Advice on Hunter. Does this look like abscess?

[Little_Vixen]

A lot of people on this forum on familiar with abscesses... Very familiar. I am one who isn't. However I have run into an issue that could be pimple or abscess and I'm not sure which or what to do with it.

2? Weeks ago Hunter developed a pea-sized lump that looked like a pimple one the lower edge of his ear. We don't have money for a vet currently so we decided to keep an eye on it. A few people we have talked to said that their cat had gotten a pimple and it looked like that. We figured we would just keep an eye out.

Well then he ended up with 2/3 more. 1/2(both were so close on his nose didn't know if there were 2 or 1) and another on the lower backside of his ear.

Sometime last night the one in his nose popped/ruptured/broke whatever you wanna call it.

Posted these pictures to a local Facebook group and they'll are saying (now) that it looks like an abscess. I have never dealt with one. If it/they are... What do I do?

Original picture: Hunter and his ear one (you can kinda see some lumping on his nose)

Today before work. He wasn't happy. I took a q tip and swiped the area with hydrogen peroxide and wiped it quickly before I left to try and make sure it doesn't get infected

 

[Petunia]

how old is Hunter? does he go outside at all?

is he scratching at his ears more than normal?

feline acne does not look *at all* like that, and that does not look like an abscess either.
I've had cats with feline acne, they never get it on their ears; it's more black heads and white heads and the skin is usually oily and smelly sometimes too. He looks far too clean to have feline acne. (it's not caused by a cat being dirty, just to be clear, but when they have it, they sadly do look dirty. I had a gorgeous boy who had feline acne, his coat nearly glowed he was so clean everywhere else, but the acne was ugly, so sad)


the fact that he's getting more of them so quickly is concerning. Unless you've got mosquitoes or fleas or something that might be biting him,
then he probably is going to need to see a vet

cats dont' get abscesses like rats do, they have to have some injury first. they get a lot of skin conditions but most of them cause itching or are caused by excessive scratching

the bump on his ear looks like some sort of tumor.
did you actually see the one(s) on his nose "pop" or are you assuming that's what happened? It looks like he may have scratched himself there.

many tumors in cats are benign same as in rats, but some of them need to be removed :/

 

[jorats]

He's a pretty kitty. I agree with Petunia. If you can, find the funds to bring him in.

 

[Little_Vixen]

He is about 8 months old. Got fixed the week before Xmas, he isn't scratching his ears more than normal. It is possible that it was an injury as he decided for the last time to get too close to Flux's cage and ended up with teeth like scratches on his nose. Flux has since been moved to the top cage and Beau and the boys to the lower one because they aren't a threat to each other.
I did not see it actually pop though it must have happened right before I got up because it was still a little damp/wet when I felt it. It isn't noticeably paining him at all.
As soon as we can scrounge the funds he will be going back in. So will Jezebel (his regular playmate, our dog) as she just went into her second heat and will be fixed as soon as it is over.
We do still have fleas. They have been Hell to get rid of unfortunately. They are both due for another treatment Thursday which happens to be payday.

 

[Little_Vixen]

On a random possibly related note: Hunter has started to try to eat the dirt on my sage plant in the kitchen. Or rather he licks it. I have tried to keep him away from it.... It will actually be put into one of the travel cages so he can't get to it.

 

[jorats]

Can you get revolution for cats? I would do a flea treatment. And the eating of the plant dirt, that is very normal. I have three cats and can't keep any plants sadly. But I really like the idea of keeping plants in a cage.

 

[Petunia]

he *could* be having a reaction to the fleas- usually that makes them horribly itchy but I read that some cats will have a skin reaction with out the horrible itch, so it's possible and would be good news since it would go away when you get rid of the fleas ;-)
I hate fleas!! so sorry you've got to deal with those.

yeh if he got close enough to the rats it could be injuries in which case an abscess is possible, although those bumps on his ears should look red if they were from bites. Cat's wounds don't seal off and heal fast like rats do, so a bite would usually look like one, you know what I mean?

I hope it's just the fleas or small injuries. Maybe from playing with the dog? (or maybe a little of both)

yeh a lot of cats will eat dirt, more often it's the plants themselves but some like the dirt. I used to put a thick layer of aquarium gravel over the potting soil when I had bigger plants in pots on the floor. that helped. There are other soil covers you can use too, I actually just ordered some sand to cover the soil for my plants, to try to get rid of the fool fungus gnats. they will burrow into moist soil only, they don't like anything dry and since I water the plants from the bottom, this should keep the top dry and less attractive to those gnats.

Caged plants are cool!! I like to see ivy in one of those old fashioned "tweety bird" type hagnign cages. some day I'm gonna do that, when I can find a free or super cheap cage lol
I had a cat cage full of house plants about a year ago! a neighbor left the cat cage when she moved out so I put some hanging plants in there, and some other plants on the shelves. I'd still have it but it took up a lot of room.


anyway back to Hunter!! since you've got several possible causes, unless you see more lumps you could probably wait a bit and see what happens. If you've got a good relationship with you vet, he/she may be willing to answer questions about them over the phone or when you bring your dog for her spay. My vet and sometimes the techs will give me advice over the phone if they think it's something minor, and then they'll say to bring the animal in if it doesn't get better in "x" amount of time.

if you're getting flea meds from the vet, you could try calling to see if this is a possible reaction to the flea treatment, at which time you may also get some free advice *wink wink*

 

[Little_Vixen]

Ooohhh I like your thinking on the last part. Tried to call the vet yesterday, but called while they were on lunch. Doh!

Yeaaa... He eats the dirt. Or rather licks it. He did recently get sick and there were dirt particles in it and sure enough there is an area in the dirt that is indented from someone licking it... Kinda thankful he doesn't go after the sage. I dry it for cooking.

 

[Little_Vixen]

Hunter and Jezebel play fairly rough with each other which is why I am not ruling it out.