Towards the end of last year, our Animal Welfare Officers were called out to help a stray cat with a nasty looking abscess on the bridge of his nose.

Upon arrival at the scene, our Animal Welfare Officers (AWOs) discovered that the five-year-old cat – who they named Frederick – was bleeding from the right side of his forehead, where a large abscess was located close to his eye. In addition, Frederick seemed to have small puncture wounds elsewhere on his head. Frederick’s face and nasal area were also noticeably swollen.

Our AWOs picked Frederick up and rushed him to our Community Vet Clinic. On arrival, they noticed that the abscess had burst in transit, and was weeping blood and pus.

Luckily, our Vets were able to see Frederick straight away.

Senior Veterinary Surgeon Justin Ainsworth checked and cleaned Frederick’s wounds, before settling him down in our hospital ward with some food and water. Frederick was incredibly shy and immediately tried to hide away in his bed, so our vet team made sure to give him lots of care and attention to make him feel safe and calm.

We also prescribed a course of antibiotics to prevent infection and an anti-inflammatory to make him more comfortable, and continued to bathe his face daily.

A week later, Frederick was taken back into our clinic for neutering, microchipping and a more in depth look at his abscess. Luckily, the wound appeared to be healing well, and no further treatment was necessary.

Frederick was then moved over to a cosy cabin in our Cattery so he could recover fully and get ready for rehoming.

Thankfully, it wasn’t long before he was back on his feet, and being such a beautiful boy, it was no surprise that he got snapped up by a new owner shortly after being listed for adoption!

Frederick is now happily settled with a loving new owner, with no trace of his former abscess remaining. He was lucky that it was spotted before an infection set in, which could easily have led to severe pain, further complications and even death.

It is likely that his injuries were a result of fighting other unneutered male cats whilst he was straying. Neutering your pets, and reporting stray and feral cat colonies to Mayhew, will help prevent this kind of behaviour.