"Caliban" wrote in message hlink.net...
wrote
Our male indoor/outdoor, neutered cat came in yesterday evening with a
raw spot near his right armpit. He licks it quite a bit. No blood,
some plasma, looks like there are puncture marks from a plant, cactus?
(we're in Tucson AZ) These don't look like bite marks. It seems he is
making the puncture site holes (??) bigger as he keeps licking the
area. He's in good spirits, eating with a regular appetite.
Anyone have a way to cover the injured area with a polstice? some kind
of patching agent that is non-toxic so it wouldn't hurt him if he
licked the site? Any luck with one of those plastic neck collars to
keep him from licking? I'm extremely skeptical about this collar
idea--I mean, come on! It's a cat, not a dog!
This doesn't look very traumatic, but we'll take him in to a vet if he
makes things worse.
Any ideas or suggestions would be helpful. Thanks in advance.

I would start with cleansing with hydrogen peroxide several times a day. Then
try a product called "Biocaine." PetSmart (and perhaps other pet stores) sell it
for dogs and cats to help prevent licking and chewing. It also provides
"cleansing, debriding, and anti-bacterial action for minor cuts." It is 2%
Lidocaine and is non-prescription. About $6 a bottle.


Thanks everyone for your responses. The licking continued, the
puncture holes were getting bigger, and we put a pad with neosporine
(sp?) and, get this! an ACE bandage wrapped around shoulders and front
of body to hold the bandage. Suffice it to say, what a mess! We called
a vet and got in: the punctures were actually an abcese (sp??) that
had opened and was draining. The licking was OK. The vet shaved and
clipped around area, opened and cleaned it, gave Bunny a shot of
penicilin, put some salve on the area, and sent us on our way with a
'script of Amoxicilin 2x/day. Come back in a week if things don't look
like they're healing up, might require a suture then.

Again, thanks for all you thoughts and suggestions.

-*-Bill