Injured animals love me...

[VoodooChile]

I am such a sucker..
I was home on my back porch cleaning out my 10gal for Eclipse (the Crestie from Tamara)
and my cat went parading throught the back door...followed by a little striped cat. My cat doesn't get along with ANYTHING..Kids, humans, he even attacks the vaccuum, which I must make a video of..
Anyways so this little skinny pathetic striped stray darts in the door about 5mins after Mojo..So I picked him up and promptly sat him right back outside.
In the meantime I'm back and forth through the back and front door, and I wandered through the living room, and there sat that cat ON MY COUCH!
Soooo...anywhos..Mojo has been off pouting in our room, while the striped one has been living the high life loving on everyone, and checking everything out.
I noticed, however this swelling on his back, which is soft and squishy (not at all hard) and a small, smooth, closed red wound in the center.
Any idea what this might be?
We have a vet appt but not till Friday.

[Stargazer]

My guess is it could be a cyst or even the beginning of an abcess from a cat fight. I didn't see where it was on his back but if near the neck, could also be an irritation at an injection site. I would be very careful letting him around your cat just in case he has FIV or FeLV (leukemia) or something else contagious (it would be good to have him tested for both). Beautiful cat, though. If the lump gets bigger over the next few days it would probably be an abcess and will require veterinary care.

I had a similar thing happen once. My boyfriend and I lived in a townhome with our 3 cats. One of them, Daisy the Demoncat, was the terror of the neighborhood. She beat up all the dogs and even chased the other 2 cats around. One day she came home with a black cat called Knot-head (name on tag). Daisy and Knot-head were the best of friends and she would invite him over all the time. Then she would pretend like she didn't know us, you know, like a teenager would. It was pretty hilarious!!!

[VoodooChile]

Well I've kept them separated but they were outside together earlier before I realized Mojo had found a sidekick.

Kinda funny, Mojo acted like he's the big brother and tolerated the little striped cat lagging around behind him, but you can tell he was none to thrilled.
My husband says no way can we keep both, and I wouldn't be able to find a good home for Mojo unless it was out on a farm, he's so antisocial!! Soooo I will be looking for a good home for the striped kitty.

I called my vet late last night, and he gave me some advice on the phone, but I'm going to try to make an appt Monday for him to look at the cat, I don't know enough about treating cat injuries to deal with this.

The swelling is down a bit, it looks like an injury and the swelling is soft, not red and not hot like infection. It's weird, to say the least. I'm sure a round of antibiotics won't hurt him. I'm hoping the Humane Society will take him in, I hate taking animals to the Animal Shelter when I know they will make wonderful companions.

[Stargazer]

Reptscue would probably know what that bump is. If the swelling went down, probably not an abcess. Maybe an insect bite?

Seriously cute kitty. It's gotta be hard to give him up! I only hope it's a no-kill shelter.

[VoodooChile]

You know, its crazy it looks a LOT like a venomous snakebite.
The vet mentioned lancing it, but I'm scared to do that not knowing what actually CAUSED it. On the off chance it WAS a venomous bite, lancing it would be a BAD idea.
Besides, I'd rather the vet do it..LOL
The vet advised a dosage of benadryl for me to try at home, if that helps, we'll know it wasn't an infection, and just a reaction. If it makes no difference then the vet gave me alternate advice and he'll see him Friday.
They seem to think it's something that will heal easily if I keep it clean and follow their instructions, so I'm going to try not to worry in the meantime.
*sigh*

[Stargazer]

How can you not keep him now? That is just too cute. I am betting you keep him!

[VoodooChile]

LOL!! I bet we don't I wish we could. I really like him better (personality wise) than my cat, Mojo. Mojo was just meant to be a farm cat, and out mousing lol

The good news is the sore was apparently a cat bite puncture wound (probably Mojo)
My mom's neighbor lanced it, and told me how to treat him with a round of antibiotics (she's a vet) At first nothing drained, but she said it would and to keep it clean and let it drain for 24hrs. So I went to a soccer game, came back and the swelling is completely gone!