My cat has a paw skin infection. What should I do if it's not healing?

It looks like this may not be a simple infection. You should talk to your vet about a possible immune-mediated disease or a biopsy for a resistant infection or fungal infection. The vet may need to check his blood work and test for FIV/FeLV to see if there are any abnormalities which could affect healing.

Usually a veterinarian would perform a cytology to distinguish between a bacterial and fungal skin infection - they would take a sample on a microscope slide and examine for organisms. It's also possible that Bini has a resistant bacterial infection, or she might have another underlying disease process like an autoimmune disorder contributing to her symptoms. In your picture her foot does not appear classic for a fungal infection. You may want to follow up with your vet to discuss further testing and treatment.

It does look like it could be an inflammatory condition like pillow paw. Sometimes these flare up when the immune system is activated, such as reacting to fleas or food allergies. Many time they need long courses of antibiotics like doxycycline and immune-suppressant medications like prednisone or cyclosporine. I would recommend that you have Sugar re-evaluated by the vet since it didn't respond to their treatment. I am sure she is very uncomfortable and may benefit from pain medications. If it doesn't respond medically, then surgical removal of the paw pad is an option.

You can try disinfection with different solution like hibiscrub or betadine ones. Unfortunately antibiotics seems to be needed, so I would recommend an immediate check up if disinfection is not working as infection could be a major risk. A picture of the lesion could help to determine underlying cause more specifically.

Poor kitty. Unfortunately the photo is too dark to really get a good look at the paw. I do see some crusting there though, which leads me to think this is just an infection and not likely skin cancer. Feel free to repost another photo with a second forum question, with better lighting to verify. If it is just infection, then you can try soaking the paw in Betadine diluted 50:50 with warm water or Chlorhexidine solution 3% diluted into a light blue mixture to help clean this antiseptically. Then a vet visit will be needed to get Cream on some antibiotics (oral or injectable). I hope that Cream's foot heals well soon! Best wishes and take are.

I would have Tiger seen by a vet tomorrow. The vet can examine the gash, clean it, and can discuss options to help it heal. This may include cutting back the edges of the gash to make fresh tissue margins to enable the vet to suture the gash closed.

Since it never improved, that is a good reason to have Jasper re-examine day the vet. While a fungal infection is certainly possible, other possibilities include bacterial infection, pasrasites, or auto-immune disease. I would continue to not come into contact with the affected skin until there is a diagnosis.