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Why is my cat scratching an unhealed neck wound? What should I do?

Updated on September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Cat | Persian | Male | unneutered | 4 years and 11 months old | 6.144 lbs

Hello,My cat(egzotic shorthair)scrabing unhealded wound around his neck,if you know what may cause problem.Our Veterinarians don’t know what wrong with him.Please give us advice thank you. we have tried everything but it doesn’t help.

1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

Answered By Dr. Massimo Orioles, DVM, Cert AVP, MRCVS

Veterinarian

Published on January 18th, 2019

From the picture I can only say this may be due to a trauma or localized spot of skin infection (likely to be caused by bacteria or fungal). A check up, appropriate disinfection and possibly antibiotics or antifungal meds (oral, topical or in a shampoo formulation) are needed to solve the problem.
More investigations like sampling and bacterial swabs would be needed to determine the underlying cause more specifically. In my experience I have seen large wounds like this one from Poxvirus infection (but usually other wounds are present as well).
I would suggest to handle this wound always with gloves (you are doing it anyway as I can see from the pic).
Buster collar may be useful as well to avoid any licking.

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.

1Pet Parents found this answer helpful

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