There is some critter biting my cats and I have never seen a bite such as this. My daughter's cats have gotten the same bites. One of my cats must have died of it as she was very ill. It is a round area about an inch in diameter. The fur is completely pulled(?) out and there seem to be three or four teeth marks, one seems to be deeper than the rest, within the circle. I can't treat these cats as they are essentially wild. Does anyone have any ideas what this creature is and how to get rid of it? God bless!

-- Ardie from WI (ardie54965@hotmail.com), June 27, 2001

Answers

No clue, but can you get close enough to just smear a little topical antibiotic on there? The problem with bite wounds is they can so easily abscess.

If you can just squirt it on there and give it a quick dab it might help. My cats (wounds) typically respond almost immediately to dabbing antibiotic on like that.

-- Sojourner (notime4@summer.spam), June 27, 2001.

Also-- if you can get close enough, smearing Vitamin E on the wound hastens healing.

-- Cathy in MN (catcrazy@somewhere.com), June 27, 2001.

I am wondering if these "bites" could be from the cats themselves? Tomcats fighting? or breeding? Or maybe you are dealing with a contagious disease. Can you trap one of them and at least let a Vet look at it? If you could get your hands on them re a Havahart trap you could not only treat them but get their vaccines. Good luck with this. :-)

-- Little Quacker (carouselxing@juno.com), June 27, 2001.

This happened to one of our cats. It was caused by an owl trying to take him (luckily he weighed about 20 pounds!) There were two circles of marks, one mark in each circle going much deeper than the other. Of course, this may not be the case with your cats, just sharing my experience!

-- Elizabeth (Lividia66@aol.com), June 27, 2001.

Elizabeth, you're right! Why didn't I think of that as we have lost many kittens to owls. We have large old trees and I've listened to the owls many a night. Now, how do I discourage them? Would shooting a gun into the air in the night help?? (Can you imagine me out there in my nightgown and cane shooting off a gun. Thank God I have no close neighbors!)

-- Ardie from WI (ardie54965@hotmail.com), June 27, 2001.

I don't know how to discourage owls.We also have "wild barn cats" that are hard to get near.When they get abcesses I get as close as I can to them and squirt mastitis antibiotic from a syringe on the wound. Works great. I had a colt get a big piece wood in his rear leg,and after hosing it ,used the same stuff and called the vet and told her what I did. She said she always keeps several tubes of the stuff on her truck cause it works so well.You can pick it up at a TSC or store like that.

-- Cheri (cmv@netnitco.net), June 28, 2001.

Mastitis medicine! Who'd a thunk it! I'll have to remember that one.

Hmmm, wonder what it'd do for my spider bite ... LOL!

-- Sojourner (notime4@summer.spam), June 28, 2001.

Plantain works great for spider bites.

-- Bettie Ferguson (jobett@dixie-net.com), June 28, 2001.

Look for cutarebra (sp?)worms We had a kitten come into the clinic and we were sure she had been bitten by a dog. Upon closer examination we pulled 4 very large larva from under her skin, each corresponding with a bite wound type hole. Shes doing great now Dianne

-- Dianne (yankeeterrier@hotmail.com), June 30, 2001.