anyone had issues with wound healing

[kris]

The saga continues but so far it's good news, it seems the blood supply has done the trick and although the scab keeps forming and then being knocked/falling off, everytime it is growing back smaller and now it is just a tiny 2 millimetre scab and he is off his antibiotic pills, I'm so relieved (or at least I will be when I can't see any sign of a hole), what a saga that started with a tiny lump back in November 

[kris]

Thanks again everyone, Amanda I can sort of understand why someone would not cope with daily or weekly vet visits, not that I would give up my boy (wouldn't consider it, or put him to sleep, oh dear) but it is really upsetting going back again and again, I lost an elderly cat last year after an operation and vet visits every two days, rushing her in with breathing difficulties and all sorts, during diagnosis, operation, recovery and eventually her not making it made for an extremely intense 3 months (as anyone who has had a sick cat will know) and it can really really drain and upset you seeing your baby in such upset.

With Freddy it's not so much he is in pain as I said before he is completely unbothered by the wound but he is really upset by the carrier and cat combination and wees all over himself and poo's as well, so as well as the stress of the vet visit there is also an hour of military precision clean up job once we get home (prising poo out of  a semi long haired cats coat is not fun for any of us ) 

Actually he has still not gone back to the vet since last Friday when she took the last staples out, Saturday morning the wound reopened but did not re-open at the top or bottom of the wound which after stitching and stapling have held *touch wood*. He is on different antibiotics and the wound appears to be scabbing over and not growing any larger which makes a change, nowhere hear out of the woods yet as he has been in a similar to this position before back in Jnauary prior to the first operation to remove skin that scabbed and fell off, scabbed and fell off growing larger each time. Until I see what happens with this scab I won't know, back to daily monitoring.

I suppose I'm still no clearer on why this particular bit wont heal when the top of bottom of the vet made scar (to remove any unhealthy tissue) healed fine millimetres away so it's not that the skin is under more stress in that area, it's not that he has an issue with wound healed generally and if we went the route of skin graft then would we ever know why he never healed naturally, does that matter at all, am I making too much of it?

Round in circles 

[Amanda (mad4moggies)]

I haven`t heard any reports of Interferon being used in these cases as it`s an anti viral drug so i don`t think it would work.

Kris, i took on  cat a few years back that had been hit by a car and a large section of skin on his leg had been pulled off during the accident. The vet began treating the leg but the owner wanted him put to sleep because she couldn`t stand coming to the vets every few days to have it dressed. He was only 9 months then and other than that there was nothing wrong with him so i decided i would offer him a home.

The wound unfortunately wasn`t treated correctly by the vets he was going to as they were trying to keep the costs down. Infection set in and they were talking about him having to lose the leg. I decided to take him somewhere else as this didn`t seem right to me and after a while on anti biotics he had small puncture skin grafts done which solved the problem and everything healed well.

I have to say that although i haven`t seen this wound it really sounds like it needs a dressing on it to try to keep it moist and encourage healing.  I hope it starts to get better soon.

[Millys Mum]

Just a ponder, what about interferon? I know it gets used to heal a sore mouth with gingivitis. Dont know if it would work on skin? Lynn or Amanda would know.

[kris]

Oh dear I'm not as reassured as I'd hoped to be reading all these stories of unhealing wounds, he's only about 3 years old so the thought of a lifetime of an open wound fills me with horror, anyway... update is that I have decided to keep him from the vet so far and see if his body kicks in and does the job, vet allowed me to pick up different antibiotics for a few days and watch him at home, she has seen him about 10 times over the last couple of months and the other vet saw him before that and really he is so upset being put in his carrier that it really doesn't help.

The wound is still open, still wet and red, not infected as far as we can see but no larger thankfully, just fingers crossed that some kind of scab or skin or anything begins to form, daily (hourly) monitoring.

[Ela]

We had a cat with a collar injury who took many months to recover, and the wound never did completely heal in spite of numerous veterinary  visits and intervention.

[ClaireC]

Hi

I just read this and thought I would let you know about my experience with our 9 month old kitten.  Just in case it helps at all.  Its probably completely different.

Honey managed to get a place on the back of her head and kept scratching it.  This is about 2 months ago now.  I took her to the vets who said it was an alergy of some kind.  Gave her an injection and some cream to keep putting on it.  After another week it had still not healed.  And in fact it had got worse.  She was scratching it.  Back to the vets again.  This time she gave us antibiotics and steroids and said it may well be a food alergy.  She took swabs from the area but could not be certain.  She is now on Hills dd food and is now off the tablets and the wound has healed - finally!  The vet has suggested we leave her on Hills dd for another 3 or 4 weeks as a test.  If nothing happens in these weeks we will try her back on her old food and take it from there.

Not sure your situation is the same but maybe its another suggestion for the vet??

Claire

[Tiggy's Mum]

If the vet thinks that covering it would help then you can get a sort of 'body sock' (think I just made that word up!) that would stop him getting at the dressing.  Keeping everything crossed that Fred's wound heals ASAP, let us know how he gets on at the vets.

[kris]

Oh Kris I wasn't suggesting that anything would happen to Fred!  Smudge definitely died of old age - nothing whatsoever to do with the mysterious un healing wound,  he had a tough start to life but lived the life of a king for the last 8 years of his life, he was a fairly old man when he came to our garden and wormed his way into our lives!

Have you considered trying an elizabethan cone collar on Fred, he won't like it but it could be that he is picking at the wound which is preventing it from healing fully?

I hoped you weren't!! 

No we haven't used a collar becausethe wound actually sits just below where the collar would be on his neck so the chances are that any movement would rub the area plus as the wound is below the collar he could still get at it with hind legs which I guess is what he is doing, he can't actually reach it with his mouth!!

I was seriously considering putting some sort of plaster or bandage or something on it earlier just to see if I could make sure he is not getting at it but I just can't think what would help without driving him mad and possibly encouraging more scratching!

[Tiggy's Mum]

Oh Kris I wasn't suggesting that anything would happen to Fred!  Smudge definitely died of old age - nothing whatsoever to do with the mysterious un healing wound,  he had a tough start to life but lived the life of a king for the last 8 years of his life, he was a fairly old man when he came to our garden and wormed his way into our lives!

Have you considered trying an elizabethan cone collar on Fred, he won't like it but it could be that he is picking at the wound which is preventing it from healing fully?

[kris]

Many years ago we adopted a bruiser of a stray who came to us without wounds but developed a circular one on the back of his neck, due to a flea allergy the vet said.  When he first came to us he had a growth on his toe and was a full tom cat, he had the toe amputated and was neutered and that healed fine but the wound he later developed on his back/neck was always open and weeping blood.  Many vet visits later (he was virtually feral, you couldn't pick him up or stroke him so vet visits weren't the easiest!) and the condition was never cured, sadly he died of old age before we could get to the bottom of it.

Sorry not much help really but thought it was unusual that the wound is in the same place and other operations healed without incident.  Hope you can get Fred sorted out, as Gill said I think a specialist may be the way to go.

I sincerely hope we don't lose him to anything before we find out the cause!! (touch loads of wood), it is unusual that it's the same place though.

Oh and I'm so sorry I just read about Tiggy, a beautiful cat that I remember reading about during the catchat days

[Tiggy's Mum]

Many years ago we adopted a bruiser of a stray who came to us without wounds but developed a circular one on the back of his neck, due to a flea allergy the vet said.  When he first came to us he had a growth on his toe and was a full tom cat, he had the toe amputated and was neutered and that healed fine but the wound he later developed on his back/neck was always open and weeping blood.  Many vet visits later (he was virtually feral, you couldn't pick him up or stroke him so vet visits weren't the easiest!) and the condition was never cured, sadly he died of old age before we could get to the bottom of it.

Sorry not much help really but thought it was unusual that the wound is in the same place and other operations healed without incident.  Hope you can get Fred sorted out, as Gill said I think a specialist may be the way to go.

[kris]

You don`t necessarily have to have the obvious outward signs of infection for there to be something going on but it is a good sign that the tissue is nice and red and has a good supply. It`s hard to comment without seeing the wound but you don`t really want it drying out so the vet might decided to put a dressing on and use certain vet products available such as intrasite gel to keep it moist and promote healing.

Thank you, interesting about the lack of visual stuff I might have expected with infection, I'm still hoping it might scab over itself overnight and begin to allow itself to grow skin but we've been 'hoping' for lots over the past 4 months, I have asked a few times for some kind of gel or something to promote healing but my vet wanted it open to the air but that plainly is not working ...

[Amanda (mad4moggies)]

You don`t necessarily have to have the obvious outward signs of infection for there to be something going on but it is a good sign that the tissue is nice and red and has a good supply. It`s hard to comment without seeing the wound but you don`t really want it drying out so the vet might decided to put a dressing on and use certain vet products available such as intrasite gel to keep it moist and promote healing.

[kris]

Kris, i wonder whether it is worth speaking to the vet and seeimg if they could send away a biopsy of this area as it might provide some answers as to why it won`t heal at that site. Also, they could send some swabs away of the area to see if there is any sort of bacteria that has got in and prevented it healing.

If it really doesn`t heal then the vet could do a skin graft which is a fairly simple procedure and may sort the problem out.

Thank you, yes I think I will suggest this tomorrow, it's looking very clean (it always has looked clean, never any sign of infection...just not healing) but today it is red with blood, more than than ever which I am taking as a good sign as it suggests a blood supply, in the past before the operation it always looked clean but dry, it never seemed to be able to form new skin!

I was thinking bacterial or fungal infection considering I think he originally got the tiny cut from getting under a very damp and dank floorboards after there had been a water leak and emerged saturated with mould stink and a week later a lump began to grow, my only query is if it can be a bacterial thing stopping the healing without any pus or swelling or pain or anything I would normally associate with infection....?

[Amanda (mad4moggies)]

Kris, i wonder whether it is worth speaking to the vet and seeimg if they could send away a biopsy of this area as it might provide some answers as to why it won`t heal at that site. Also, they could send some swabs away of the area to see if there is any sort of bacteria that has got in and prevented it healing.

If it really doesn`t heal then the vet could do a skin graft which is a fairly simple procedure and may sort the problem out.

[kris]

Has he been tested for diabetes? Sometimes that can affect wound healing - just a thought.

Hmm, no he hasn't but because his eye healed so easily 6 months ago or so and the operation he had to remove the skin and flesh and stitch close the wound, the top and bottom of the stitched area has healed perfectly with only the middle of the wound (where the intial small wound was) hasn't. It suggests to me that he can heal fine but something it stopping this one area and I am clueless....

[Gillian Harvey]

Has he been tested for diabetes? Sometimes that can affect wound healing - just a thought.

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

I am sure Teresa at Paws Inn had a cat who wouldnt heal but did eventually, I dont know if she can give any advice.

I would think its time for your vet to refer your cat to a specialist maybe.

[kris]

My cat Fred first developed a small scab on his back/neck area in November (I mentioned it here a few times) this eventually fell off leaving an open wound about a centimetre round this then grew and grew to about an inch and a half wide, he has been treated with antibiotics of many types and then finally he got an operation to remove and clean the flesh underneath and stitch the wound closed, the top and bottom healed relatively well but the centre of the wound never quite healed (funnily enough the exact area of the intial scab...fail to heal area) the vet then stapled this area and continued antibiotics, again the top and bottom portions of the scar have healed well but this middle section just will not heal. Last week we took out the remaining staples as we felt they might be irritating him and since then (3 days) the hole has widened again to a perfect circle probably about half a centimetre round. I'll obviously be making him another appiointment first thing Monday but does anyone here have any experience of wound healing problems, we now feel we are amost exactly where we started 3 or 4 months ago and we have taken him to the vet an almost uncountable number of times...which he hates with a passion, peeing and pooing in fear every time, it's just exhausting.

He was tested prior to our adopting him and was clear for FIV and FILV and since then has been an indoor only cat. He had an operation to close his eyelid in the last year and this healed cleanly and without incident.