Rash on Tinkerbell's face - What is it & what to do?

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DD & Tinkerbell

DD & Tinkerbell

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Hey all, Tinkerbell (OTJ) needs your help. She has a rash on her face that I originally thought was an allergy to fleas. There was no rash at the time but I noticed she kept scratching and rubbing her face and all the critters were overdue for flea treatment so I gave them all their flea treatment - she gets .4 Frontline - a week ago (she has had this b4, no problems with it ever) but the rash is not clearing up. It will scab over then she scratches it open. It seems to be moving & spreading. It is on both sides of her face now. I am afraid of it getting in her eyes. There are some sores on her lip too. Do cats get cold sores?

I have been giving her 1000 mg of lysine in her food once a day for 3 days now.

It has not affected her #s or her OTJ status, she was 86 last evening.

There is no vet available til Monday morning. Can I put silvadene cream on it? neosporin? human hydrocortisone anti-itch cream? will any of this hurt her if she rubs it off then licks it off her paws?

I have no way of getting one of those collar cone things for her either over the weekend, everything is closed, the closest pet store 50 miles away. can i make one out of ... what?...posterboard?

Help! My baby's beautiful face is all rashed up!

See pix here: https://picasaweb.google.com/1105959062 ... aaw3b6yBQ#
 
Silvadene is a sulfa drug used to treat bacterial infections. I would clean the area with a saline solution. I use polysporin for my animals. It could be allergic reaction. Has food been changed? So many variables. Good luck.
 
Desi:

Any chance this is ringworm (and I really, really hope it's not). Those round patches look like it could be. The only way to definitely know is for a sample to be cultured. I think you've got a vet visit in your future.
 
Oh my! Poor Tinkerbell. Those photos show how bad it must feel. She has really scraped off the skin. Wow.

I would attempt to make a cone out of cardboard and tape. Or cut up a gallon milk jug? Put duct tape on the
edges to prevent them from being too sharp.

I have no idea of what to do to make her feel better - but sending you guys some hugs.

(((Desi and Tink)))
 
Oh poor Tinkerbell. I hope you can make a cone from something. I know she will absolutely hate it, but it's for the best.
Poor Baby (((Tinkerbell)))
 
Has anything change in her diet or enviroment? That looks a lot and sounds a lot like the way my Onyx got for awhile. For him it was allergies and the only solution we found was the removal of grains from his diet and then starting him on a low dose of pred. Really hope that isn't what you have here. As Onyx was a civie so the pred wasn't that hard on him, but with Tink a FD kitty..I just don't know. The other thought was ringworm, it looks similar to that as well. Poor Baby.

Mel, Max & The Fur Gang.
 
The two head area look like possible allergic reactions and scratch them. My civi Snowball and similar-looking ones by his ears. A course of prednisolone resolved it after topicals and oral antibiotic failed. I would not put the hydrocortisone on the open wounds. Otherwise I have used the human OTC hydrocortisone cream on my Thunder.
 
thanks everyone, still looking for input, don't stop the ideas coming.

I will make a cone out of empty gall water bottle or cardboard and duct tape when i get out of the store.

i googled home remedies for ringworm and found that i can use diluted apple cider vinegar, i will try this when i get home too right after i make my own saline solution and wash it out good.

there has been no food change. the only thing that is different is that she got that Frontline. Maybe it is an allergic reaction to that but she had it b4, yrs ago, then i switched her to revolution for a couple yrs, but i was out of that so used the frontline on her this time. it had been about 3 months since any of them had gotten treated. i will try to get this cleared up and then put her on advantage next time, i don't have any revolution & want to use up what i've got.

i will keep you all posted. any ideas on what cream it might be safe to use on the open wounds, or should i just forget the cream part and go with the saline & acv for now?

desi

i'll post again later after i get home.
 
Ow!!!! Apple Cider vinegar will really hurt and sting!!!!

No, since those are not close to the eyes yet...you can try any cream that has miconazole nitrate in it. Ring worm is a fungal infection.

Ok here it goes.. Lotriman creams, .Monistat Creams. Use the collar to prevent kitty from washing and ingesting it.

Have a old blacklight around the house? If so turn off the lights and hold kitty under the light...ringworm will glow green.
 
desi, oh could be so many things, i wouldn't even attempt to start guessing over internet based on a couple of pictures. i would suggest leaving it alone until vet sees it. for sure no OTC fungal creams on her face.

btw, not every strain of ringworm glows green under a wood's light, plus things like scabs, skin flakes, ocular discharge, etc. can fluoresce too so it is not the best diagnostic tool for determining if something is ringworm. better that vet plucks a few hairs at lesion's edge and either places it in this special culture medium that inhibits bacterial growth and enhances fungal growth (that if positive turns red after period of time giving pretty firm diagnosis) or sends them out to lab if they do not have the ringworm culture kit in-house. vet can also view plucked hairs under microscope and possibly get dx right then and there. but for one single animal in a large multi-animal household to have ringworm is very odd, it is highly contagious.
a skin scraping can be done at vet too that can rule out (or dx) a few other possibilities. it is suspicious that it happened after applying the frontline, but an allergy is not totally off the table, they can develop at any time to something that an animal has been exposed to for years. there is a reason there are so many thick veterinary dermatology textbooks and that it is a specialty.

in the meantime the best thing you can do is fashion some sort of e-collar so she doesn't tear herself up more before monday morning and get her to vet first thing in morning.
~jojo

ps. if you haven't already, cut her back nails as short as you safely can.
and of course please stay away from steroids in any form for a newly OTJ cat if possible, only use as last resort if dx or QOL screams for it. but if your vet reaches for a steroids shot within 30 seconds of walking into room to exam her, stop him/her. (sorry but it is just too common for vets to whip out the magic steroid shot the second they see an itchy pet with lesions on table).

oh another thought~ you have any benadryl in house? that can help keep her more comfortable until monday morning.
 
Bless you Jojo all the way home from the store I was praying for your input! and POOF! there you were as soon as I logged on! Just like magic! POOF! There's Jojo to Tinkerbell's rescue as usual. Just like the old days.

& THANK GOODNESS you mentioned about the steroids b/c I had not even thought of that. OMG! to have her OTJ and then get her all messed up b/c I forgot about the steriod factor, I would never forgive myself. There's Jojo, to my rescue too. Just like the old days.

OK, no creams, no nothing. Maybe I could wrap her feet in something like some socks, or gauze and surgical tape, to get her to stop digging at her face? I will try to cut her nails back, don't have a clue how to do that either but i do have one of those hartz clipper things.

Monday morning, vet 1st thing. I may be able to get her to a petsmart vet Sunday, dunno if those clinics are open or not on Sunday.

I have tried making a cone of cardboard, no luck. am googling how to on that now.

the frontline was applied 1/26/11, this is stinking more and more like an allergy all the time. btw i don't have a blklite, can't do the woods test anyway.

thank you all, i will keep you posted & keep the input coming as i will keep checking.

desi
 
have you ever clipped nails before desi?

if not, you want to make sure you don't cut too far back. do it where you can see well, have a bright light closeby if possible. squeeze the paw enough to get the toenail to extend and look at it. you should be able to see where the "quick" (sp?) starts inside the toenail. you don't want to cut into that, just cut up to or near that point. if you hit it it will bleed and i think it might hurt kitty, if i remember correctly. i've never hit it but i've read that it hurts them i think.
 
Apparently it's like cutting into the quick of your own fingernails.

I wonder, have you bathed Tinkerbell since you put on the Frontline? One of mine had a reaction to that once (frothing mouth, head shaking and crying), so I bathed her really well with some dishsoap (to cut the oil) and then baby shampoo and got it all off. She popped right back in minutes after the bath and dry...and for the record, I'm pretty sure that is what got her to LOVE baths.
 
well the cone making did not go well, i gave that up.

but the nail clipping went really well, i googled it and got a pic of the nail & the quick and never cut into the quick once. she was very cooperative, having her head in a bowl of Friskies probably helped. i know it helped Mommie LOL.

i have not bathed her since the frontline application which was 1/26/11. i am afraid to get soap into the wounds and that it might sting and burn too, like Blue pointed out the acv would do. funny no mention of the burning on all those websites that recommended using it, that was a good point Blue ~ thanks.
 
do you know how to sew? there are people here on FDMB that make soft e-collars at home. (lol, not me, only thing i've ever sewn is flesh. :razz: never even fixed a button in my life. TMI? hahaha). trying to remember who makes them, let me see if i can find someone to help....

or i just found this (thanks google), think it will work?

"A quick and easy E-collar can be made for small pets. Take a paper plate and cut a circle out of the center, just big enough to slip your small dog’s or cat's head through. If the plate is too big, trim down the edges. You can even remove a strip of the plate and mold it into a cone. Use tape to secure the edges."

like if you stole that idea and then wrapped the molded paper plate w/ tons of masking tape or that blue painter's tape it would make it sturdier and it might last until monday. what ya thinkus?
~jojo

edited for typos! oh how unusual! :lol:
 
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