My old cat has a non-healing skin cancer wound. How can I help it?

You can try and keep the area as clean as possible and flush out the wound using a diluted solution of Betadine and saline. Mix the 2 together until you have a light brown solution and flush out the wound 2 to 3 times per day. This may not heal or close if it is cancer and may progress. If it worsens, it needs to be assessed by a veterinarian so that the most appropriate diagnostic and treatment recommendations can be made. I hope this helps guide you in the right direction. Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.

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.

That's a complicated recommendation to give, especially since we don't know the type of cancer. It is possible that local excision could be curative. It is also possible that after local excision and a diagnosis from histopathology, we find that amputation is needed. In my opinion solely based on the pictures, I would probably remove the tumor and not try to get aggressive clean borders and wait to see what the tumor is before doing anything more drastic.

This appears to either be a very severe wound with infection and dead tissue (the black areas) or a tumor. Without veterinary care, I think it is unlikely that this will heal or be cured on its own. At the very least, this type of wound needs to be cleaned up, and the cat needs to be on systemic (oral or injectable) antibiotics, as well as appropriate pain medications. However, it is likely that (if this is just a bad wound), it will need surgery to remove the dead tissue and help with healing. If this kitty isn't able to eat and you cannot afford veterinary care, then I would strongly urge you to surrender him for humane euthanasia rather than let him suffer.

This wound is starting to granulate (heal from the inside out) and is at a normal stage of healing. Medical grade manuka honey can help keep the wound clean and moist and encourage healing in this manner and could be applied daily to help

Hi, it looks like Gelato has an infected wound. If you take a close look to the picture you can see there is a yellow tinge to it. It is not going to heal while infected. To start with, you could clean the area with some salty water putting one spoon of salt in a mug of hot water and leaving it to cool down. Once the salty water is luke warm, you can use it on the wound with some cotton wool. It might be that the yellow scab comes off and it leaves an open gap that it oozing some discharge. I also recommend to wear gloves to clean the wound. If possible at all, nest to have it checked over so your vet can clean it for you, and give antibiotics. Hope this helps !

Poor Gravy! Those do look painful. If you haven't yet, a skin scraping of the site sent to a lab may help determine if there is a specific bacteria or infection causing the wounds. This may give your vet the ability to target it better with a more specific antibiotic that will help it to heal. Making sure to keep Gravy from pawing at the spot with an Elizabethan (cone) collar can also help promote healing and prevent further irritation. In long-term non-healing wounds, many vets have also found success using Manuka honey (different than the honey you get in the grocery store) as a salve to help promote tissue growth and healing. If you'd like a more specific consultation, or have additional questions, I highly recommend scheduling a consult with one of our vets as they will be able to assist you in a more chat-like setting and can provide you with more detailed answers and information.