This is a very frequent disease in our four -legged friends: theabscess in the cat. Especially in outdoor cats, that is, that they have the opportunity to leave the house, often fall into present abscesses located in various points of the body. In most cases, these are struggles with other cats, but it is good to know where they locate themselves to understand why sometimes the cat returns home with the paw or swollen cheek.
What is an abscess and location in cats?
The term of abscess in medicine indicates a PUS collection (purulent exudate) which is formed in a fabric of the body. In the case of cats, they typically present themselves as skin abscessestherefore more or less evident swelling that usually locate themselves in specific areas of the body:
The real abscesses, then, must be differentiated from theempiemathat is, a collection of PUS within an already present cavity of the body and from phlegmwhich represents the diffusion of the PUS in the subcute or in a fabric in an uncontrolled and not delimited way.
How to differentiate an abscess in the cat from a tumor?
Since it is theabscess that many tumors arise with the appearance of nodules or neoformations, here only from the external point of view it is not possible to differentiate them. To understand if it is an abscess or a tumor it will be necessary to start taking a cytological examination. If Pus comes out of the withdrawal, then it will probably be an abscess (except in cases in which the abscess does not hide a tumor below). If Pus does not come out of the withdrawal, but the cytological examination highlights cells of possible neoplastic nature, other investigations will be needed (oncological visit, biopsy with histological examination, CT …).
Abscess in the cat: symptoms
Usually the abscesses in cats they present themselves with symptoms quite obvious:
The presence of generalized symptomsdepends on the excess extension, how long it persists and the type of bacteria involved:
A cat with abscess dies? Yes, if not cared for, if from the rise we move on to the phlegm or if the cat manifests symptoms of septic shock. (Read also: How to understand if the cat is sick?)
How do the abscesses take care in cats?
As for the Therapy and care of cats’ abscessesusually a cat abscess does not heal alone. What can happen is that the apparently healed wound or form a crust on it (by virtue of the high cicatrization power of cats). Except that the PUS continues to form and spread below, until the abscess has become so large as to explode and literally leave a “crater” of living meat in place.
As for therapy, if the abscess is small, it is possible that with adequate antibiotic therapy Slowly the pus is reabsorbed. If a small fistula present, you can disinfect it using oxygenated water.
In the case of large closed abscesses, however, it is necessary affect it to drain it and make a surgical courettage of the wound. In this case, sedation is needed.
If the abscess is very large and old, with necrotic skin, then it will need to be Take up the abscess and the necrotic partalways in sedation of course.
Even in the case of surgery, an antibiotic must still be administered.
On the other hand, what should not be done is suting the abscesses or bite wounds: in fact, in fact, we would keep all the bacteria inside, worsening the clinical picture.
ATTENTION: Cats with repeated bites and abscesses could be victims of contagion from Fivthe feline viral immunodeficiency virus.
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