Any idea what caused this?

Belle, my >1 year old cat has an open sore on her neck about the size of a half dollar. She seems to be in no pain (does not purr either) and does not seem to be bothered in any way. She is an inside only cat and lives with a male litter mate. They are both fixed. I found it on her neck while rubbing her ears and she let me rub over it several times before I noticed it was open rather than just an earlier spray bottle squirt. The male cat doesn't have any sores on him so I doubt it is contagious.
It does not seem to be a cat fight injury (I've seen plenty of those) or as if she got hung up on something. It is flat, almost as if she was skinned, instead of being punctured. Her collar has been removed.

SHE IS GOING TO THE VET, but any info you or I can come up with to provide him will help, i'm sure. thank you in advanced.

2008-01-26T20:14:40Z

The reason I mentioned her not purring when I inspect the area is some people believe cats purr to relieve pain (since they purr while in labor)

It definently isnt ringworm or an absess. I've had previous experience with ringworm. Tthe area never swelled and neither has there been any sign of puss or infection. It looks like when you take a couple of layers off your finger/hand when you skin it. No blood, just wet and red looking.

Also, today a scab has formed (thick and leathery looking) so while she's still going in, i think this may be a repeating cycle of some sort?

2008-01-28T03:50:49Z

Even with the collar off, another area formed on the other side of her neck today.

Mumbles2008-01-25T15:42:11Z

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Could be the collar was rubbing her, but hard to tell. Glad you are taking her to the vet to have it checked out.

Cathleen L2008-01-26T00:02:01Z

Sounds like the exact same thing that my cat had. I have 3 and to make this short and sweet? It turned out to be ring worm. I was able to treat it by myself here at home by putting Blue Star ointment on it 3 times a day. This really works wonders but you want to make sure your other cat wont lick it or injest it in any way. If you put a real small amount on it and rub it in real good? That should do the trick. WASH YOR HANDS WHEN YOUR DONE. If you notice in two days time that it is getting better? Chances are that is what it was. What causes this to happen is all cats when getting in and out of their litter box tend to carry the nasty germs on their paws and under thier nails. No matter how clean you are in tending to their box. Your cat has an itch and scratches and sometimes a bit to hard where it irritates the skin. That's all it takes to start ring worm.(( If you touch it? Make sure you wash your hands)). If your other cat gets it. Treat him the same exact way. If you get it? Treat yourself the same way with the Blue star. Save yourself a vet bill and give it a try for a couple of days. If you notice it getting better like I said in a coulple of days? Continue it for a full 5 days. That should take care of your little problem and you and you cat will be happy campers once again. Good luck. Oh! You can buy it over the counter at any drug store for that matter. It's not expensive at all and goes a long long ways. Good luck to you and Boo Boo kitty. :o)

? ; Empress2008-01-25T23:44:00Z

Well, it's good that she's going to the vet, so I'm not going to tell you to get her there, although this is very serious. The same thing happened to my cat on her neck. Apparently the vet said that it was a fly bite that she was allergic to. The most horrible part about it is that it ended up getting infected and a fly actually laid eggs into the hole. There were maggots in the wound and we had to take her back to the vet. They removed them and she completely healed.

Anonymous2008-01-26T00:13:43Z

saturate the sore with neosporin in the meantime...I would try this for a couple of days apply 2-3 times a day and dont be worried if she or the other cat licks the site where you put the neosporin it wont hurt them...it will work trust me my cat got into a vicious fight with a tomcat and he had a huge gaping wound and neosporin in less than a week closed the sore right up

College Nerd2008-01-25T23:43:35Z

Sounds like something fungal like a ring worm. Usually wounds like that are from fights, but since you say he/she wasn't in one.. it's probably something in the cat's system. My cat had a ringworm once and it was very itchy. He was constantly scratching it and trying to rub it on things.

Definitely go to the vet.

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