Boo has a Boo-Boo :(

Sweet little Boo has a penny-size wound on his cheek, just under his eye. I suspect his sister Shunra clawed a piece out of him in a fight or play-fight. When I caught it, it had already grown a scab. But the next day, it was raw again. I suspect the healing scab bothers or itches him, so he picks at it and opens the wound up again. 

Boo is a hardy little guy, so I'm not terribly worried. If it were one of my non-furbabies, I'd have put on some Neosporin, a band-aid and a kiss.  

Is there any way of applying a bit of ointment and a bandage to a kitty's face without annoying the kitty? I know it sounds so silly but since his current state doesn't seem to bother him a bit, I'm not sure it's necessary to intervene. I don't really want to force on him a "cure" that requires a cone of shame or some other restraint that would be more irritating to him than the wound itself. 

Should I just leave it alone? Is there anything more serious I should be concerned about? 

Here's a "simulation" 
Thanks from me, Boo, and Shunra-who's-sorry-not-sorry. 

It would actually be helpful if we could see the wound. The danger of an open wound is that it could abscess, get infected, need antibiotics. Is it bleeding or draining pus at all? How deep is it?

Thanks. I'll try to get a picture of it. It's not deep. It looks like a mildly-skinned knee. There's no pus. It forms a scab quickly if he leaves it alone, but when he picks at it and tears the scab off it looks raw again. When he opens it up, it bleeds slightly, but not enough to drip down his cheek or anything like that. Just looks kind of raw till it dries again. I'm watching for inflammation or signs of infection or fever, but so far he seems fine. Today I was able to dab at it with a sterile saline rinse just to keep it as clean as possible, but since he can reach it with his paw, that's not helping very much. 

Should I get him a soft collar like this one:


It looks more bearable than the stiff e-cone we have left over from his spay. Would that be enough to prevent him from touching the area? I was thinking I could put some antibiotic ointment on it and maybe even try to bandage it somehow, but it would only work if the collar would stop him from touching it. 

Pink nose!

I'm a sucker for pink nose.

Fhi09 said:

 
Pink nose!

I'm a sucker for pink nose.

Click to expand...

LOL, me too! And every night, I count and kiss each of his widdle pink jellybean toesie-woesies while he looks at me like you'd look at the village idiot.  

I'm going to keep watching his wound and try to let it heal without intervening. I noticed that just a couple of hours after he picks it raw, it's already forming a scab again. It doesn't seem to be very deep at all, and he doesn't seem affected by it in any other way. I'm just going to keep swabbing it with saline rinse when I can. 

DH reminded me that if Boo were still in the street, he'd have a lot more battle scars by now, which is true. They are made of pretty tough stuff, these little doods. 

I'd think you might have problems with a inflatable pillow and cat claws.  There is a neosporin with pain killer that is also anti-itch.  That might help.  If he is strictly an indoor cat you could hobble his rear legs. A couple of problems come with that solution: You'll need to keep him separate from sis since he can't defend himself if she gets too rough and you need to check it regularly too make sure he hasn't urinated on it, or caused other problems.  We use soft cloth and medical tape to make it but it is possible for him to slip out of it, so you have to keep checking.

I'd just let it open air heal and keep on watching it for any signs of infection. Usually, cats just groom off any ointments. As long as it isn't deep, it will heal on it's own. Sounds like you are doing great keeping it clean You could get an E collar, but cats usually really hate them and can get stressed out. I wouldn't want to risk stressing him out over a wound that should heal pretty quickly. Even with the scab coming off, it should be getting smaller bit by bit everyday, although sometimes it's not noticeable to you because you see it all the time. There should be a little ring of fresh pink skin around the edges. My Sammy used to get into a lot fights when he was a stray, so I've dealt with a lot of wounds.
What a cute guy! I love black and white kitties

Thanks again. I was able to get two shots of him, one right after he rubbed it raw, and one a few hours later as it’s drying up again, and after I cleaned it off a little. The wound looks like an abrasion, about the size of a penny. I can see the scratch marks, but there is no actual cut into the skin. Even when he rubs it, it doesn’t bleed profusely, just more like blood coming up to the surface. He does not seem bothered by it even when I dab it with wet gauze.

@happybird, I think you nailed it. He seems to have a strong enough immune system that it is healing despite his interference. I think it is a little smaller than it was at first. It would heal faster if I could get some ointment on it and cover it, but I hesitated because all the methods to make that possible would bother him more than the wound.

We were trying to figure out how to put mittens on his paws so he can’t scratch at it, so hobbling his feet sounds like an interesting alternative. It’s an idea I never would have considered, but at the moment I don’t think his situation warrants it. If the wound takes a turn for the worse or I see signs of infection, I think I’ll just put the e-collar on and take him to a vet. The foam type of e-collar seems like it would be useless as it wouldn't prevent him from getting to the wound.

I got a “non stinging” safe-for-pets liquid bandage that I will try to spray on him later. It might stop him from picking at the drying scab. But if he licks that off, I’m just going to keep watching without intervening as long as things stay as they are.

The victim:

(Right after he rubbed the wound)


(Drying up a few hours later)


The (alleged) perp: