How to give first aid to treat open wound in kitten?

Question

How to give first aid to treat open wound in kitten? The kitten has hurt herself and is bleeding. She is feral and doesn't like being picked, so it's not possible to get her to vet.

Answer 1

Flummox has a great answer and I encourage you to follow the advice there.

If you are unable or unwilling to take the kitten to the vet, but are able to touch them occasionally. The best treatment is do nothing.

She has already done a better job of cleaning the wound then you would be able to with casual contact. Any type of medication that you might apply with a touch is dependent on repeated treatments at very specific times. Any failure to treat on the schedule, is likely to result in more harm than good, putting the kitten, and any other cats and possibly yourself at risk of nightmare bacteria I can not stress strongly enough how much damanage incomplete treats can do!

Assuming you follow the "do nothing" approach, watch for any signs of infection, if you see any it becomes even more urgent that you follow Flummox's suggestion to get the kitten to a vet.

• Green, Cloudy (Purulent) or Malodorous Drainage
• Increasing or Continual Pain from Wound
• Redness Around Wound
• Swelling of Wounded Area
• Hot Skin Near Wound
• Loss of Function and Movement

source

If antibiotics are required, the vet can give a long acting single inject that only requires a single visit.

There is no casual contact first aid, that is likely to have any positive impact on the outcome.

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Answer 2

If you are willing to pick up the bill for the vet, may I suggest the following:

Get a cat travel crate: put it on the floor and put cat treats in it. When kitten is in the crate, close it. They will not like it, so put a blanket or large towel over it to make it dark. They still will not like it, but will not try to bolt or escape as madly.

Then take this package to the vet. They can handle kittens quite well. Good luck, you now have your own cat!

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If the vet is not a possibly, could be for a number of reasons, try to treat it like a human wound.

First, get heavy / strong / leather gloves that cover also your wrists. Seriously, use the strongest scratch & bite proof gloves you can find! Grab the kitten in the neck, use other hand to hold the kitten down. If it starts to growl, just growl back, that way they know you are way bigger.

Then clean the wound if needed, use anti-bacterial fluids, iodine will work, to disinfect. Then you need a way to close the would. That is hard. You cannot use stickers or bandages. There is (maybe) one thing that you could do: glue the wound together. But it's a bad options. Better is to let the cat clean it herself.

Food and clean water will help the recovery. If it is a stray, de-worming and de-fleeing will help a lot.

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Warning: cat bites can be very dangerous! If bitten by a cat / kitten, do go and visit your doctor!