Feral boy looking bad

My husband and I were feeding a feral cat.  We trapped him and had him fixed and released him.  We continued to feed him.  Along comes feral #2 eating the food and chasing #1 (Bell) away.  With a lot of help we trap #2 and have him fixed.  When we got him back they said he looked like he had ant bites all over his hind quarters and lower stomach so they gave him antibiotics.  So now we are feeding thing 1 and thing 2!  Poor little 2 (Tip Toe.) we thought he was getting in fights because he had scratches and tuffs of fur missing.  Every day it was worse until it covered his chest and moved to his back.  We tried to capture him but now he is smart about traps.  My husband got hold of him but he was like a windmill and we couldn't get him in the carrier before he scratched my husband and jumped away.  I put a kennel on the porch where he eats and I'm trying to train him to go in there and eat.  He will go half way in.  In the meantime the scabs are now all up his tail.  He lets me pet him and brush him.  I'm hoping to get him in the kennel and take him to the vet.  I'm so worried that he is getting more and more eaten up by whatever is getting him.  I now am wondering if he has mange.  It is not on his ears which I thought was the first place to watch for that.  The rescue
vet said put Neosporin on the scratches but there are so many.  I have done it on the big patches.  Any suggestions? 

Welcome to the forums.  Poor sweet boy.  Could they possibly be flea bites?  Do you see any fleas on him?  I do not have any experience with mange/scabies.  Yet I thought it was often on the face.  Does he have any bites/soars on his face?  He also could be having an allergic reaction. 

Keep working on his with the kennel.  You can tie a string to the handle and sit back and wait for him to go inside and then pull the string, closing the door.  You also could try to borrow or make a drop trap. 

Thank you so much for taking such good care of him.  I hope you can get him treated soon.  Maybe you could take some close up pictures and show them to your vet and they could prescribe something.

Just thought of another tip.  If you husband would wear thick gloves, he could get a blanket over the cat.  Then have the carrier standing on end so the opening is facing the ceiling.  Lower him down into the carrier and remove the blanket ( or leave it there).  I did that once with a feral that needed vet care and it worked well. 

Good luck.  I hope you can get him taken care of. 

We  do have gloves which my husband used when he got scratched under the cuff!  But I like your idea of the blanket or towel.  Cats do seems to go limp when covered.  We'll give it a try.  If that fails I have a rescue friend with a drop trap which we used to get him when we neutered him (he may be wise to that now) and in the meantime I'm still trying to get him comfortable with eating in a kennel.  Thanks for your suggestions.  Will keep you posted.

It does look a bit like scabies. I've seen that in feral cats before and it was all over the neck and chest area. The mites itch like crazy and they scratch themselves raw.

It is very contagious to humans and other animals too. If you're going to handle him wear something that covers your other clothes that can be thrown away afterwards. Throw away any cat bedding of anything you cover him with too. Wash your hands and scrub under your finger nails, just to be sure.

Our vet was able to treat the scabies with a course of injections, one a week for a month. If your able to catch him keep him crated so you can take him back for his shots every week.

Good luck.

I got him at midnight.  He was eating away in the kennel and he didn't even notice me closing the door.  I put a sheet over the kennel and moved my car out of the garage so he could stay in there for the night.  We went to Cat's Exclusive in the morning without an appointment and they were kind enough to take us in after people with appointments got done.  They said it looked like an allergy and gave him two shots and Revolution.  We'll have to take him in every 3 months or so as the shots wear off.  Hopefully he'll fall for the food in the kennel again as it wasn't violent in any way.  The vet just picked him up by the nape of the neck and he was very passive.  He's a sweetie who wants to be petted all of the time (probably he's itchy).  Maybe we can learn the pick up method the doc used!  I'm so happy we got him some relief.  Love his little self!

catmommie5 said:

 
I got him at midnight.  He was eating away in the kennel and he didn't even notice me closing the door.  I put a sheet over the kennel and moved my car out of the garage so he could stay in there for the night.  We went to Cat's Exclusive in the morning without an appointment and they were kind enough to take us in after people with appointments got done.  They said it looked like an allergy and gave him two shots and Revolution.  We'll have to take him in every 3 months or so as the shots wear off.  Hopefully he'll fall for the food in the kennel again as it wasn't violent in any way.  The vet just picked him up by the nape of the neck and he was very passive.  He's a sweetie who wants to be petted all of the time (probably he's itchy).  Maybe we can learn the pick up method the doc used!  I'm so happy we got him some relief.  Love his little self!

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So happy you got him and he was treated.  Hopefully he will feel better soon.