Cat has huge lump on his face after fight

pookiesboo

My neutered tomcat just came back from a scrap with a tom thats hanging about a lot lately. He has a few scratches but whats worrying me is that he has an enormous lump on the side of his face just under his ear, about the size of walnut, maybe a bit bigger. Im guessing its a bruise he got from the fight, its quite hard but he doesnt like me touching it. Should I be worried?

Discodog

You need to get the cat to a Vet. The lump is almost certainly an abscess & is full of pus caused by a puncture wound. The cat will need a course of antibiotics & may even need the abscess lanced. You need to attend to this soon as it would be extremely serious if it burst internally & the pus enters his bloodstream.

pookiesboo

Discodog wrote: »

You need to get the cat to a Vet. The lump is almost certainly an abscess & is full of pus caused by a puncture wound. The cat will need a course of antibiotics & may even need the abscess lanced. You need to attend to this soon as it would be extremely serious if it burst internally & the pus enters his bloodstream.

Will take him in the morning, thanks for replying, hate seeing him like this, the other tom is about the size of a terrier and is hanging around a lot lately.

Discodog

The Vet will tell you that they are very common & are often on the head. The problem occurs because the wound heals too quickly so the surface seals making impossible for the pus to get out. If ever you suspect a puncture wound it is best to bathe it with salt water frequently to stop it healing over. Then it will start draining. They can "grow" really quickly.

Themadhouse

You will also need to get your vet to check for fiv and felv as he has been wounded. Good advice from previous poster.

Chuck Stone

Happened to a Tom cat we had and we thought it was swelling from a knock he took but he promptly scratched it and it exploded and spackled the kitchen with yellow and red puss.

I got gloves and squeezed the remainder of the puss out, bathed it with antiseptic and brought him to the vet for an antibiotic injection and he was grand again.

Shanao

Definitely a trip to the vet. I had a six week old kitten arrive about six months ago with a huge abcess on the side of his face that he popped when he scratched at it. The OH had to leave the room while i squeezed out all the pus, took about fifteen minutes to get the whole lot out. I'm not exactly squemish, but it was pretty disgusting! Same as previous poster, took a trip to the vet for an antibiotic injection and he was fine in a few days.

The Sweeper

Be careful what antiseptic you use on a pet - things like dettol are unsuitable for animals (and for humans tbh - far too strong). Undiluted antiseptic can actually burn skin and instead of promoting healing you'll end up with dead, sloughy skin that can turn into an open ulcer etc.

A solution of 2-3% hydrogen peroxide can be good for cleaning surface wounds but again don't use it on punctures etc. Plain old saline can be the best thing with which to clean wounds, but it can sting (the peroxide doesn't sting).

Just a note anyway - the vet will sort your cat out and hopefully he'll be fine, but +1 on discussing the need to test for FeLV/FIV (sometimes you can't test immediately and you may have to let a few months pass and then test).

Discodog

While your at the Vet get them to give you some Hibiscrub. I always have some handy for wound cleaning.