SOS medical advice for cat

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Tootsie

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Hi folks. I’ve got a situation here, and no vets to help. Have a kitten/young cat that seems to have a bullet wound in the neck. It’s been a bit, and now have an abcess. Just soaked with warm water and Epsom salts, and things are softening up.
Question. Can I put pressure on, or even carefully pull out the foreign matter?
Weird, random question, but maybe the answer can help more than one. Thanks.
It’s a cat, but a bullet wound is a bullet wound, and no doctor to help is another thing.
 
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Is it a through and through or is there a bullet lodged. Any foreign matter that you can remove will be beneficial. Have you used any antibacterial treatment, even topical will benefit. This might be a good time to pull out your fish antibiotics.
 
Is the cat active or lying around? Go you! for being able to soak it or apply the compress of epsom salt. Nurses I know are all at work right now.
If it is abscessed then I can’t offer anything else other than saying he needs to be seen. Keep applying the epsom salt compress. Could be internal bleeding, organs or glands affected.
I can’t recommend herbs like catnip or valerian since either might excite him. Rescue Remedy might work, not easy to get that either.
 
Can you shave the area? If you can it will help you see what's going on. After I'd make a betadine solution n wash the area good.
If you can go farther..you can use a steril scalpel or needle to lance the abscess if it let's you.
You can wrap the kitty in a beach towel ..making a kitty burrito so only its neck n head is sticking out to make doctoring less of a mauling on you.
If you have the betadine solution made up n have access to a big syringe or even a turkey baster..if you get far enough to lance it you can clean out the wound with the solution by squirting it in with the syringe or baster. That might be about to keep it getting worse until you can get the bullet out or have a dr do it.
 
The area is clear, no hair. A week ago, when it came here, there was a puckered wound about the size of a quarter. Something was visible, center.
Cat hid for a week. Came out to eat, caught it, and abcess is golf ball size. After warm compresses, it started oozing and something starting to come out.
Bot fly was a good point, Backlash. I’ve dealt with those many times on the cows. This does look similar, but different.
Plan is, in about an hour, to give a good soak, then give it a go. I do have everything but lidocaine lined up. I need to go find something like that.
Thanks, all, for your advice. I‘m glad I have most of what I need, but never thought I’d need it.
 
Zip tie the cat's feet together, he's NOT going to like this one bit!
If the area is already bald, make an incision right above the entry point in the form of an "X", if you can, numb the area with some anbesol or ice first and see if you can feel the bullet and once you locate it, squeeze out the infection, when the discharge becomes clear, find the slug again and try to work it to the surface, you may need tweezers or needle nose pliers to fully extract it, re sterilize the area and suture the wound closed and bandage as best you can. pet him as long as possible and hand feed him treats before you untie him or he'll wreck your house and maybe you!
 
Good advice from @Magus, though I'd add wrapping him in a towel. Unless you get the bullet out and the area washed out it could close over but stay infected underneath. Once had a cat with a hidden injury between his ears. He sneezed, and it exploded - it wasn't pretty, I can tell you! Good luck!
 
backlash said:
Are you sure it's a bullet wound?
It might be a bot fly grub.
Click to expand...
You were right! Thankful that it wasn’t a bullet.
What a day. I was pretty surprised when the vet would not help. Not even for a quick look-see if I stopped by.
If nothing else, it was a spot check to see some weak spots.
If I don’t have medical supplies, like fish biotics, that’s on me.
If we don’t have supplies, food, fuel, or anything and something goes wrong, that’s on me.
Trouble doesn’t give a heads up. Supplies are not always available.
 
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Not sure if it has been said but you could open the abscess. Use a sterile scalpel to poke a hole low on the pocket so gravity will force the infection out. When my childhood cat had one the size of a baseball on her hip the vet cut 2 holes- one low to drain and the second higher so they could flush it. I have used this to treat our cat, Bailey, before she was put down. She had abscesses all the time the last few months. I would flush the pockets with iodine or sterile saline. Depending on how big it was I would pack it with Neosporin (without the pain reliever). Of course a course of antibiotics is recommended but if you have to keep the wound open and clean several times a day until you can get some then do it.

https://www.walmartpetrx.com/c-148-fish-bird-antibiotics.aspx
Not sure how long the shipping is but better than not knowing when you will find any.
 
You can lance an abscess, even though it'll eventually rupture on its own... better to lance it, IMO, the cat will start to heal that much faster. Not sure what a bot fly grub is, but if you yanked one outta there, might be best to clean the area, maybe add some medicinal ointment or whatever. Hope the kitty gets well soon! :confused:
 
Wingnut said:
You can lance an abscess, even though it'll eventually rupture on its own... better to lance it, IMO, the cat will start to heal that much faster. Not sure what a bot fly grub is, but if you yanked one outta there, might be best to clean the area, maybe add some medicinal ointment or whatever. Hope the kitty gets well soon! :confused:
Click to expand...
https://www.thoughtco.com/botfly-facts-4173752
 
Grimm said:
Not sure if it has been said but you could open the abscess. Use a sterile scalpel to poke a hole low on the pocket so gravity will force the infection out. When my childhood cat had one the size of a baseball on her hip the vet cut 2 holes- one low to drain and the second higher so they could flush it. I have used this to treat our cat, Bailey, before she was put down. She had abscesses all the time the last few months. I would flush the pockets with iodine or sterile saline. Depending on how big it was I would pack it with Neosporin (without the pain reliever). Of course a course of antibiotics is recommended but if you have to keep the wound open and clean several times a day until you can get some then do it.

https://www.walmartpetrx.com/c-148-fish-bird-antibiotics.aspx
Not sure how long the shipping is but better than not knowing when you will find any.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the link! Order going in tonight.
 
I've been using this product on the farm since I was a kid... works. Available at most farm supply stores. I've castrated as many as 100 hogs in a night, cut, snip, snip, then a squirt of the blue spray, next! They heal up fine.

blu kote.jpg
 
Magus said:
Zip tie the cat's feet together, he's NOT going to like this one bit!
If the area is already bald, make an incision right above the entry point in the form of an "X", if you can, numb the area with some anbesol or ice first and see if you can feel the bullet and once you locate it, squeeze out the infection, when the discharge becomes clear, find the slug again and try to work it to the surface, you may need tweezers or needle nose pliers to fully extract it, re sterilize the area and suture the wound closed and bandage as best you can. pet him as long as possible and hand feed him treats before you untie him or he'll wreck your house and maybe you!
Click to expand...
Thank you. I’m glad I didn’t have to do all that, but will tuck away this info. Hope none of us will ever have to do it. I think I might need quite a shot of whiskey.
 
Don't give any to the cat, it's fatal in some cases.

Bot fly is easy, next one you get, get a magnifying glass and see where his mouth is and give him a drop of nail polish remover, he'll extract himself, then its just a matter of some peroxide to wash out the wound and a spot stitch. :)
 
Magus said:
Don't give any to the cat, it's fatal in some cases.

Bot fly is easy, next one you get, get a magnifying glass and see where his mouth is and give him a drop of nail polish remover, he'll extract himself, then its just a matter of some peroxide to wash out the wound and a spot stitch. :)
Click to expand...
Hello? is this thing on? :p
 
Sorry, late to the effort, but I had this problem with my cat last year. You DON'T want to lance it, you risk cutting the bot fly, which can cause a serious reaction in the cat if the fluids mix. Bot flys have to breath air, thats why they keep the wound open. What you do is smother the wound with something like petroleum jelly, this smothers the bot fly and makes it come out on its own. Don't squeeze or cut it, its very bad to rupture the bot fly inside the cat. After it comes out, the wound heals really quickly with just normal triple-antibiotic cream.
 
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