ok so I am the neighborhood cat lady...I have 4 inside pet cats of my own and since I am out in the county on farmland there are also any number of feral cats and barn cats eating on my step--where I leave kibble and water for them in the Wintertime. So I have this one step-cat I call Kaspian who is totally in love with me and lets me pick him up and pet him and walks with me and the dog. But he is still wild. And he is a young Tom. So he goes missing for a few days and then shows up with battle scars that he lets me clean up for him. I am trying to get him to trust me to the point of being able to crate him and take him into the vet to get a rabies shot and neutered, but he is not ready for that much trust yet. Anyway- he came home yesterday with a burst warble.

oh it is so gross and it smells most foul. It is below his right ear and above his 'eyebrow'. He has let me swab it out with a cotton ball soaked in betadine, and it is not infected at the moment, BUT * eesh! * the worm is still there! It may have even been two, because the hole is clean and clear above the worm. Anyone know what I can do for this? I heard you cannot pull the worms out because they have tiny hooks and they excrete toxins if disturbed. So you have to coax them out without irritating them into defense...but I don't think Kaspian is going to let me fool around with this thing so close to his eye with tweezers and vaseline--he tolerates the cotton ball because he thinks I am scratching his ear. It is right below the surface and it is totally open now.

I did call the vet and of course they want me to bring the cat in and spend $200 to have them remove it. He is a healthy, good-sized cat, and I can pack it with bactracin as well as the vet can. Should I just leave it to come out on its own? Oh god it is so ugly.

I might ask the landlord how he treats the livestock when they get them... I know when I was a kid we used Bag Balm on the dog when he got one on the neck to make the worm come out--but cats are more sensitive to chemicals.

RavynG


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