Gina & Yittle (GA)
Active Member
I'm currently working on socializing a recently trapped approximately 1 year old (we think) male civvie cat that we've named Kerry. I'll skip all of the details about the socialization and the minor custody battle over him between my mother and I.
He's got these odd open sores/wounds/lesions on him. We trapped him the first week of July, and it took us until the end of July to get our hands on him for more then a moment and get a really good look at him. He's FIV/FLK negative, he's been vaccinated, been treated with flea/tick and parasite medicine and has since had a negative fecal parasite test. At the end of July/early August we noticed that he had these 2 dime-sized open sores in what you could call his armpits. To me, they looked like hot spots, and since up until recently he's spent all of his time imitating a little kitty salami on the window sill seat in his private quarantine room I figured thats what they probably were. Still, since he had only been trapped about 5 weeks at that point we took him to the vet and got a ringworm culture test done and they gave us some spray to put on the sores twice a day. The results of the test should be back by the end of this week. However, he's now developed 2 more dime-sized spots, one on his belly above his "boy bits" and the other on a rear leg. These are also spots that are underneath him when he sits on the ledge and could be hot spots but I'm getting suspicious. If the ringworm test comes back negative we are of course marching him right back to the vet for another look.
In addition when we first got to handle him we realized he had several small scabs on him that looked like they were either bug bites, bite wounds from another cat, or perhaps from when he was trapped and flipped out in the trap and in the room for the first day or two. None we infected, inflamed or anything, just scabs. As time has passed a few have gone away but a few new ones have shown up. I have gone over his room with a fine tooth comb and I can't find anything he could be getting into that would leave a scrape or puncture wound - its a tiled bathroom, with a ceramic bowl for food, another for water, a paper plate for moist food, a plastic litter box, his window sill seat, a bamboo cat condo, a few toys, and of course the toilet and sink. There's nothing in there that could hurt him. I see no evidence of flea bites or flea dirt, and he's finally started being calm enough to bath himself but it doesn't seem to be excessive by any means.
Food allergies are possible, he's getting Purina One kitten chow and either Friskies or Fancy Feast cat food (all low carb flavors leftover from Yittle's stash). The food made his fur softer, more fluffy, and he doesn't have any dandruff but there could be something he's allergic to I guess. He got cheap kibble and whatever he could catch outside.
Anything else I should consider? I know there's a good website for lumps and bumps on cats, is there one for wounds/sores etc ? If it was any of my indoor only cats I'd swear it was a hot spot but with him only being recently brought in it does open up the possibilities a bit. Ringworm wasn't the most likely, but because it could be transmitted to us humans and the other cats in our households it needed to be ruled out first. I wasn't at the vet appointment, my mom took him but she indicated the vet didn't suggest any other likely option besides ringworm/hotspots but again I wasn't there so I don't know if my mom didn't entirely pay attention or what was asked etc. So if anybody has any other top of the list ideas I'd be glad to hear them before he goes back to the vet.
He's got these odd open sores/wounds/lesions on him. We trapped him the first week of July, and it took us until the end of July to get our hands on him for more then a moment and get a really good look at him. He's FIV/FLK negative, he's been vaccinated, been treated with flea/tick and parasite medicine and has since had a negative fecal parasite test. At the end of July/early August we noticed that he had these 2 dime-sized open sores in what you could call his armpits. To me, they looked like hot spots, and since up until recently he's spent all of his time imitating a little kitty salami on the window sill seat in his private quarantine room I figured thats what they probably were. Still, since he had only been trapped about 5 weeks at that point we took him to the vet and got a ringworm culture test done and they gave us some spray to put on the sores twice a day. The results of the test should be back by the end of this week. However, he's now developed 2 more dime-sized spots, one on his belly above his "boy bits" and the other on a rear leg. These are also spots that are underneath him when he sits on the ledge and could be hot spots but I'm getting suspicious. If the ringworm test comes back negative we are of course marching him right back to the vet for another look.
In addition when we first got to handle him we realized he had several small scabs on him that looked like they were either bug bites, bite wounds from another cat, or perhaps from when he was trapped and flipped out in the trap and in the room for the first day or two. None we infected, inflamed or anything, just scabs. As time has passed a few have gone away but a few new ones have shown up. I have gone over his room with a fine tooth comb and I can't find anything he could be getting into that would leave a scrape or puncture wound - its a tiled bathroom, with a ceramic bowl for food, another for water, a paper plate for moist food, a plastic litter box, his window sill seat, a bamboo cat condo, a few toys, and of course the toilet and sink. There's nothing in there that could hurt him. I see no evidence of flea bites or flea dirt, and he's finally started being calm enough to bath himself but it doesn't seem to be excessive by any means.
Food allergies are possible, he's getting Purina One kitten chow and either Friskies or Fancy Feast cat food (all low carb flavors leftover from Yittle's stash). The food made his fur softer, more fluffy, and he doesn't have any dandruff but there could be something he's allergic to I guess. He got cheap kibble and whatever he could catch outside.
Anything else I should consider? I know there's a good website for lumps and bumps on cats, is there one for wounds/sores etc ? If it was any of my indoor only cats I'd swear it was a hot spot but with him only being recently brought in it does open up the possibilities a bit. Ringworm wasn't the most likely, but because it could be transmitted to us humans and the other cats in our households it needed to be ruled out first. I wasn't at the vet appointment, my mom took him but she indicated the vet didn't suggest any other likely option besides ringworm/hotspots but again I wasn't there so I don't know if my mom didn't entirely pay attention or what was asked etc. So if anybody has any other top of the list ideas I'd be glad to hear them before he goes back to the vet.
but my idle thoughts:
