Hi all.
Newbie here with a problem. A highly socialized stray that has been in and out of my yard for several months disappeared - even abandoning her 5 week old kittens - last week. The good news is that the kittens (as the mom trusted me) are fully socialized and now in loving homes. The bad news is that Mom returned yesterday with apparently severe injuries. Mom is a small red tabby with a really sweet disposition - she never eats without first looking for a good head skritching
She's not really mine, and I don't feed her regularly. She seems to be quite a good hunter and consumes her prey (most often birds). I was only feeding her while she was nursing her babies... anyways...
First off, as much as I know it would be important, I do not have access at all to a vet. Unfortunately, nothing I can do about that.
So here's the situation. I found her lying down, apparently uncomfortable. She didn't rise at all when I came near. I approached slowly - although socialized she still is a street cat and I suspected injury. I was happy that she responded to my voice and meowed in greeting and sought my hand with her head - and purred. But it was also obvious that both hind legs were in bad shape. Slight movement, but not even an attempt to rise. I have no idea from where or how she dragged herself back to my yard! She ate fairly well. Without doing any probing, I could see what looked like scab on one leg. Having had cats throughout my childhood, I suspected an abcess. ANd after being away for nearly a week, she is also quite thin.
I started trying to give her antibiotics (amoxicillan) - mixing the powder from a capsule with milk and water to make dosis of around 20 mg.
This morning I saw that one leg has a large nasty abcess opened. She seemed more alert, and tried to rise to greet me. I gave her a second dose. She is eating in small portions, and needs to be coaxed a bit. She let me apply a warm compress (even purring while I did so), and after a glob of topical antibiotic ointment. I covered the wound with a gauze pad, and she actually let me tape it loosely. This evening she is licking an area on the other leg - might be another abcess.
On the leg with the first abcess, she has a couple of times put some weight on it to hobble around, but the other leg not at all. So mostly if she wants to move she just drags herself around - which isn't much.
Her nose is cool and moist. She urinated (poor thing, righ as she layed there - can't get up. But she is still dignified enough to scoot over a bit to lie in a clean place.
) Not sure about a bowel movement. Just keeping an eye on those things to try to rule out severe internal injuries if it was a dog that got a hold of her...
Some questions:
Does the dose of Amoxicillan sound right? A small / medium female, about a year old, maybe more, 20mg twice a day?
After applying ointment, should I bandage or keep the wound uncovered? Should I allow some time for air to get to it? What if she lickes the antibiotic?
Well, that's all for now. Thanks for reading and any feedback you might have.
Sharon
Newbie here with a problem. A highly socialized stray that has been in and out of my yard for several months disappeared - even abandoning her 5 week old kittens - last week. The good news is that the kittens (as the mom trusted me) are fully socialized and now in loving homes. The bad news is that Mom returned yesterday with apparently severe injuries. Mom is a small red tabby with a really sweet disposition - she never eats without first looking for a good head skritching
First off, as much as I know it would be important, I do not have access at all to a vet. Unfortunately, nothing I can do about that.
So here's the situation. I found her lying down, apparently uncomfortable. She didn't rise at all when I came near. I approached slowly - although socialized she still is a street cat and I suspected injury. I was happy that she responded to my voice and meowed in greeting and sought my hand with her head - and purred. But it was also obvious that both hind legs were in bad shape. Slight movement, but not even an attempt to rise. I have no idea from where or how she dragged herself back to my yard! She ate fairly well. Without doing any probing, I could see what looked like scab on one leg. Having had cats throughout my childhood, I suspected an abcess. ANd after being away for nearly a week, she is also quite thin.
I started trying to give her antibiotics (amoxicillan) - mixing the powder from a capsule with milk and water to make dosis of around 20 mg.
This morning I saw that one leg has a large nasty abcess opened. She seemed more alert, and tried to rise to greet me. I gave her a second dose. She is eating in small portions, and needs to be coaxed a bit. She let me apply a warm compress (even purring while I did so), and after a glob of topical antibiotic ointment. I covered the wound with a gauze pad, and she actually let me tape it loosely. This evening she is licking an area on the other leg - might be another abcess.
On the leg with the first abcess, she has a couple of times put some weight on it to hobble around, but the other leg not at all. So mostly if she wants to move she just drags herself around - which isn't much.
Her nose is cool and moist. She urinated (poor thing, righ as she layed there - can't get up. But she is still dignified enough to scoot over a bit to lie in a clean place.
Some questions:
Does the dose of Amoxicillan sound right? A small / medium female, about a year old, maybe more, 20mg twice a day?
After applying ointment, should I bandage or keep the wound uncovered? Should I allow some time for air to get to it? What if she lickes the antibiotic?
Well, that's all for now. Thanks for reading and any feedback you might have.
Sharon