Strange crinkly feel when stroking my cats head!!
by Jaya
(Nottingham, UK)
I adopted a stray cat a couple of years ago…or rather she adopted me, and I have been feeding, cleaning and looking after him. Yes, it’s a he…but I prefer to call him a she!
He is probably 3 to 4 yrs old and apart from wounds from fights with other cats (that I attend to) she has been reasonably healthy.
She mostly has tinned cat food and some occasional milk, cooked ham/meats which she begs for when she smells them.
Now the reason I am writing about her is that last night when she returned home, on stroking her head I discovered a crinkly sensation under her skin on her head.
Its never happened before. Its almost feels like there is a crinkled/crumbled paper under her skin.
She seems normal…just a bit lethargic…which she is sometimes after a fight.
I would just like to know if its something to worry about…and show to a vet?
Please advise.
Regards
Jaya Pande Mayer
Hi Jaya… thanks for visiting and asking. I am going to stick my neck out in answering your query.
Under the skin of the head is the skull – obviously! The cat’s skull – the bone – can be irregularly shaped, knobbly in fact. What you might be feeling is the bony wrinkles of her skull.
This feel may be modified by an cat abscess if she/he has been in a fight. Fighting commonly causes abscesses on the head and ears of cats.
This causes a bacterial infection buildup that produces swelling – a localised pocket of pus beneath the surface of the skin. The two together may produce the crinkly feeling that you describe.
There may be no abscess, however. An abscess is fairly easy to spot as there is swelling. If her head is not swollen and if she is behaving normally (not shaking the head for example) then I think what you are feeling is simply the irregularly shaped skull.
Alternatively, what it might be is skin cellulitis, which is inflammation involving the deep layers of the skin. Most cases are caused by bites or scratches in fights. The signs are pain, warmth (it feels hotter than normal) and firmness (it feels firmer than normal). There might be a change in color (redder than normal). This is a bacterial infection.
Antibiotics are used in the treatment of wound infections such as cellulitis and abscesses.
I feed a stray cat. He has had an abscess twice and twice antibiotics have cured the condition.
I would watch carefully, wait and feel. If there is any deterioration at all, an immediate vet’s visit must be the answer.
Best
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