OT/ Need advice

[Anitafrnhamer]

While walking my dog Saturday evening, we encountered a stray cat who appeared to have a broken leg. So I brought him home, made him as comfortable as I could and took him to a local "Urgent Care" vet Sunday morning (nearly $900). The leg wasn't broken but evidently had been mauled by some animal. He had multiple serious wounds: left front leg, right rear leg, and on the left back head below the ear. They were abscessed and he was running a temp of 106. The wounds were cleaned and a fair amount of damaged tissue was removed. This vet bandaged the legs but not the wound on the back of the head (it looks like a spot where you would gouge the eye out of a potato only about the size of a quarter). I was given instructions on wound care and xenodine as well as granulex to apply to the wounds. He is also taking oral antibiotics. In addition to the wounds he is very malnourished.

So far, so good; until tonight. He has scratched the area behind his ear, on the back of his head and torn the healing. I am also concerned that when I remove the bandages from his legs tomorrow he will begin to lick the wounds. I want to stress again that tissue was removed by the vet (akin to skinning). No e-collar was given.

He also had fairly bad diarrhea Sunday and Monday. I have been adding pumpkin and probiotics and the stool is starting to firm up.

I am considering putting an e-collar on to stop him from tearing open the wound on the back of his head and to prevent him from licking the wounds on his legs when the bandages are removed.

Any suggestions? I am attaching a photo of the wound on the head. Do you think an e-collar will cause more damage?

 

[Callie & Patches]

Usually, it's not licking that causes prolems, it's scratching off the bandages. I don't know if the collar will keep him from scratching. I wouldn't worry about him licking. You could ask the vet. We had a cat that was mauled by a dog. The vet said that the cat could clean the wound better then she could. She kept him at her office for a week and then sent him home. The wound leaked fluid for about 2 weeks. We kept him in a bathroom with clean sheets on the floor. With time, the wound slowly got smaller until it was finally healed.

 

[Chris & China (GA)]

Any suggestions? I am attaching a photo of the wound on the head. Do you think an e-collar will cause more damage?

It's hard to tell exactly where that is on the head, but as long as the e-collar doesn't rub directly on top of it, I think it's probably a good idea to keep him from getting at his wounds until they have a better chance of healing.

I'd suggest getting one like the Kong collar instead of the usual "lampshade" type