Infected Wound

My 7 year old neutered male cat got in a fight with my other cats a few days ago. I put hydrogen peroxide and ointment on the wound when it was fresh, however, it has since scabbed over and swelled. The swollen wound is on his face between his ear and his eye and the hair on it/around it has fallen off. I need advice on how to treat it at home since I can't afford to take him to the vet. Thank you for your input.

The wound has become infected, and there's really no way to treat it at home. You need to find some way to get him to the vet ASAP.

He really does need to see a vet. An infection that is untreated could spread internally and kill him.

Would it be too dangerous to reopen the wound with a sterile tool, drain it and treat it myself?

Smudge74 said:

Would it be too dangerous to reopen the wound with a sterile tool, drain it and treat it myself?

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YES. Do NOT, under any circumstances, do this. Not only are you not trained, but your cat will be in significant pain, which you will have no way to manage. Also, your cat needs antibiotics now. Cleaning the wound is not enough.

Smudge74 said:

Would it be too dangerous to reopen the wound with a sterile tool, drain it and treat it myself?

Click to expand...

Absolutely NO If you have no professional medical training, please do not perform any sort of medical procedure whether on an animal or person. Leave the medical treatments to the professionals. Your cat needs to see a vet for proper treatment. If finances are a concern, please see this for info: http://www.thecatsite.com/a/no-money-for-vet-care-how-to-find-help-and-save-your-cats-life Borrow money from family or friends if you need to. Please consider setting aside some money whether weekly or monthly or however often you can to use for emergency veterinary situations such as this. Vet bills are not cheap and emergencies can happen at any time.

Thank you for your advice. I'll see what I can do to get him into the vet.

If you can't get him treated you may want to consider surrendering him. This is serious, and he is in a tremendous amount of pain.