Cat with no skin on its arm!: WARNING Graphic Pictures

I was visiting Fla when i saw a stray cat outside my cousins house that had no skin on the back of its left arm. when i mean no skin, i literally mean its all red and theres absolutely NO SKIN. I wanted to help it so i decided to adopt it and flew it in with me to NY. I took it to the vet, they charged me an arm and a leg for wrapping it telling me that it the skin should regrow in about 2 months. I stopped wrapping it because after 2 weeks of seeing no difference and paying so much he told me that I can clean it on my own at home with collasate spraying solution. Its been almost 6 months, a little bit of skin grew back but not what we had hoped. Has anyone ever seen a case like this or have any suggestions to what I can do to help it heal? Or should I just amputate its arm? His arm is fully functional though...

Do you have pictures?

Why would you amputate?  As long as it is skin, that should be okay, as long as it is not infected.  Does the cat have an allergy and is perhaps licking the skin?

I'm new to this site, i just figured out how to attach an image... this is before ...
and this is after ... 
i found him in florida like that and just felt like i needed to help him because he seemed like he was a house cat from before... i fell in love immediately... i have a cone on his head for the past few months so he doesnt like the wound at all.. the vet tried wrapping it and changing it every few days but it started to smell and i felt like there was no improvement, now i'm just cleaning the wound as best as i can praying skin would grow back some how... any advice???

I do not have medical knowledge, so hope those that are familiar with wound care will see this and reply back.

The skin should grow back, perhaps not the fur, but that should be okay. I am wondering if the medicine you are putting on the would is causing it to not heal?  Perhaps an allergy?  I really hope someone on here can jump onto this thread and help out.  Please do not move forward with the amputation yet.  There are many on here with good knowledge that might be able to prevent this extreme measure.

I had a cat lose his tail to a car fan, leaving bone exposed.  The bone was amputated, but part of his tail had been stripped of fur and skin.  The skin grew back and he was left with a tail that looked just like my index finger.  He allowed me to put a finger from a glove on it in the winter when he went outside.  Even though not tight, he always returned with it still on his tail.

I dont care if the fur doesnt grow back, i just desperately want him to get better and not have to wear the cone on his head constantly and for him to be able to sit anywhere he'd like ... as long as its not an open wound like that

Ouch! Take a look at this thread: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/240011/colloidal-silver-usage-for-cats-health-in-some-occasions

Nadia, Amber May's mom, used Colloidal Silver on her kitty's wound (much bigger and very infected) when nothing else was working. It healed completely, and the skin grew back closing the wound 100%. Her kitty was in a very bad shape.

Read the entire thread... Might be something you want to try.....

Looks like major trauma- either the poor thing got hit by a car, attacked by something or burned. It is going to take some time for the skin to regenerate and you can help the cat by giving him supplements to help him. You probably are already doing this, but any time you are near the wound or working with it, be sure your hands are clean and dry. Wear surgical gloves if you have them. You don't want the hair to grow back right away as hair carries bacteria, but you should be keeping the wound covered if you can to stop any infection. Did they give you antibiotics for this kitty? If you put dressings over this wound it will be needed to be changed at least twice a day if not more depending on the drainnage.

You can also get a better collar for the cat around the neck besides the plastic cone collar. It's called the Trimline collar and you can google the website to order a pack- comes in various sizes. I highly recommend it. You want to be careful about what you put on the wound to clean it- betadine, hydrogen peroxide and hibclens will all irritate the sensitive tissue. Is there a feline specialist in your area? I would take him to see one immediately.

Call your local animal shelter and ask if they have a wound care specialist for cats. Some of the bigger ones would be able to guide you as to best care for this poor fella. Thank you for caring enough to help him and I will wish you luck-

Good luck

MA

Ran this by my feline specialist/friend  and showed her the photos. Here is her take on things-

Hi Mary Anne,

Well, it is difficult to say a lot and have the answer in this situation.

This is a BIG wound with a large area with no skin as she mentioned. Skin is not very moveable over the extremities like with the body of a cat so it is very difficult to close it over such a deficit. I would expect it to take a LONG time to every try to scar down and cover the area with anything approaching skin. You could not do it in a person either. I am not surprised it has not healed.

There is also a question if there is any underlying disease or infection process too or if the cat has any underlying problem to create poor healing (FeLV or FIV positive or diabetes, etc). There are a fair number of stray cats in some areas in Florida who are FIV positive. Most likely this was a large injury that just cannot close such a large area. It looks like there is granulation tissue there that may be a good bed for trying to heal.

I am not a fan of amputating when it does not need to be done. I doubt bandaging and doing wound healing therapy right would not be enough here. A good surgeon or one who likes challenges might be able to skin graft over that area to get some extra skin there for healing. There is a technique to free up a flap of skin along the side that is still attached to the remaining skin over the body wall and have the leg pulled up next to the body with the flap sutured there on the defect to heal and cover. If it takes, then you have to go and cut the graft loose eventually and close the body wall defect.

I guess what I am saying is that it will take a good surgeon, some healing time, money, and prayer to get this area to heal with skin. It could be done or it could fail though I have seen a number of articles showing how this is done. I have covered some big defects before though not one that size. They are an interesting challenge.

Vicki

Thank you for gathering and sharing that information, hissy!