I've been caring for a cat colony within my development for about a year now and began to trap them recently for spay/neuter after finally finding this women online who's offered to help me with them. I've been living on a fixed income and cannot afford to pay for all of these medical costs on my own so she has been a god sent. Anyhow, each kitty is trapped, eval, given vacs and spay/neutered then released back into the community if they are not young enough to be socialized for a possible adoption. Some have been treated for illness, injury and returned and a couple have been placed for adoption. Right now I have about 19 outdoor kitties in my colony that I've been feeding trapping, etc. I also have my own indoor kitty of 5 years who I took in as a stray and is feline leuk + as well as a 4 mth old puppy.
This women has also been able to assist with food donations so thank goodness for that!! As you can imagine, I've got my hands full.
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Anyhow, right now I still have 7 cats to trap, one being a mama who is currently pregnant AGAIN. There are these two females that just won't let me anywhere near them so its been difficult to trap them. Others have been easier to catch by trapping or just by my picking them up and putting them in a carrier for transport.
So here is my problem at the moment: I noticed one little kitten earlier in the week, was limping. When I was able to get a closer look, it appeared as if his back hind leg was dislocated. After a couple of days, I inspected him again and it appeared swollen, not just the hind quarter but the entire back leg (still limping). Today I put food out for everyone and while he was eating I noticed a good amount of hair loss in that area and a flesh pocket. I've only seen an abscess on a cat once before but I'm pretty sure this is what this lil guy has. There seems to be some fluid/discharge coming from the wound and it stinks. Anyhow, the lady I've been working with told me to contact her if anyone needed medical attention but she is currently out of the state for several days. In the meantime I wasn't sure what I should do given its the weekend. I was able to get a hold of him because he can't really run, poor things probably in too much pain to do so anyhow. After I got a hold of him I poured some peroxide on it and put him in a carrier. I was reluctant to bring him into the house since I don't know what he's got going on but felt badly about leaving him outside in the carrier in the heat. I was also concerned that if the abscess got too bad over the next couple of days, he might disappear and then, I'd never get a hold of him to get him treated. So right now he is sitting in the carrier in my hallway. I put food in there but not big enough for a litter pan of any sort. Planning to go an buy one at the dollar store tomorrow but need to try and figure out where I can put him until early next week.
I'm wondering if I should continue to put peroxide on this thing or if there is something else I can buy at the store for him. I know he will probably need an antibiotic but that will have to wait until this lady returns next week. Also should I buy some latex gloves and use them while handling him?? I can't take the chance that I'll transfer something to my indoor kitty with his lowered immune system due to his feline leuk.
Any suggestions or help would be great! Thanks for reading.
Lor.
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Anyhow, right now I still have 7 cats to trap, one being a mama who is currently pregnant AGAIN. There are these two females that just won't let me anywhere near them so its been difficult to trap them. Others have been easier to catch by trapping or just by my picking them up and putting them in a carrier for transport.
So here is my problem at the moment: I noticed one little kitten earlier in the week, was limping. When I was able to get a closer look, it appeared as if his back hind leg was dislocated. After a couple of days, I inspected him again and it appeared swollen, not just the hind quarter but the entire back leg (still limping). Today I put food out for everyone and while he was eating I noticed a good amount of hair loss in that area and a flesh pocket. I've only seen an abscess on a cat once before but I'm pretty sure this is what this lil guy has. There seems to be some fluid/discharge coming from the wound and it stinks. Anyhow, the lady I've been working with told me to contact her if anyone needed medical attention but she is currently out of the state for several days. In the meantime I wasn't sure what I should do given its the weekend. I was able to get a hold of him because he can't really run, poor things probably in too much pain to do so anyhow. After I got a hold of him I poured some peroxide on it and put him in a carrier. I was reluctant to bring him into the house since I don't know what he's got going on but felt badly about leaving him outside in the carrier in the heat. I was also concerned that if the abscess got too bad over the next couple of days, he might disappear and then, I'd never get a hold of him to get him treated. So right now he is sitting in the carrier in my hallway. I put food in there but not big enough for a litter pan of any sort. Planning to go an buy one at the dollar store tomorrow but need to try and figure out where I can put him until early next week.
I'm wondering if I should continue to put peroxide on this thing or if there is something else I can buy at the store for him. I know he will probably need an antibiotic but that will have to wait until this lady returns next week. Also should I buy some latex gloves and use them while handling him?? I can't take the chance that I'll transfer something to my indoor kitty with his lowered immune system due to his feline leuk.
Any suggestions or help would be great! Thanks for reading.
Lor.
