Last night, I saw some blood on him. I checked it out and between his left back leg and side, it was a nasty mess. I was able to straighten his leg out to see what was going on and it looked like the text book burst abscess. Great. He was cleaning it a lot and it was late, so I just figured to take a wait and see position.
Well, this morning it was a lot cleaner and a lot bigger. That may have been because his leg was stretched out, pulling the wound apart. I had Brian hold him down while I put some Bacitracin on it (I bought a tube at Costco a while back, less that five dollars, a lot less $$$ than at the vet's office). Then, to help him relax I put a quarter of a .25 Xanax pill into a piece of tuna for him to eat (this Xanax is Mario's prescription, I think I dumped Mario's and Charlie's into the same bottle). I thought if we had to take him to the vet, a little less stress might make him easier to work with.
I checked the medicines in the kitchen cupboard and found some liquid Orbax that was prescribed for Marco back in June. It doesn't expire until 2016 and on the side of the box - "is indicated for the treatment of skin infections (wounds and abscesses) in cats".
Charlie has gotten his first dose of this with no problem.
So, hopefully we won't have to rush to the vet's this weekend. He is eating okay and he purrs for me. I was a little concerned how much grooming he was doing at the site of the wound, but watching him more closely, he was cleaning around it. Just a short while ago, I watched him cleaning a back paw. And I have seen him sleeping.
I did a little finger stroking of him, searching for scabs or other wounds. I did find a little scab on his neck. I don't know who he fought with or when. I didn't hear anything and there was no fur strewn over the yard (which usually occurs at the site of a fight). So, I have no idea when this happened.
But I'm hoping we've got the Charlie thing under control.
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