[smeep]

My kitten (maybe 3-4 mos old?) has a nasty gash. Due to the situation I'm in I cannot take her to the vet, nor can I surrender her (it costs to surrender)...I mean, I literally have $10 to my name. Her gash is pretty big and is on her front left leg, between her paw and elbow. Their skin is not connected to fat like ours. It's skin that moves around, so her muscle is exposed. I don't know if it will heal on its own without being stitched, does anyone know? If so, what can I do? Do I bandage it or not? Infection is setting in. I know raw garlic is a natural antibiotic, should I try that? How much?

I'm at a loss. No one will pitch in money to help me get her medical care, not even my ex (we were together when we rescued her and her sister as strays).

 

[DogMomforNow]

Try imom.org for assistance with vet bills.

 

[LeahBoo]

How big is "pretty big"? I'll probably get flamed for this, but here's what I would do. I'm not a vet, but have had lots of animals.

Clean it well - rinse it inside and out with warm water for a while (this will hurt). Spray it with an antiseptic spray (Schreiners Herbal Solution is awesome at healing wounds - Cost around or more than $10 though), or (if no antiseptic spray is available) smear liberally with antibiotic ointment. Then close the wound (push together) and bandage it up really well. Leave it for a day or so. Take it off and check it. If its staying together and the cat isn't bothering it, leave the bandage off. Re-apply antiseptic spray twice a day.

Obviously, get to the vet if possible, and definitely if it gets infected. But really see if you can get some shreiners! Don't use garlic. In high doses it can be unhealthy.

 

[gumby74]

No flaming here. I think the previous poster's post was very helpful. I was just going to mention that our humane society charges for surrenders as well, but not for "strays." People all the time call and say they found a cat, even if it is theirs. I'm just mentioning this as a last ditch resort to get her help. The other thought I had was to try calling your humane society as well as local vets and explain the issue. Truly, you are in between a rock and a hard place and might be able to find some assistance that way. I know our humane society has a fund for animals that are in need of assistance like this situation. It's worth the call. Good luck.

 

[murphysaangel]

My cat is always coming in with gashes and puntures. I just make sure to soak it well a few times a day (whenever I can get my hands on him) with a warm wet washcloth, then let a few drops of hydrogen peroxide fizz on it. It should be okay as long as it doesn't abcess.

That being said, if there is an infection setting in, you might want to consider getting a professional opinion. As far as I know most vets will provide care on a sliding scale and even take payment at a later date. Do you have a relationship with any veterinarians by you? You could try garlic ORALLY, not topically, as well as probiotics.

 

[texaspeach]

is there an update

 

[smeep]

Thanks for all the advice! I've been washing it (do I use soap or not? If I do, I have regular antibacterial and all-natural antibacterial) once a day when I change the bandage, then using peroxide and then using antibiotic cream and bandaging it up again. I did the peroxide/cream/good bandage (my dad bought me some stuff - prior to that I was using tons of bandaids

) the night before last. The couple nights before that it had an obvious stench of infection and was swollen and was bleeding when messed with (NEVER bled prior to that). But last night, after the first day of that new treatment, it didn't smell like infection at all! No bleeding, and swelling has gone down considerably.

My worry is that I can't keep the gash closed! CAN it close on its own or create new skin? I can email anyone with a pic if you give me your email address, but I'll try to upload it to photobucket (my phone is my internet access). I've been considering trying to sew it.

just two would work, but I don't want to if I have another option! She's great and rarely complains, but I know she'd hate that, plus it has risks of it's own, not being proper suture tools.

If I were to give garlic orally, how much? I was giving her 1/2 medium-size clove a day but stopped when I read the first post here of caution. What about vitamin c? I have it in powder form, should I mix a little with wet food? If so, how much?

Thanks for all the help!!! I'm going to call our vet and see what he can offer. He's an amazing guy. Ridiculously reasonable prices and I've only ever read/heard great reviews. He even took one of our dog's stitches out free of charge when we took the other for a heartworm treatment (so we didn't have to drive to the shelter we got him from so they could remove his stitches from the neutering). He even took the two for the day, free of charge, so my at-the-time partner could go straight to work! I'm praying he will work with me, I'm just afraid that my lack of ANY foreseeable income will affect what he is willing to do.

 

[smeep]

Not the best picture (camera phone) but good enough. That's when I first noticed infection was setting in and the first time it bled. It's not bleeding anymore and looks quite a bit better, but hopefully that gives an idea of the size of the wound. Mind you their skin is not attached to fat like ours - that's muscle (or something) visible.

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v1...9145065377.jpg

ETA: Forgot to add the link...haha!

 

[gumby74]

I don't have any advice about closing the wound, but I would definitely reccomend calling the vet to see what they can do. All vets provide some services free of charge and once you explain what you have been doing, he might be willing to meet you half way in terms of helping physically.

 

[texaspeach]

don't try to sew it on your own! And don't give garlic. Garlic can be TOXIC to cats.

do call your vet. see if he'll work with you. IMO the cat needs to be seen. If the vet is of the opinion that the cat needs something you can't afford, there's always care credit.

Have you taken her temperature? just because the wound doesn't stink doesn't mean there isn't infection.

 

[Porcelain Interior]

I think that needs stitches, and probably at this point antibiotics.

Call your vet, plead your case. There's gotta be some way to work out a deal.

 

[dylan1984]

I'm a veterinary technician - doesn't = expert or doctor, but I've seen lots of these kind of wounds. in our clinic we would have probably flushed the wound extensively and placed a drain, meaning, sewn it up partially, with a drain sticking out so that more debris and infection has somewhere to exit - if that wound were completely closed up, it would most likely abscess, def don't try to sew it yourself. How is the kitten doing in general - does she have a fever (take a rectal temp - should be approx 101.5, if she's stressed it could be a bit higher), is she eating/drinking well? If all this is normal, I would venture to say you have staved of infection so far. I would recommend getting a syringe of any size and - don't know how natural this is or anything, but its what I'm familiar with - mixing some betadine solution with water til it is about the color of ice tea (use lukewarm water) and squirting the mixture under the flaps of the wound (object being to use enough forces to dislodge hair/dirt etc that has gotten stuck inside the wound. Then use a hotpack (hot water on wash cloth - as warm as cat will tolerate) on it 3-4 times a day for 10-15 minutes a time, this will draw debris out as well, You can flush a couple times a day. Between treatments, keep bandaging it - make sure not too tight! I wouldn't imagine that lathering some honey on the gauze would hurt as I've heard of its antibacterial properties and some amazing stories of honey healing wounds. Those wounds CAN heal amazingly well...my concern would be that the edges of the wound are no longer living and they may not want to close back up? This is the area where I am not 100% and would say that a vet's opinion is going to be most important. We had a cat attacked by a pitbull and she has EXTENSIVE wounds that looked like this but were in areas where there simply was not enough skin to close them all up....she had to keep coming back to have the wound edges freshened so they would continue to heal. Anyway in the meantime, flush flush flush flush and hot pack hot pack hotpack, and use the honey. The wound should start to creat granulation tissue inside of it (looks very very pink and new) and hopefully can close itself up, but that is the big "hopefully" good luck!
P.S. For what its worth and given the picture quality, the wound does look pretty clean and not horrifically infected - no pus pooring out or oozing nastiness, if kitty is eating drinking well and temp is normal like I mentioned, I think you've been doing a pretty good job so far

YIKES - editing several days later to say I meant honey WOULDN"T hurt. sorry.

 

[rhiOrion]

I don't know if you see your financial situation changing anytime soon, and I have no idea how your credit is...but here is a suggestion.

Some vets offer a kind of line of credit that is no interest for a certain amount of time. If you foresee yourself being able to pay something like that off in a reasonable amount of time, it may be something to look into.

Good luck, I feel for your situation.

 

[canadianchick]

I used to work at a vet clinic years ago and I agree with dylan1984. And I also think that the wound looks good! Poor kitty, keep us posted.

 

[smeep]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...9515054750.jpg
That was last night. TERRIBLE pic (used my phone and she kept squirming). But it's clearly closing on its own! The night before it looked like maybe the top part was possible generating some tissue and apparently I was right! Looks like the new tissue is pulling it closed. I had no idea their bodies did that! Cats ARE resilient! Haha. Looks like we're in the clear. I'm going to stick with the protocol until it's 100% healed. Yay!!!

 

[canadianchick]

Wow, looks good! Glad she is doing well.

 

[SmoothieMom]

Nice of you to take care of this little kitty, especially since you have some stress of your own. Do you have a pic of the whole cat? lol

 

[smeep]

When I changed it last night it was 1/4 the size! Some was clearly pulled together and closing up and what little wasn't was scabbed over. I never was able to keep it closed so it did this on its own. I can't believe I was able to fix it! It was so bad at first, I was preparing myself for her death. I had no idea how amazing cats bodies were until now.

And a pic from when we got her a couple months ago (I'll take a new one tonight as well as a pic of the wound).

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...3965259830.jpg

 

[phatchristy]

Awww! She's certainly a cutie, has such an innocent looking expression!

Glad everything is healing well!

 

[KBinSATX]

Oh wow. I was kind of on the edge of my seat reading through all this!
A big chunk of this month's profit went to taking my neighbors cat to the vet...

I was going to offer a little donation so you could get some amoxi drops from the vet but sounds like you're already past that stage. Yay! I am so glad to see that the emergency has already past and she is healing so well all by herself!
And I agree: She's so fluffy and cute!