Cat abscess not healing.

Dr. Marie replied:

This sounds very frustrating.

When I have a case like this when there is an infection that is not healing, there are several things that I want to do.

The first thing would be to do a test called a culture. This is where we put a swab inside of the wound and send it to the lab. The lab will tell us exactly what type of bacteria is present and what needs to be done to get rid of it. It's possible that Spike has an infection with some sort of resistant bacteria. If so, he may need either a special type of antibiotic or a combination of antibiotics in order for this to heal.

The next thing I would do is to test him for feline leukemia and FIV. These diseases will affect the immune system and can make it very difficult for infection to heal. Hopefully this is not the case because we don't have a cure for either of these diseases.

If none of these find the answer, then I would consider doing a surgery on this area. I have had some abscesses that don't heal because there is something stuck inside the wound. One case that I had like this, when I did surgery, I found a cat's tooth inside of the wound! Once the tooth was removed the abscess healed just fine.

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