My cat has weird, crusty, hot, and smelly skin. Is it an infection?

You need to take him to a bet asap!! His skin is terrible! It looks like it is infected with yeast, bacteria or mange mites, but i suspect it is a combo. It neefs treated with an antiparasite, antibiotics, medicated shampoo and antinflammatories. Do not attempt to treat at home, it is way beyond that.

Hi. It is hard to tell in the photo where this is, or if it is a mass or flat. But, this area appears to be very infected. There is some swelling there as well. So it could be a mass that is secondarily infected. Skin infections can occur from bacteria, funguses, parasites, chronic irritation to an area (like a skin fold), trauma to an area, or a mass that is oozing and causes the immediate area near it to become moist/irritated and secondarily infected. There are some metabolic, endocrine, and immune disease that can cause a pet to have a harder time fighting infections. Fom this photo and without more history, we can't tell you what this is exactly, and what the treatment would be. But those are some possibilities. I recommend getting Sammy seen and have that area looked at and treated so that he can be more comfortable. Good luck.

If you were able to post a picture of this skin abnormality it would be very helpful. But based on what you are describing it sounds like either a large scab or eschar that has formed covering up a wound of some sort. Watch your cat closely to see if she is licking the area excessively. You may need to find someone to help hold her so you could more closely examine the skin. You may also want to try putting some Neosporin on it to see if that helps it heal. Without knowing what exactly it looks like it is hard to say what exactly it could be. My best guess is that she has some type of infection that is making her skin abnormal and is making her painful and uncomfortable. If you are unable to look at it yourself I would recommend taking her into a veterinarian where she can be fully examined. If the infection is severe she may need a systemic antibiotics to help clear it up. I hope this helps. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Best of luck.

Oh my. I can see that your pet has a severe infection here. You wil need to take your kitty to the vet to have this taken care of unfortunately. This is too severe to treat at home. Until you can get her seen its best to soak this area well with Betadine diluted 50:50 with warm water to help antisepitcally clean it. The vet ill need to get her on oral antibiotics or an injectable antibiotic that they can give that lasts for 2 weeks. She also will need to have this area shaved to remove the hair and possibly a topical prescribed by your vet. I do hope that your fur baby Crunchie is able to get this resolved soon! Best of luck and take care. : )

Antibiotics are required. This may be a viral or bacterial infection (or a mixed between the two) and, from your description of the signs, seems quite severe. Poxvirus may be present as well so I would recommend to handle Jet Blaze with care. Please post pictures of the lesions to receive more specific answers from us. Please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further.

Oh my. Poor girl. I am so sorry but this appears to be a severe infection and you are correct in that this needs more than topicals. In fact this may be a resistant bacteria in need of culturing through your vet. It looks like the skin could be badly infected due to several possibilities here: resistant skin infection, mites, skin cancer. I highly recommend taking Smoky in to your vet right away to start with some skin testing to help determine the underlying cause, so that we know how best to move forward with her. Until you can get her in it is best to just clean the areas with Betadine diluted 50:50 with warm water, then rinse with sterile saline from your local pharmacy. Ensure that none of the Betadine gets in her eyes however, so use a cloth and use extreme care. I do hope that you are able to get Smoky's skin back to normal and get her some relief soon. Best of luck and take care.

It does need to be seen and treated by a vet but it is not concerning enough to be an emergency. This can be from scratching or a skin infection. Just keep the area clean and let a scab form until you can him checked by a vet this week