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My senior cat is weak and won't eat after abscess drainage. What now?

Updated on September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Cat | American Shorthair | Female | spayed | 4 lbs

Yesterday i took my 18yr old cat to the vet for a lump in her forehead, nose and eye drainage. Turned out to be an abscess. She did have a slight fever. The vet drained it and filled with antibiotics plus gave her a shot of antibiotics and eye drops. At home we are to apply the eye drops 2x a day and do ointment in the abscess 2x a day. I couldn’t get the ointment in as it had scabbed over already. Should i be concerned?? Also she is still not eating at all and seems very weak. She walks extrem

1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

Answered By Claudia Fioravanti

Veterinarian

Published on February 16th, 2019

Poor Clementine, it is a lot to go through at her age, however I am confident she can get better. I would not worry about the ointment if the abscess has already scabbed over. You can try cleaning the pus away gently with some cotton wool and lukewarm water, if she allows you to do so. As her sense of smell is probably affected, you need to offer her food that smells quite strong such as tuna in water, or boiled cod, or Hill’s recovery wet food. In particular, this last food is in a pate form, and it can be made a bit more watery by adding some water to aid water intake. You could warm it up slightly in the microwave, and offer it afterwards. Always start small with portions, and if eating increase the portion and offer again in 2 hours. If she is still not eating by this afternoon best to have her checked over as she could benefit from being rehydrated and have her temperature rechecked as it could still be up a bit. Hope she makes some progress soon.

1Pet Parents found this answer helpful

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