Unhealed skin lesion on older cat

I would be very grateful for advice. Because of bad experiences with vets in the past, causing fatalities, and because I live in a rural area where cats are not valued, also as I am financially poor, ia m very reluctant to involve again. Chiquita is a mid-teens Siamese-cross cat, who was healed in prayer of leukaemia over 2 years ago. She has a single skin lesion behind one ear which refuses to heal. The cycle is of scabbing, then casting the scab and the lesion is unhealed under it. When I kept it covered so she coudl not get at it, it was the same cycle. All I have done is bathe with very dilute Savlon when exposed. She is totally well "in herself"; eating well, active, playful, and no sign of systemic infection, illness or pain.
I am a hermit-Sister so am with my cats all day every day.
I would prefer alternative methods, rather than any drugs or chemicals ( this is my way for myself too, with my own chronic health problems) All thanks

Sister, welcome to our board. I wonder, if this product might help your cat?

Grapefruit Seed Extract

I also wanted to say I enjoyed your website very much!

Hissy; thank you. I am trying to understand what has caused this as it does not "fit" with any of the patterms of skin disease I can find. That is why I am wary of a vet who is only used to farm animals. I had a cat badly misdiagnosed in similar circumstances and he died. My own first thought is ?? a tic?? I had one in my thigh a while back and it looked similar?
There is a hole in the middle. As if maybe her system is trying to eject a foreign body? If she were itching or in pain; but I separated her from my other cats and she is thriving on the extra attention She is very precious to me!
Thank your re the web page; Chiquita's story is on there. She climbs trees even

The centre of the lesion is like a hole, which discharges. It has not grown or changed at all. That was why I wondered about a ?? tic?? And what to do about it. It is of course worrying me far more than it is worrying her!

Could it possibly be a warble. It is a worm that gets under the skin. Can you see anything inside kinda moving around? They usually get in cows but I had one in a cat.

Just a thought.

Another thought here from someone else is perhaps the cat might have Diabetes? If you can get some urine sticks and dip the urine, that would tell you?

I bathed it with calendula "tea"; when this first showed up I thought then that she had snagged it climbing thorn trees - a favourite summer occupation . I think that this is what has happened, and for some reason the cut just has not healed. The top layer of skin is split, but the next layer is intact. Nothing to be seen in it, thankfully.And as far as I can tell, there is no infection. I know how cats act when they have infections. One article said that leukaemia causes slow healing; but she is so well else. So I plan now to keep it clear rather than letting it seem to scab over. I am useless at wounds! Calendula comes highly recommended for closing wounds. Someone told me today that blackthorn wounds take a long time to heal in humans. I feel better in that I am sure this is not something dreadful and systemic. Thank you! She shows no signs of diabetes, like excessive thirst or weight loss. In fact since I separated her from the others, she has eaten better and gained weight. And she is so bright-eyed and feisty!

Is it possible that the tree she got snagged in was poison? Meaning was the thorn poison? Are there any trees where you are that are known to be poison?

Not sure; but if so she would surely have been ill? And she is not. What a great lot of caring "detectives" here! THANK YOU and all blessings!
BTW I was reading some of the threads this morning. Someone was asking about cats eating plastic, and I saw the backside of my pure Siamese. Something white hanging off him. I expected a worm But when I caught him, it was a piece of white plastic bag..... been all the way through him. It seems impossible in these packaged days to stop them getting at plastic. He is fine!

I'm alittle confused about your description.....you mentioned that the area discharges and has a hole....is the discharge blood or pus or something else, is it clear discharge or otherwise?

Is the hole deep, or does it have a raised appearance or seem knotted or have an odd shape, as in a mass that keeps erupting? If you answer yes to that, it could be more serious than you think.

I'm also confused about the leukemia, assuming FELV. FELV does not self-resolve, it is an immunosuppressive disease that may manifest into clinical disease under stress or any other primary or secondary disease process. If she is in fact FELV+, she could be developing secondary infections that will be more difficult to control and heal. For this reason, I strongly suggest you try to get her to a competent vet, at least for retesting with a snap test for FELV. If the test results in a positive, then she could probably benefit from oral antibiotics such as amoxicillin or clavamox. I'm afraid that no natural substance, herb or homeopathic remedy is the solution here. Infections can occur systemically as well as locally, you truly do not want that undetected.

As for the wound on the ear, if you could get to a competent vet, he could take a skin scrape or exudate to rule out earmites, other type mites/parasitic in nature, or inflammatory reaction. If she happens to be immunocompromised, this could be a secondary infection that needs antibiotics to heal. It could also be a simple cut or abcess that would still require antibiotics.

If you are dead-set on not getting veterinary treatment, you can clean the wound with simple soap and water, and apply mild Polysporin topical ointment to it. If it doesn't respond within a few days, I'm afraid that antibiotics will be the necessary approach. The problem is you truly need to know if this is an underlying immunosuppressive condition. Also try to keep her from scratching the area, the nails on the back paws are prime areas for bacteria, so when she scratches, she is introducing even more bacteria to an open wound....................Traci

Good morning, and thank you.
I think it is simply a cut. No odd shapes etc.
I know that feline leukaemia does not " usually" vanish; but "more things are wrought by prayer than this world knows of." She had passed that point of no-return, and I have held enough dying cats to know that, as I bred Siamese for 20 years. I prayed all night with her, and others were praying too, and she recovered. These things do happen. Believe me. With people too. It is something, which, as someone living a life of prayer,I am very familiar with and praise and thank Jesus for hourly. Tumours vanish/shrink, babies recover "mysteriously" from life-threatening illness.
And animals do not have our "hang-ups" about it
After all He created us all, so He has power of creation and healing.
Since then Chiquita has only had one infection, soon after we moved here. Again, I prayed with her and again she recovered, well over a year ago. She races around, climbs trees. And seeing a vet here is not an option. They are good farm vets and do a wonderful job with cows and sheep etc, but very few folk have pet cats, let alone orientals.
Cats in farming areas have no commercial value, and they are having a hard time with ferals.So neutering is their speciality.
The wound is clearer today, so the calendula is doing its work. If Jesus who gave her back to me over two years ago has decided it is time, who am I to argue?
It has been a wonderful two years And her story ( see my web page) has helped and inspired so many.
But she is so well in herself.

P.S
I beg to differ with you re alternative medicine. As many others would. If I ever get cancer, I will not opt for toxic chemo, but B17 +vitamin C therapy. That is my choice for my body. Western-drug-based medicine is only one approach to healing. There are others. It is our free choice. As part of the chronic, incurable and disabling illness I live with, I have severe SAD in winter. Drugs made it worse and had severe side-effects, and I cannot use a Light Box because of eye trouble. The only thing that helps is a herbal substance called 5-HTP, a natural serotonin precursor. I used to sleep 19 hours a day ay this time of year. Now I am relatively active. We ALL need to keep a very open mind, I feel. I did not believe 5-HTP would make a blind bit of difference!
And no doctor would endorse it then.
I was, blessedly, wrong Thanks be to Jesus!