Scary red spot on my cat's neck!

Hello everyone! I'm hoping I could get some peace of mind about this scary spot on my cat's neck. His vet isn't open tomorrow and I'm stressing about this.

It's a single spot, it was scabbed over but he removed maybe 5 minutes ago so its very red and he took all the hair with it. I just removed his collar a few days ago then I noticed this. He isn't unusually itchy, still his normal self, he's fully indoors with no other cats and I feed him core wellness food. I'm just so worried about this spot! I haven't found anymore anywhere. What do you guys think? The redder pic is him now the other pic was him yesterday.
(Yes, I fully intend to take him to the vet when they're open!)

It's hard to tell by the picture, but outs it bleeding or open? Be sure to wash it gently with warm water and put antibiotic ointment on it until you can see the vet. You don't want whatever it is to get infected.

Oh my gosh, this looks EXACTLY what my kitten has- right now he's somewhere between your first and second picture- but he's gotten as raw as that red one before. We've been battling trying to figure it out. We know for sure it's not fungal or ringworm, it could be an allergy (the vet feels strongly not a food one even though I ask all the time [along those lines do you give your cat a topical flea medication? That was an avenue we explored]). Right now the vet is treating it like a bacterial infection and we're waiting to see if that works. I am super interested in what your vet says!

When you say antibiotic ointment, is there a particular one for cats or can I use one for humans?

I would stick with bathing it with slightly salty water for now.  Hopefully you can see the vets tomorrow (Monday 23rd)

You can put human antibiotic ointment on it. I usually use something like Neosporin. Make sure she doesn't try to paw it off and lick it. It's not poisonous, but it's not meant to be ingested. But it does look serious enough to go to the vet to get it checked out to make sure the cat doesn't need medicine to clear it up.

It could be a bug bite, or an allergic reaction to something.  I had a cat who was allergic to collars who would develop sores like that.  Just get it checked out by the vet when they are open.  I think it will be fine to wait.

I would be hesitant to use the Neosporin on a wound like that:

http://www.vetinfo.com/is-neosporin-safe-for-cats.html#b

This might help. For six weeks feed totally grain free. If that doesnt work, feed totally chicken free. They can eat duck and turkey. The symptoms should be gone by the end of the 12 weeks. Read labels carefully. So many foods. Have chicken liver or broth added. If you want to try adding grain to see if it was just chicken bothering her, go ahead, but I had complete success so now Murphy is grain and chicken free. Don't let her at another cat's food or water, and dont let her near the dog's food or water. Murphy was covered with itchy bloody scabs and she is completely free of it now. It's expensive food, but i also use Instinct rabbit formula and it does the trick. Oh, they can have duck or turkey. It 's just chicken that causes problems. Good luck and let us know if it works for you.

AbbysMom said:

I would be hesitant to use the Neosporin on a wound like that:

http://www.vetinfo.com/is-neosporin-safe-for-cats.html#b

Click to expand...

Why? It wouldn't hurt. I can't tell if the wound is deep from the photo, but dabbing some Neosporin wouldn't hurt it or make it worse. Also, since it looks like the wound is on the back of the head, there's no way the cat can really ingest it unless it paws at it and licks his paw.

Sorry for not responding today! Thank you all for the replies and advice. I ended up washing it with warm water and applying neosporin, then loosely wrapping a couple of paper towels around his neck so the owie got plenty of oxygen but would make it so he couldn't scratch it anymore. It looks much better already! The vet is open tomorrow so hopefully I can get him seen before Christmas!

Here he is with me in front of the fire with his "bandage", haha

Also as far wound goes, it's not deep at all it's like his skin was rubbed completely raw some how

Is he on flea control?  sometimes flea control can leave burns like that.