Kitten sore from collar.

lubie76

This kitten has started hanging around my house playing with my own cats. I never passed much heed of him as he was wearing a collar so I presume he was being looked after although he was a little wild.

Anyway, I noticed he was limping one day so took a closer look. His collar was put on so that it kind of looped down under his chest and behind his leg on one side. I hadn't seen this before so presumed it was an anti choking thing as I have seen wild cats on telly being restrained with a pole and loop in this way. As he was limping I thought it might have been a bit tight or something so I cornered him one day and found that the collar was so tight it was digging into his skin and was all cut and lumps. He was really sore and wouldn't let me touch the area so i asked around and nobody knew where he came from. It was so tight the clasp couldn't even be released due to swelling so myself and my OH held him and cut it off last night.

The collar was covered in dried blood and his neck, chest and under his leg was red raw and all ulcerated. We are going to bring him to the vet as I'm afraid its an infection and nobody else seems to want to take responsibility for him.
I'm just hoping he got lost and grew bigger and that is why the collar was never removed or adjusted and not that the owner just wasn't interested cause he wasn't a tiny cute kitten anymore. We live in a small estate so I would be surprised if he was lost. I'm half hoping we don't find an owner as I'd hate him to be in the hands of someone who treats him that badly.

star-pants

Gosh the poor thing!
It might be a case of someone forgetting about him and letting him off. Taking him to the vet is a good idea, and he's lucky to have found someone like you two that will mind him.

Maybe the vet might be able to see if he is micro chipped or anything?

The Sweeper

Unfortunately it's nothing to do with anti-choking.

A lot of cats try to struggle out of their first collar. Elasticated collars are recommended to allow them struggle free if the collar becomes caught. Still, it's not at all uncommon for a cat to manage to get one paw under the collar, trying to hook it off, then the paw goes through, they extend the leg and bingo, toga collar, in front of one shoulder and under the other armpit.

Left in that position, the collar will work into the flesh and cause chafing, baldness, sores, then infection and gangrene.

Fair play to you for taking the kitten on. If you want to keep him, given his treatment to date and your efforts to find an owner (which have come to nowt), I'd just assume he's a stray and adopt him, to be honest, and have him microchipped etc. at the vet.

A collar on a cat means very little, unfortunately, except the fact that someone 'owned' the cat for long enough to put a collar on it, which takes about 90 seconds. The shelter I work with has plenty of cats with collars - most of them started their lives "free to a good home".

Munster Gal

Well done for taking care of him, alot of people wouldn't be so kindhearted. An ex-neighbour of ours moved out and just left her cat behind, she came back every couple of weeks to put out food for him. His collar became embedded and he was only a week or so away from it being too late when we found him. He's made a full recovery and has been rehomed but not before I tracked down his owner (a pillar of the community) and presented her with the bill for his treatment.

nearly

@lubie76 well done on taking in that poor cat and minding him. what seems like "none of our business" actually is our business in a community. that is a great story to hear.

@Munster Gal wow! i wonder did the owner finally pay you? ... food every few weeks... jaysus.

Call me Socket

Well done Lubie!
One of my cats wore an elasticated collar til a few weeks ago... she went out for her wee in the morning, and later on that day I noticed her walking funny and had a look at her, and the collar was exactly as you described. I don't know if she got it caught in a tree and squirmed it out of position or if she stuck her the front leg through, but I didn't want it happening again so I took it off her.
The poor little mite you found has probably had the collar like that for several weeks, it takes time for something to become embedded like that. I hope an infection is all that it is.... if so, antibiotics and a cream will have him sorted soon enough.
Good on you for taking him in- you probably have saved his life.