Keeping a Cat from Scratching Wound

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RE: Keeping a Cat from Scratching Wound

I understood the wound to be on the side of the cat's head. How do you put an Elizabethan collar on that? Furthermore, how do you get it to leave it alone when it has access to it via the rear paw? I am having the exact same trouble with my kitten's wound (on the back of the neck and head! -it's huge at this point!) and the vet is not helping. She wants to cut the whole wound out and start over which is exactly what we would be doing. Starting over with the cat scratching it open over and over infinity. I read all of the judgemental and unhelpful posts here and it is obvious that no one has taken the time to actually read what this guy is saying. The cat has a wound on the side of its head, he took the cat to the vet x3, he tried the E-collar without success due to the location of the wound (do I sound frustrated to you?...sorry, but I really am). Thanks for any substantive advise you can give me.

Post by brokejeannie

RE: Keeping a Cat from Scratching Wound

My cat came in with a tiny scratch on the side of his head, which he then opened up into a large raw wound. He has been to the vet at least 3 times with this.

He has worn a cone now for weeks, and the original wound has almost healed (after 2 false starts when he opened it back up again).

While wearing the cone he scratched around it, making new wounds. The cone is not too tight (in fact, I loosened it a bit when it irritated the skin underneath it). I cleaned these twice/day with salt water and applied antiseptic cream (vet advice), so there is no infection.

Good news: the old original wound seems OK now.

Bad news: now I have taken the cone off he is still scratching these new wounds (caused by scratching at the cone itself) and spraying blood on to the furniture.

The cone is no use here, he caused these while it was on. Any ideas about how to stop this new problem? We're on holiday ina couple of weeks and if he's not fit for the cattery it will be really expensive to have him admitted by a vet as an inpatient.

Also, we have 4 cats - all RSPCA rescue animals, and having to keep one in prety much means having to keep all 4 in. This is very stressful, as we can't have any windows or doors open and this has been going on for months now.

Post by emgee

RE: Keeping a Cat from Scratching Wound

Please take your cat to the vet for treatment. Wounds should never go untreated. He can probably get an antibiotic injection and perhaps follow up meds to be given and you wouldn't have to deal with a cone. Even the cone would be a short duration of time. This is a serious matter needing vet attention!

Post By carla (Guest Post)

RE: Keeping a Cat from Scratching Wound

Hello,
Please take your fur baby to the Veterinarian ASAP, it could be an abscess. If he is outside, he could be fighting or being bitten from another cat. It is now breeding season so you must keep him inside. Good luck

Post By sherri (Guest Post)

RE: Keeping a Cat from Scratching Wound

You need to keep him inside, with the cone on, until it's healed, you have not much choice in the matter. It should only take a week or two to heal up good enough that he can go back without scratching.

How I know? My outdoor/indoor cat got in a fight twice and I had to cone him and keep him inside as he was also scratching at his. It worked perfect :)

Post by schubunny

RE: Keeping a Cat from Scratching Wound

You need to figure out why he is scratching. You didn't say where the wound was on the head . If it is near or around the ear then look inside his ear. If you see a bunch of dark brown discharge he probably has an ear infection or ear mites. If you take care of the infection then he should quit scratching his head. If he doesn't have an infection in his ear then there are a few other reasons to scratch at the head. None of those are usually easily treated (mange mites, ringworm, allergies, fleas). A vet visit would probably be best. They can check for ear mites, fleas, culture for ringworm, skin scrape for mites or try a steriod injection for allergies to begin with. The sooner he gets looked at the better, if the wound gets too big he is going to need antibiotics for the skin infection.

Post by junebug_000

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