self injury

Rudy screamed tonight in another room when I was doing dishes. I asked
my daughter to check on him and she said he was yowling at Levi. But he
did it again and I dropped what I was doing and ran to him. Poor thing
had his own claw hooked through his chin and couldn't get it out. He was
contorting and pulling in one direction with his head and the other with
his paw. It was awful. I gently squeezed his paw to get his claws to
retract and then unhooked him. Then I held him tightly and talked
soothingly to him. He gushed blood, and when I took a look, it was bad.
Very deep and bloody. I gently pressed on the wound to get the bleeding
to stop, and when it finally did, I put betadine on his chin and gently
rubbed it with a cotton ball. When I was done, he immediately started
washing it off by licking his paw and rubbing, then licking and rubbing.
So I have a couple of questions.

I can hold him until the betadine dries, but he is still going to ingest
some if he insists on washing it off. Is this dangerous? Phil?

How frequently should I apply it? The bottle says 1-3 times daily.

What signs do I look for that will indicate infection? He has acne on
his chin so it's probably irritating him already (hence the scratching),
but the acne may mask the appearance of infection, so what else do I look
for?

Rudy has never been injured before and suddenly I feel like a brand new
cat owner, not knowing what to do.

Thank goodness he trusts me and he let me remove the claw. This is a cat
who will let me lay completely over him and hold him down to either
whisper sweet nothings into his ears and scratch his head, or pill him.
So he will let me examine and treat his chin, but I'm only familiar with
infections in humans. Help!

--
Lynne

"Lynne" wrote:
Thank goodness he trusts me and he let me remove the claw. This is a cat
who will let me lay completely over him and hold him down to either
whisper sweet nothings into his ears and scratch his head, or pill him.
So he will let me examine and treat his chin, but I'm only familiar with
infections in humans. Help!


I am so sorry this happened. How often do you trim his claws? We
put off cutting Boo's for too long, and when we finally got to them
they were curved hooks.

I would take him to the vet. There are so may bacteria in cats' mouths.

on Mon, 29 Jan 2007 04:37:29 GMT, "cybercat" wrote:

I am so sorry this happened. How often do you trim his claws? We
put off cutting Boo's for too long, and when we finally got to them
they were curved hooks.

That's part of the problem. I usually trim everyone's claws once per week
but have slacked off lately. I misplaced the cat trimmers and using the
dog trimmers on cats is tricky, but that's a ****-poor excuse. Poor Rudy.

I would take him to the vet. There are so may bacteria in cats' mouths.

Good advice.

Rudy must be very grateful for what I did. He is doing things he hasn't
done since I brought Levi home. Last night he slept on the pillow next to
my head and he has been following me constantly.

--
Lynne

Poor baby! I've had cats snag their claws deeply into my leg--it hurts like
heck! As far as infection, it probably would be a good idea to see a vet.
I'd be looking for swelling and redness, maybe warm to the touch.

Good luck, Bonnie


"Lynne" wrote in message
m...
Rudy screamed tonight in another room when I was doing dishes. I asked
my daughter to check on him and she said he was yowling at Levi. But he
did it again and I dropped what I was doing and ran to him. Poor thing
had his own claw hooked through his chin and couldn't get it out. He was
contorting and pulling in one direction with his head and the other with
his paw. It was awful. I gently squeezed his paw to get his claws to
retract and then unhooked him. Then I held him tightly and talked
soothingly to him. He gushed blood, and when I took a look, it was bad.
Very deep and bloody. I gently pressed on the wound to get the bleeding
to stop, and when it finally did, I put betadine on his chin and gently
rubbed it with a cotton ball. When I was done, he immediately started
washing it off by licking his paw and rubbing, then licking and rubbing.
So I have a couple of questions.

I can hold him until the betadine dries, but he is still going to ingest
some if he insists on washing it off. Is this dangerous? Phil?

How frequently should I apply it? The bottle says 1-3 times daily.

What signs do I look for that will indicate infection? He has acne on
his chin so it's probably irritating him already (hence the scratching),
but the acne may mask the appearance of infection, so what else do I look
for?

Rudy has never been injured before and suddenly I feel like a brand new
cat owner, not knowing what to do.

Thank goodness he trusts me and he let me remove the claw. This is a cat
who will let me lay completely over him and hold him down to either
whisper sweet nothings into his ears and scratch his head, or pill him.
So he will let me examine and treat his chin, but I'm only familiar with
infections in humans. Help!

--
Lynne

"Lynne" wrote in message
m...
on Mon, 29 Jan 2007 04:37:29 GMT, "cybercat" wrote:

I am so sorry this happened. How often do you trim his claws? We
put off cutting Boo's for too long, and when we finally got to them
they were curved hooks.

That's part of the problem. I usually trim everyone's claws once per week
but have slacked off lately. I misplaced the cat trimmers and using the
dog trimmers on cats is tricky, but that's a ****-poor excuse. Poor Rudy.

Don't beat yourself up. Who would have ever expected such an injury, you
know? Usually, it is only our furniture or their scratchers that suffer if
we
let their claws go.


Rudy must be very grateful for what I did. He is doing things he hasn't
done since I brought Levi home. Last night he slept on the pillow next to
my head and he has been following me constantly.


He could sense how upset you were, and he knows you helped him.
They are so sweet that way. Maybe you can look into something to get
rid of his acne on his chin once it heals, so he is not so itchy. Hope he
heals quickly. I'm sure he will, with your care.

on Mon, 29 Jan 2007 22:43:58 GMT, "cybercat"
wrote:

Don't beat yourself up. Who would have ever expected such an injury,
you know? Usually, it is only our furniture or their scratchers that
suffer if we
let their claws go.

Thanks for saying that. I have been beating myself up. Rudy has
certainly hit the guilt motherlode of affection from me, so I suppose
it's win-win.

He could sense how upset you were, and he knows you helped him.
They are so sweet that way. Maybe you can look into something to get
rid of his acne on his chin once it heals, so he is not so itchy. Hope
he heals quickly. I'm sure he will, with your care.

They *are* sweet that way. I love cats. And I love them each
differently. Levi is a little love sponge, and of course a very playful
kitten. He is fixated on me as his mama and I've often thought he would
like to be carried in a baby sling (and yes, he is still nursing on my
lip!) Rudy, OTOH, is the most laid back, accepting kitty I've ever
known. He is never phased by anything and is always curious and right in
the middle of whatever chaos is going on around here (a near-daily
thing). He has a super solid, even temperament and adapts to change with
no problem. He used to get mad at me when I was gone on trips, but now
he just greets me at the door with the dog and Levi and acts very happy
that I'm back (even if I've only been gone for a few hours).

It's ironic, I got the betadine to use on his acne, but hadn't started
yet because I knew he would hate it. So hopefully this will do the
trick. If so, it will become a daily habit. I also switched out his
plastic auto feeder for a stainless steel bowl that goes through the
dishwasher daily--several months ago--thinking he might be allergic to
the plastic, but it hasn't helped.

He's seeing the vet tomorrow. I expect he'll give us a topical
antibiotic. The real bummer here is that his favorite spot for scritches
is his chin, and I've had to avoid it because it's so irriated with the
wound.

--
Lynne

Hahaha... I locked Rudy in my room with me tonight because his chin is
clearly infected. Well the little **** knows how to odoors and he just let
himself out. Again. I had no idea he could work locks, too.

I'm so glad we're seeing the vet tomorrow.

--
Lynne

on Tue, 30 Jan 2007 03:40:36 GMT, Lynne
wrote:

odoors

er, open doors

--
Lynne

"Lynne" wrote in message
m...

I can hold him until the betadine dries, but he is still going to ingest
some if he insists on washing it off. Is this dangerous? Phil?

The tiny bit shouldn't be a problem. If the wound is small, apply it with a
Q-Tip so you don't use so much. If you're using human betadine, dilute it
1:1 with water to make it 5% solution- the same as the veterinary betadine.



How frequently should I apply it? The bottle says 1-3 times daily.

I'd go with 3x for the first day and see how it looks tomorrow.



What signs do I look for that will indicate infection?

Redness, swelling, pus. If it doesn't look like its healing clean in a day
or two, I'd let a vet take a look. Most small wounds in cats heal pretty
quickly as long as they're not bit wounds.


He has acne on
his chin so it's probably irritating him already (hence the scratching),
but the acne may mask the appearance of infection, so what else do I look
for?

You might want to put a little betadine on his acne, too.


Rudy has never been injured before and suddenly I feel like a brand new
cat owner, not knowing what to do.

Thank goodness he trusts me and he let me remove the claw. This is a cat
who will let me lay completely over him and hold him down to either
whisper sweet nothings into his ears and scratch his head, or pill him.
So he will let me examine and treat his chin, but I'm only familiar with
infections in humans. Help!

Not much difference.

Phil