Cat wound question

Factual Questions
1

I have a very old cat. I’ve had her since my senior year of highschool–I’m 35 now. Anyway, about a year and a half ago she had a weird bump on her chest. I took her to the vet and they said it was a cyst, and they recommended removing it. I left her there for the day and picked her up that night with a little shaved spot on her chest with a boo-boo in the middle.

It has never healed.

Quite a long time ago I took her to the vet again and they said that at her age, 17 years, that it was likely that the wound would never heal, and would be an open ulcer for the rest of her life, with times when it was better and times when it was worse. Because of the size they could not sew it up and try to get it to heal over.

Ding is an extremely sensitive cat. She is almost neurotically skittish and she is also prone to worrying/licking any wound she gets. Not surprisingly, she can’t leave this thing alone.

It seems bigger to me, and I’m worried. She does a pretty good job of keeping it clean, but from time to time I do take a washcloth and help a little.

But I don’t like the idea of this big, open sore on her chest for the rest of her life. I was wondering what might be possible to tryyyy to get it to close? The vet said it probably wouldn’t, but if I could even get it to be a little better, that would be something.

I don’t want to hurt her, but would something like bactine help? If I could spray it with something antibiotic that would keep her from licking it so much, but wouldn’t make her sick if she did lick it…? I’ve tried putting a bandage over the ulcer, and then wrapping her chest in an ace bandage to keep her from licking it, but the sore just got icky. I want to keep it open to the air but keep her from licking it raw all the time (she has at times licked ALL the fur off her own legs. She’s a neurotic groomer). I can’t put her in an Elizabethan collar because oh my god she HATES them. I’ve never seen her as miserable as she is when she has to wear one of those things. And I can’t even imagine how long she’d have to wear it (and yes, I did try it for about a week, but it was horrible).

So basically… does anyone have ANY ideas for how I might be able to discourage her from licking it to death so it could try to kindasorta heal, while not restricting her and making her miserable?

2

After one of our cats (an 18-year-old female) had surgery, she kept licking at her surgical wound and ripping out the sutures. The veterinarian used a “liquid bandage” wound care product called Idexx Facilitator, which forms a flexible, air-permeable barrier that helps the wound to heal and deters the cat from fussing with the wound. There are similar over-the-counter products, such as this one, but I’ve had no personal experience with these. The Idexx stuff worked wonders, but it’s quite pricey, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the OTC equivalent is just as good.

3

Oh wow, I will totally check that out! That is the kind of thing I was trying to invent in my head!

4

Be careful with chemicals you put on her. Since cats are evolved to eat other animals they have very poor defenses against poisons and many things that would be fine with us are bad for them. I have lots of experiences treat abcesses in cats, and a dilute solution of Chlorox bleach in water is the preferred method. You aren’t treating an abcess, and you’re trying to fix a healing issue rather than an infectio issue, so this is just for what it’s worth.

Good luck! If my 17 year old was in her shoes - paws - well, I understand your concern.

5

You could try a button.

OK, lemme explain. My next door neighbor had a kitten that somehow split open his chin. There was not enough skin there to allow the vet to suture the wound closed. For some reason, the vet chose to sew a button to the exposed tissue. As the wound healed, the skin closed up around the edges of the button, but it left the surface completely exposed. So, the cat spent his life with a button permanently attached to his chin. Luckily ( :dubious: ) the button was a cream color which was a pretty good match with the cat’s coat.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a picture of the cat. No one ever believes me when I tell this story, but my family will confirm it.

6

That is… the weirdest thing I’ve ever heard!

7

A buttoned cat? Weird but cute. :slight_smile: Blast you for not having a photo, but I am glad it all went well for the cat.

8

Have you considered getting a second opinion? Another vet might have an alternate treatment.

9

When my cat went through a neurotic shedding and grooming phase (lost all her beautiful orange belly fur) the vet recommended kitty Prozac. We didn’t go that route, and she did get better just from having more personal space. Maybe that would cut down on her grooming?

10

Could you stop her grooming herself for a while? While she may hate an Elizabethan collar, it might just do the trick and therefore be worth it for a week or so.

11

Years ago a vet did this for one of my cats who spiked an eye on a piece of stick and developed a corneal ulcer. To protect the eye, the vet sewed the top and bottom lid together with a little button, when the eye was healed he took the stitches and the button off. Worked a treat, but looked very odd for a couple of weeks.

It’s possible that it’s the licking that is keeping your cat’s wound open, I don’t know if cats get lick granulomas, but they do get various granulomas. It could be worth thinking about her diet, perhaps adding some fish oil to it (cats will often eat sardines), and possible a multivitamin (there are some especially for cats).

I’ve had a lot of success healing wounds on animals (and humans) using honey. You can buy “active” honey from the pharmacy. Honey will help keep the wound clean, and seems to promote healing.

If she were my cat I’d probably try filling the wound with honey and using a permeable bandage or liquid bandage such as pinkfreud suggested.

12

I would recommend a second opinion. Age is a very small factor in feline wound healing. Was the original lesion submitted for histopathology? The majority of feline skin masses are malignant.

13

I don’t know if they tested it or not–I assume not since I wasn’t told any results.

I’m moving to Ohio in a month or two and I’ll have to find a new vet when I get there, so I’ll make sure to ask the new vet for their opinion.

14

I don’t know if this works for cats, but when our family dog got a “hot spot” on her hind leg, the vet put a yellow (sulfur?) powder directly on the wound and it would clear up. And maybe add that goofy-ass collar for a couple days so she’ll leave it alone.