My cat's scab keeps growing and won't heal

Hi,

I have a 16 year old cat called Rosie. My partner and I 'adopted Rosie at the age of 4 and she has been in good health for most of her life and eats a well balanced diet (Iams, Gourmet, Sheba etc). She has spent most of her life with us indoors and goes into our rear garden for short periods, staying inside during the night.

Around 4 years ago she went to the vets to have some teeth removed and when I picked her up they drew my attention to a small pink area on her paw where they said they had 'scraped' the skin and to keep an eye on it. Rosie bit the small (max 5mm dia) pink area now and again however it didn't seem to bother her Around 2 years ago we noticed that it was starting to scab a little. This didn't seem to cause Rosie an issue and she would bite the scab off now and again resulting in the area scabbing up again. Around a year ago we returned to the vet as Rosie had bitten off the scab revealing a 15mm dia open wound. The vet said she had seen nothing like this before in cats and it was normally dogs who chewed their paws due to being distressed. She then frowned and said that Rosie was old. Having queried about dressing the wound she put on a bandage and gave her an antibiotic and anti inflammatory injection, I then (having parted with a sum of cash) left with Rosie.

I wasn't happy with the diagnosis and a after a few weeks of bandaging her leg and spraying the wound with Vetracin (ebay) and the bandage with bitter cherry spray (ebay) I took Rosie to another vet for a second opinion. The vet recommended debriding the leg of all of the scab and cleaning/stitching the wound. Within a week Rosie was operated on and around a week later, and a course of antibiotics, she had the bandage removed. The leg looked great and seemed to be healing well. I left with Rosie wearing a plastic 'buster' collar and was told to keep it on until the fur had grown back. Within a couple of weeks the scab started to come back. I took her back and was told to bathe the leg regularly in salt water and subsequently in antibacterial wash. I went back a number of times and tried all sorts of creams such as wound healing cream (vets) and hydrocotizone anti fungal cream (chemist) wrapping Rosie's leg in cling film to give the cream a chance to soak in. All the while we were doing this Rosie was still in her collar.

It is now 3 months since the last time I was at the vets. The last time I was there the vet said they needed to take blood samples and swabs from the wound to send to the lab to see if there was an underlying issue behind the wound not healing. I was quoted just under £500 for this and though reluctant, wanting Rosie to get better, I decided not to have it done. I don't think the blood tests/swabs would show anything as the vet didn't appear to know what the problem might be, she mentioned a bug on the surface of the skin (really?). I have absolutely nothing against vets and I know that they do a great job to care for sick animals however I simply don't have those sums of money to test for something which might not even be there (I am sorry if this sounds awful).

Rosie has continued to wear the plastic collar which she has now worn constantly for at least 6-8 months. While I try my best to brush Rosie she has been unable to clean herself as she usually would and I am concerned that keeping her in the plastic collar is cruel. The scab takes up the bottom half at the rear of her front left paw and she has managed on a couple of occasions to use the edge of the collar to remove the scab which she did again yesterday. I simply cannot justify spending the additional money on tests which may be inconclusive and wondered if anybody had had any similar problems and could recommend a solution which would actually work. I have attached a photograph below, the part of the paw which is pink is raw flesh not a growth. Any help from people who have suffered similar problems would be much appreciated.

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Hi, and welcome to TCS. 

First off I have a couple of questions for you.

1)  Is that area in the picture where the initial Vet (4 years ago during her dental) took the skin scraping?

2)  WHY did they take the skin scraping 4 years ago?  Did they suspect something?  I can't figure out why they would have done it if they had not suspected something at that time.  Did they never get back with you with the results?  

3)  Have any of the follow-up visits been with that SAME Vet?  Have you mentioned that this is from a skin scraping originally done by a Vet?  (presuming it's the same spot on her leg) 

4)  I think I am understanding this, but correct me if I am wrong....has she had this small wound for FOUR years?  Does it ever actually open up and bleed or ooze?  It looks closed, but looks like it's got bubbles under the skin?  I would definitely think after four years of nothing working that a wound swab might be necessary to see what it is to try to fix it. 

It's possible that this is eosinophilic granuloma, although impossible to know from just looking at the picture and reading about what's happening.  Here is just one of many threads on THAT issue:   http://www.thecatsite.com/t/265526/lesions-that-wont-heal-eosinophilic-granuloma

Thanks very much for taking the time to respond Mrsgreenjeens, I really appreciate this.

In response to your points the skin was scraped clean to the side of Rosie's leg and the scab/wound appears to have spread from this area. I don't believe the vet at that time took, or intended to send off, a sample and they didn't mention this to me.

The last two visits were with the same vet who suggested swabs of the wound be sent for analysis, I can't recall mentioning the initial scraping of the skin on her leg to this specific vet however I would have when I first saw a vet at this surgery. You have a valid point regarding this and seeing a different vet each time you go to the surgery regarding the same problem hasn't helped.

The wound doesn't open up or ooze of it's own accord, it is only when Rosie rarely manages to knock off the scab that the skin is raw and it sometimes bleeds, which I would guess is normal when a scab is pulled off. It's interesting you mention bubbles, you can't see this when you look at it with the naked eye however this has perhaps been picked up by the resolution of the camera (?). The image isn't the best and in hindsight I should have attached a couple of images.

It's difficult when the only person you have to speak to is the vet and after numerous visits seeing numerous vets you feel like you are getting nowhere. I really appreciate your neutral opinion and have made the decision based upon this to return to the surgery and see the same vet again to have the wound swabbed and have blood tests carried out, It's not fair on Rosie who is a couple of months away from 17. I just hope that having spent a lot of money a solution to the problem is found, eosinophilic granuloma appears to be a bit of a tricky condition to deal with. 

I think further diagnostics are definitely in order. Sending a swab sample or even a tissue biopsy to the lab can hopefully get you an answer as to what this pesky thing is. It might be pricey to do so, but I think in the long run it would be better than having to do continuous bandaging/creams, etc.