Indoor / Outdoor life has aspects that your feline friends love – not all but many cats thrive having outdoor time. They hunt, climb trees, stay active BUT beyond the perils of cars and unkind people, they also face the prospect of cat and other animal fights, which can result in severe injuries including infected bite wounds.
Some cats that go outdoor that have been bitten by another cat or animal, initially seem fine. But within a day or two, a limp becomes apparent, the cat may hide and activity and eating decreases. Deeper bites tend to slowly get infected and cats seem to be very good at hiding their symptoms. They also love to form abscesses – a walled off pocket of infection that swells under the skin and into the tissue.
Often times, your cat may be the aggressor or the runner. The fighters often have punctures on their faces and forelimbs suggesting they faced off to their opponents. Runners, have bites on their back legs indicating they tried to get away.
Regardless of where the bite is – although the common areas makes it easier for you to find – a bite wound needs to be treated. If it has been present for a long time, it has likely abscessed, may have a foul smell and your feline friend may show discomfort. It is important as soon as you know there is any type of trauma that you present your animal companion to your veterinarian for evaluation.
Once an abscess begins to form three things need to happen:
- Your veterinarian needs to evaluate the wound and make sure it isn’t tracking under the skin
- The area is shaved, cleaned and the bite explored to determine the extent of the wound
- If needed, the puncture can be cultured to determine the type of bacteria present and what antibiotic it is susceptible to
- Pain medication and antibiotics are started and the cat is closely monitored while things heal
Obviously there are degrees of severity with infected bites. Some will require short anesthesia to lance, clean, explore the area and obtain a culture. If it tracks many inches under the skin, a drain may be needed to keep the wound open in a gravity-dependent way and allow the infection to drain for several days. Others are simpler and just need a quick lancing and antibiotics, pain medication. If the puncture is already open and draining, only antibiotics may be needed.
It is also important to keep in mind that where there is one wound, there may be many. So, careful evaluation by a veterinarian is called for. Once treated appropriately, your cat should eventually be back to normal!
