My cat has a minor ear burn from hot water. What should I do?

If Toby's ear is badly burnt or oozing and not recovering after home care it is best to bring him into your vet. They can examine the ear to see how extensive the burn is and provide treatments such as antibiotics to prevent infection or other creams or salves to help the burn heal. Keeping Toby from pawing at it with an Elizabethan (cone) collar is also a good idea to prevent further irritation until it can be seen by your vet.

This is probably self inflicted and due to generalized itch or inflammation infection of the ear canal. A check up would be immediately required to determine specifically underlying cause and treat appropriately. Disinfection may be started at home with very diluted hibiscrub or betadine or salted water baths. Buster collar may be useful as well to avoid any scratching. Hope this answer was helpful, but 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.

Ouch! Running cold water on it was smart. Ideally, he should be seen by your vet since the burn looks like it goes through the pad. This could lead to infection. If this is not possible now, keep the area clean and dry. Use an e-collar (cone) on him to prevent licking. A dab of aloe vera gel can be applied a few times daily. Keep the e-collar on so he doesn't ingest the aloe vera. You may want to use shredded paper towels in the litterbox until the paw heals. Monitor for lameness, lethargy, swelling, discharge or odor. These are symptoms that should be addressed by your veterinarian.

With burns I would be concerned about secondary infections. I would recommend having a veterinarian examine Batman’s wounds. It’s possible that his ear is hard because the tissue is no longer viable and it may need to be removed. He may need antibiotics if there is a secondary infection.

This presentation could be due to a trauma (autotraumatism) or localized spot of skin infection (likely to be caused by bacteria). A check up, appropriate disinfection and possibly antibiotics (oral, topical or in a shampoo formulation) are needed to solve the problem. Disinfection may be started at home with very diluted hibiscrub or betadine or salted water baths. Buster collar may be useful as well to avoid any scratching. Hope this answer was helpful, but 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.

This definitely looks like a traumatic injury (bite/scratch). The first thing you should do with it is flush the wound using a syringe or other dispensing device with warm water for five minutes. This may not be easy, because cats tend to hate water getting near their face. I recommend having someone help you with this and wrapping Dixie in a towel to make sure the wound gets flushed well. Below is a link to a demonstration of an eye flush that shows how to restrain her well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDGzdUTUdNI Infection is the biggest concern with these wounds; so after flushing, it's best to apply an antibacterial cream to the wound. In order to keep the wound clean, it's best to flush the wound 1-2 times a day and gently wipe away any big crusts - make sure not to scrub the wound, because this can make it worse. Apply the antibacterial cream after each flushing. If the ear starts to swell or have pus oozing from the wound, then I'd recommend she go to the vet for treatment. Otherwise, the wound should heal fine over the next 2-3 weeks. I hope that helps and Dixie gets better soon.

This is a serious problem as cats with white ears and lots of sunburns are very prone to cancer on the ears (Squamous Cell Carcinoma). The best would be to make your cat an inside only cat in summer so that she is not exposed to the sun. This includes pulling shades in the house so she cannot sunbathe and get burnt in the window either. You can try to put sun lotion on the ears with a high protection factor against UV light, however most cats will lick it off. Keeping her out of the sun is vital and the only way to keep her from being burned.