My cat scraped or burned his paw, what should I do in the meantime?

Question

Please read ALL of this before answering.

My cat burned or scraped his paw, I'm not sure which. Some of the pad on one of his front paws is missing. I'm pretty sure he burned it. I just noticed him limping quite a bit a few hours ago. I'm taking him to the vet first thing in the morning.

Should I do anything for him in the meantime? Peroxide, neosporin, etc? He's still running around (albeit on three legs) chasing his brother and our older cats. He's eating and drinking normally. Going to the bathroom normally. Should I wrap his paw in some gauze or something? Or just leave it alone? It doesn't look infected or anything. Just a little raw. He hasn't even made a noise. In fact, if it wasn't for the limping, I probably wouldn't even have know that the hurt himself.

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

You can dab a little peroxide on it. Other then that I would not do any thing else. If you put gauze on it he will just pull it off in a few minutes or if you put Neosporin or an ointment on it he will l**k it off and possibly get sick from it.

Cats are resilient animals they heal really quickly.  

Answer 2

I would put a little triple antibiotic ointment and "try" wraping it.  May I ask, how the **** did he  burn his paw??????

Answer 3

Clean it with lukewarm water and put some ointment on it, such as polysporn, but do NOT wrap it up.  If it is a burn, this could actually lock in the heat and make the burn worse.  If you are going to wrap it, especially if he is l*****g or biting at it or if the other cats are giving it attention, do so loosely and with a breathable gauze. Clean the litter box very frequently, as after the void they tend to cover it up and digging through the litterbox with a wound on his paw is going to breed bacteria or infection.  

Be very careful of these things in the first place.  Its good that you are attempting to keep him away from the stove, but if he is still getting up there, your best bet is to lock him out of the kitchen until the stove is completely cooled down.  It could end up a lot more serious one day if you are not careful.  

Good luck with the vet and I hope he is alright.  Keep us updated!

Answer 4

as long as he's acting fine and it looks fairly clean (and by that, i mean it's not all matted up with fur or dried blood or fluids or anything), i'd leave him be until he goes to the doc.

you don't really want to put anything like neosporin on it right now without knowing what's wrong or what's caused the injury. and you don't want to wrap it, since it may ooze during the night and cause his skin to stick to the gauze.

he's going in to the doc just 12 hrs or so, he'll be fine until then.

Answer 5

Fantastic to see people here who realise that advice on Yahoo Answers can never replace real vetinary attention! Well done!

I'm sure he'll be fine until he gets to the vet.

I would advise against wrapping it, and advise not to use any antibiotics or neosporin at this point.

The one thing I would consider, and it isn't strictly necessary, would be applying a little betadine(povidone solution, the drugstore will have it) solution with a cotton ball. This will ensure there is no chance of infection setting in until he gets to the vet.

Hope this helps, all the best to you and the kitties!

Answer 6

those ointments you mentioned would help keep it from getting infected.

I really recommend you get one of those aloe vera plants, they look kind of like cactus. You just cut one of those leaves open and use the gel inside to put on burns. It soothes the skin and helps it heal. And the plants are pretty cheap, like $5. If you can't find those plants, you should find some aloe vera leaves in the supermarket because some people eat it. try it, it helps because aloe vera gel is known for treating burns.

plus if your cat licks this i don't think it'll do any harm since people eat this plant all the time

Answer 7

He'll be alright until he gets to the vet tomorrow. One of the hardest things to explain to pet owners is that home treatments can often be more harmful than helpful, even with only the best of intentions. Ointments on a cat's paw are generally useless, since they are self-groomers and will likely l**k at the paw until the ointment is gone (which may exacerbate the problem due to all the bacteria living in his mouth). And bandaging will just tick him off and not do much (at this point) to help the problem. Once a vet has looked at it, they'll be able to give you the appropriate treatment options for your kitty. Good luck!