Can I safely use methylated spirits to clean my cat's wound?

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Yes this is completely safe to use around and on cats. In fact, we use rubbing alcohol directly on cats when we are drawing blood or something to help clean an incision site or minor wound. So yes there are no worries here about using it around John the cat. Take care!

Your poor kitty! Yes, alcohol in the eye is dangerous because it can cause severe irritation, discharge, rubbing of the eye, which in turn can lead to a corneal ulcer. I would see if she will allow you to rinse her eye again with cool water, and keep close watch on her eye. If you see any redness, she starts rubbing at it, the eye appears swollen, or there is any discharge, take her into a vet right away. Hopefully, however, she didn't get any in her eye and she is fine. In the future, do not use alcohol on her scratches. Not only does it burn, but it can be harmful to her. It's safe to clean any scratches with warm water and antiseptic soap. I hope this helps, good luck!

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. From the pictures, it does not appear to be a major wound, just a superficial wound. For cleansing the wound, you can use a diluted solution of Betadine and Saline mixed together until you have a light brown solution. Use this to clean the area and to help decontaminate the wound. If the wound begins to develop signs of infection such as pus, swelling, etc., I would recommend having Slinky examined by a veterinarian so that the most appropriate treatment recommendations can be made. Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further. Please remember to rate this answer as helpful or not. Thank you!

It appears that Dettol contains alcohol, pine oil, and castor oil. These ingredients can be very irritating to cats and I would recommend that you discontinue using this disinfectant. Instead, you can look at the pet store for a wound cleaner that contains chlorhexidine. It is hard to tell from the picture, but it looks like there is swelling underneath the scab. It is possible that Maci is getting an abscess, which is caused by bacteria that the body is trying to wall off. If the swelling continues, I recommend that Maci see a vet for evaluation and possible surgical draining of the abscess. Your vet can also prescribe antibiotics and anti-inflammatories as needed. If there is minimal scarring, the hair around the wound should grow back, although it may take weeks or months.

You are right, it's not safe to use on cats. Cats groom and ingest most of the topical ointment you apply and therefore should be used only under direct veterinary supervision and if there are no other appropriate options. Many human ointments contain multiple other ingredients which are not necessarily safe to be swallowed. I would speak to Miyu's vet about oral antibiotics to prevent infection. I'd also have him neutered. That will cut down on the fights with other cats. I hope this helps.

You should clean the wound with warm, bolied salty water twice a day. Alternatively, you can use an antiseptic preparation containing chloxedidine (Nolvosna is one of them) and also use it twice a day.

Hi Linda. I'm sorry to hear that Bugger has squamous cell carcinoma. If you're cleaning the wound simply to remove any build up of discharge, then saline alone is sufficient. However, if you're looking more for antiseptic properties, cleansers like chlorhexidine (Hibiclens is a trade name) or betadine are more effective. Either of these should be rinsed well with water. With that said, if his SCC is near his eye, avoid other cleansers, as they could cause eye irritation. Generally speaking, I try to avoid medications containing neomycin in cats because many cats can react poorly. Additionally, the dexamethasone may help minimize some inflammation, but is likely to delay any healing. Ultimately, your best option is to establish a care protocol with Bugger's vet since I don't know the extent of this lesion nor its location. In the meantime, you can stick with saline cleaning if the lesion is near his eye, or switch to the antiseptic cleansers mentioned above if the lesion is elsewhere. I hope that everything goes well.