Subcutaneous emphysema on top of head between ears

Hey all, I have a kitty who has been in a fight last night. She has a few puncture wounds which I was unable to clean. I know I will get hate for this but I don't have the €60 to take her to the vets. However I bought directly from the vets some Amoxicillin for her. She is favoring a leg which was bitten. All seems good except she has a Subcutaneous emphysema just between her ears. Not on her face or anywhere else, just that lil bit. That cringeworthy crackling sound.
What I am curious is how long it will take for it to go away with plenty of rest indoors? As in, if it is there for over X time, then I should worry even more.

Emphysema is a disease related to breathing. Do you mean a cyst or infection?

CinqChats said:

 
Emphysema is a disease related to breathing. Do you mean a cyst or infection?

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I had to Google it too but apparently subcutaneous emphysema is when there's air locked under the skin 

If I understand correctly, this could be the result of injury to the respiratory system, possibly in her neck in this case, with the air traveling under the skin to the head. I really think you should make an effort to get her to the vet. You can often work out a payment plan with the vet, or possibly find a local rescue organization who can help you get immediate veterinary help with paying later.

WHOA that's bad news! Extra air floating around inside you is never a good thing. You need to wrangle up the money and get assistance. 

I would be highly concerned about the type of infection this is, as usually sub-q emphysema is only caused by gas-creating skin infections that are horribly nasty, like staph or strep.  Amoxicillin may not take care of it, especially if it is staph or strep.  Sometimes if a skin infection starts the bubble of gas causing sub-q emphysema the area has to be opened and drained.  I'd keep a very close eye on this and try to get some funds to get her to a vet.  If it is an antibiotic resistant staph or strep (what we consider "superbugs" like MRSA), you may also open yourself up to pick it up as well on any open sores.

I worked in the ER for a very long time....sub-q emphysema yes, most commonly, is related to either chest trauma or spontanteous lung collapse and is a totally different beast from "emphysema" as we commonly hear it as the lung disease.  It is trapped air in the tissues (like from a lung puncture and the air escapes into the chest wall and skin) or it is related to an infection in the skin layers that is creating gas to be released into the tissues--and like I said, those can be some very nasty organisms that put off gases that you don't want to play with.  I've seen people go septic from those types of skin infections and even lose tissue, yuck!