Stray Cat has Wound - How to Help Him?

[sumi sa]

Dear Cat Lovers,

There is a stray cat and I feed him. A few days back he had a wound on his chin. Now I saw that he's scratched it and made it bigger. It's about two inches and hairless and reddish with some blood. I tried catching him but he ran away and is not coming close to me. Is there anything I can do? Any topical medication? I've heard saline or Hydrogen peroxide can be used as disinfectant. If so, how to use it? Any piece of advice from you will be welcome. I feel so bad for the guy. I'm really desperate and I don't know what to do.

Thanks.

 

[nansiludie]

 
Dear Cat Lovers,

There is a stray cat and I feed him. A few days back he had a wound on his chin. Now I saw that he's scratched it and made it bigger. It's about two inches and hairless and reddish with some blood. I tried catching him but he ran away and is not coming close to me. Is there anything I can do? Any topical medication? I've heard saline or Hydrogen peroxide can be used as disinfectant. If so, how to use it? Any piece of advice from you will be welcome. I feel so bad for the guy. I'm really desperate and I don't know what to do.

Thanks.

Well, I don't think he will let you handle him now, he may not trust you. If you could, the best thing would probably get a Humane Trap and catching him in that, he may very well need antibiotics for the wound, the Vet could probably give him a look over in the cage there. Do call ahead and see if they take stray/feral cats as some Vets won't see them. I really don't want to advise you to try handling him. He may hurt you, not on purpose but out of fear. By any chance do you feed him out of a plastic dish? I ask because cat acne is caused by bacteria which grow in plastic dishes. Another thing might be a rodent ulcer, they aren't given to cats by rodents, its just the name of it, it is usually caused by an allergy to something. Saline is good for flushing wounds, I don't like peroxide as it harms the live tissue as well but again, it may be best to not handle him right now. If he could learn to trust you, then yes, but it takes time. 

 

[sumi sa]

Thanks @nansiludie

He lets me pet him. But any sudden movements and he's gone. Also, I don't know any vets in my area. 

He didn't come for a whole day. Then he came yesterday and today and was eating voraciously. I don't put the food in a bowl. He and a few more cats come to my kitchen window. I clean a place there and keep the food there. Yesterday, I tried to apply diluted betadine with a gauze but he was moving a lot. I tried to use a syringe to flush it and he ran away. Today I saw that his wound is covering up, becoming a scab (brownish) and he is scratching less. Does that mean he is healing? Can I give him some antibiotic in his food? 

 

[catwoman707]

So this sounds like a once-owned cat who was abandoned.

He is not feral or you wouldn't be able to pet him, but he has been out on his own for some amt of time, which is the reason he is jumpy and uncomfortable with fast movements, he has not had much/any human interactions regularly for some time prior to you caring for him.

What this tells me is that he is most likely not fixed, people who will abandon their cats don't take responsibility for getting them fixed either, which is what I believe is on his chin, from another unfixed male cat encounter.

As long as the scab has not formed before all of the bloody drainage has come out then yes, it is healing fine.

Hopefully he won't scratch it while it's healing since he can't lick/clean the wound since it's on his chin.

The best thing you can possibly do for this poor kitty is to trap him and get him fixed, contact a local cat rescue group or humane society and find out who/where he can be taken for cheap or free fix and a vaccine.

You will be changing his life dramatically for the good.

It's a very hard life for cats to live unfixed, the stress every single day of fighting, territories, wounds/diseases and on top of that the hormones that are ruling his life now.