Strange injuries on stray - advice pls??

[Ally Cat's Mommy]

Hi,

As you may have gathered from my other posts, I have a number of strays which I feed and water on my porch every day. Lizzie (gorgeous girlie - pitch black with huge emerald eyes) has some strange looking injuries:

Right around her neck she has a "necklace" of sores - sort of where the collar would go - they look like bald patches, about the size of my thumbnail. The weird thing is (from what I can see from 3 ft away) it looks like they go all the way round.

Also above her one eye she has a bald patch about the size of a quarter.

Does this sound familiar to anyone? Could it be a disease or (heaven forbid) has someone caught her and done something to her? The marks are really not consistent with a cat fight!

She is hanging around the house more than usual and being very vocal (she normally eats and runs).

I am going to pick up a humane trap from the local shelter tomorrow and try to catch her so we can have her treated, but if it's a disease I need to make sure I dont bring it back into the house, as Ally is an inside cat, and I dont want to expose her to anything!

Any advice is appreciated.

[moosmom]

Does she have a flea collar on?? If the sores go all the way around, my suspicion is that it's caused either from an imbedded collar (she could've had the collar on from the time she was a kitten and got to big for it), or an allergic reation to a flea collar. You are wise to get her to a vet as soon as possible.

Once she gets a clean bill of health, keep her separated from your other cats. Take a towel and rub her down and let your cats small her scent, and vice versa.

You are doing a great thing. I'm glad you're going to take her in. I hope she's okay.

Good luck and please keep us posted.

[K & L]

It almost sounds like ringworm. She needs medication if it is. It's very contagious to humans and other animals.

http://www.21cats.org/health/ringworm.html

[Ally Cat's Mommy]

I'll definately pick up a trap tomorrow and try to catch her. Sounds like she needs some attention.

Donna, I think maybe you misunderstood me slightly - I unfortunately am not able to take her in. I do only have one cat, but my husband is adamant that we are not getting any more - Ally was the first stray kitten which turned up in our garden - lucky timing for her.

What I DO is:
1. Feed and place clean (bottled) water outside, in the shade, twice per day
2. Small kittens - catch wherever possible - these are then spayed and homed by the local SPCA
3. Larger cats - usually quite hard to socialize - I catch them in a humane trap, they are then spayed or neutered, and released back in my garden
4. Same for injured cats - I catch them in a humane trap, SPCA then arranges for treatment at a reduced price through a local vet, the animal stays at the vet or the SPCA until well, and is then released back into the garden. Of course if required they are also spayed or neutered at this time.

I try to contribute financially for the upkeep and vet bills for the animals which I catch, as I am not able to contribute with TIME, which I realise is what they really need - more volunteers. Unfortunately I work full time- and the catch and release and transport takes up several hours each weekend.

I realise that what I am doing is NOT an ideal solution - I would love nothing more than to find forever homes for all the strays in my garden, but I do what I can, and try not to dwell on the ones I can't help.

[K & L]

You are doing the RIGHT thing! You're having them spayed/neutered to prevent reproducing, supplying them with food and water, and providing vet care. That is WAY more than most people do. GREAT JOB and keep up the good work!

I could be wrong about the ringworm, but it sure sounds like it. Keep us posted.

[Ally Cat's Mommy]

I had a chat to the lady at the shelter today. Basically if it's ringworm then they wont be able to help me, as the last thing they need is a containgous infection knowingly being brought into the shelter. (The isolation rooms are full at the moment).

I have got the trap ready to try catch her tomorrow morning (if I catch her now it's too late to do anything until tomorrow and I wont bring her inside in case she infects Ally). The plan is to trap her so we can get close enough to examine the sores, and then decide what the next move is.

I also sadly found out that one of the other ferals I had been feeding was caught by someone else (she lives 4 houses away and is a volunteer at the shelter - but we had never met before today). Anyway the poor thing had to be put down - he had been treated before for an eye infection, and eventually lost one eye. By last week (when I got back from an overseas trip) he was no-where to be seen, and my hubby didnt remember seeing him. Today I found out that he had been in a couple of nasty fights, and had infected lesions and bites - he was so week, and only having one eye wasnt helping much either - he couldnt defend himself properly, so they had to put him to sleep.

At least he is playing at the Rainbow Bridge, and wont have any more pain or fighting