open sore

Question
My cat has been pulling his fur out and we were brushing him today and found clumps of hair. we were pulling them out and came across an open sore- there was no skin on any of the fur that came off him. what can we put on this so it doesnt get infected?

Answer
More than likely your cat has an abscess that has opened up. They will usually pull the hair out around where the abscess is coming to a head before it bursts open, but often the hair will fall out on its own as the skin in the area is dying off.

It's already infected and the cat needs to have the wound cleaned and flushed out by a vet or it is very likely to come back, especially if they don't get oral antibiotics. It must be sterilized from the inside out and only antibiotics will do that.

Putting any type of cream or ointment on it from the outside only will make it worse as these are usually caused by a cat bite (puncture wound) and are deep. Hence putting anything on them that keeps the deepest pus from draining out is very counterproductive and not recommended.

Make an appointment with your vet to have it looked at and cleaned out.