Originally Posted by Dizzymslizzy

Update on Tessy:

So we've been cleaning and putting the medicine on Tessy's face wounds, and they are clearing up Hooray! Looks like she was just scratching them more because they were itchy for her. Poor baby. She doesn't like the medicine that much at all, but what can we do.

I've been holding her on my lap, applying the ointment, and keeping her on her lap to distract her while the ointment seeps into her skin. Then off she goes!!!!

I'm glad she's feeling better and is healing nicely

I'm so glad she's doing better! I know how you feel having to clean the wound. You know it's hurting her but at the same time making her better. I had to do the same thing when my Teazer cat had surgery. The vet had me mix 50/50 water and hydrogen peroxide and put it on her sutures and use it to keep her drainage holes open. Oh I felt like crying after every treatment!

But she's all better now.

Does your kitty have really thick fur? My mom's cat does and when he gets flees, he has to scratch harder to get through all that fur and ends up hurting himself. Even on his face. Your little ones are beautiful by the way.