Abscesses under the skin after bites — especially common in cats
Bites between animals are relatively common, and are generally exchanged between companions of the same species.
Occasionally, however, a dog may cruelly bite a cat, a rodent, a ferret, a sheep or any other domestic or wild animal — thankfully this remains rare, because it is intolerable. Cats, for their part, prefer to bite one another, most of the time during territorial fights. In their case this can be considered normal behaviour.
Un-neutered toms fight most often, but the others are not always gentle souls either!
While a dog’s bites can be wide and tearing, a cat’s teeth are long, fine and sharp, and leave barely a trace.
All bites are regarded as heavily infected. They must therefore be treated with antibiotics, especially when quick, thorough disinfection has not been possible.
A subcutaneous abscess forms over several days in the pocket beneath the skin contaminated by the bite. The original wound closes very quickly, and the bacteria responsible for the infection multiply: disliking air as they do, they find an ideal environment there.
The animal’s defence system tries to contain the infection, and the pocket of pus builds up. The aim of treatment is therefore to evacuate this pus through drainage, to disinfect the emptied pocket thoroughly and, above all, not to stitch the openings closed.
On the contrary, we try to enlarge the openings so that air can circulate, the infection can keep draining and the wound can heal cleanly. This care is given under sedation. Then, at home, regular care on top of the antibiotic treatment speeds up healing. The openings, whether natural or made artificially, close by themselves after a few days.
Bites can also transmit a number of diseases, some of them very serious, such as feline leukaemia (FeLV), feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV), rabies and others. While some of these diseases can be prevented by regular vaccination, others cannot. So preventing bites and their consequences in cats comes down instead to a sum of details: neutering, keeping up the vaccinations that exist, adjusting the times your cat goes outside, disinfecting any visible wound, and visiting the vet whenever antibiotic treatment proves necessary.