Rumo had a close encounter with a cat in a bush tonight! We never saw the cat in the dark, but we heard hissing. When we got home, I saw a deep scratch on furry top of his nose. it is a place where he can not reach to lick. Is it ok to put neosporin on it? Or is there an antibiotic for dogs? Or just leave it alone? (It does not seem to be bothering him at all, he is napping.) Thanks!

I generally way and leave things alone. I do not know if dogs get cat scratch fever like humans. If they do, might want to call vet. Also rabies status?

He is all up to date with all shots ( last vet visit January) but I don’t know how “clean” the cat was! Several neighbors here let their house cats out to wander...or it could have been a real feral / stray.

Ok...I will keep an eye on it...
ha ha, with kids, I am so used to antibiotic and bandaid, that was my first urge with the dog!
But dog much less accepting of medical treatment...

@amymeme - my god, you don't know and you didn't ask the resident MD?!?!? (( teasing ))
I had to go look just because I'm such a curious person and I ran into this article that had me doing a "Huh?!?!"  It appears as if dogs can contract the disease we call cat scratch fever but they contract it from the vector insects (fleas, ticks, etc) directly not from a cat.
I'm with Amy though, if it's not obviously infected (swollen / red) I'd leave well enough alone.  If he can't lick it, though, a little Neosporin wouldn't hurt.

ETA: I found that site interesting but maybe (maybe??) a bit extreme. Not every dog needs to go to the vet for every little thing that goes wrong. While canine flu *can* cause pneumonia, it's a rare condition (like a human developing pneumonia from the flu) take care of a sick dog and they normally heal without vet intervention.

aljones wrote:

@amymeme - my god, you don't know and you didn't ask the resident MD?!?!? (( teasing ))
I had to go look just because I'm such a curious person and I ran into

If I did ask the resident MD, he would have said with exasperation - I'm not a vet, I'm a people doctor.

Besides, at the moment, I think my medical pimping has exceeded expectations. This round has really done me in - a few nights ago, while trying to sleep, my pulse was really fast - as in 120 ish. First we thought it was just the bronchodilators but that should have gone away. He said if it wasn't below 100 by morning we were off to the hospital for EKG, chest X-ray (I then asked if you could get myocardititis from simple cold virus, he scowled, said yes and that I knew too much) and, since I couldn't lay down without monstrous bubbling, gurgling and crackling in my chest with vicious coughing fits, he wanted to check my neck veins (to which I replied, "why would I have heart failure at MY age?!!?" To which he replied "Many people have heart failure at your age!!"...I was down to 110 the next morning, he did thorough exam, lying, sitting, standing BP, left and right arms, I've "breathed deep" eee eee eee'd and coughed and been thumped. And...pulse is back to 70-80. We still don't know why - could have been fever (turns out the new fangled thermometer Josh brought reads a half a degree lower than the good old fashioned mercury one) could have been dehydration, could have been my 02 sat was low from all the gunk. Who knows.

But now...coughing so hard, I've torn some muscle fibers at one of the quadriceps attachments on my pelvis. Coughing is...a bear with that and bending over, lifting my leg, not much better. And one night, there was a faint rash on my chest and lower neck so we were worried about possible allergy to the augmentin...has not repeated, I'm happy to say.

I'm stalling. Don't want to go to bed. As soon as I lay down, my lungs just start with the ol' snap crackle pop. Sleeping sitting up is a royal pain. And gets cold. And I keep Wayne up. At the moment, I would give my soul for a recliner!!!

Sorry for the kvetching - I'm actually getting better enough that I am thoroughly pissed off and a true crotchety old lady

As for the cat scratch disease? I looked it up, too and found the information equivocal so decided not to add anything more. The good thing is the nose is highly vascularlized and should have fast healing.

Time for me to head to bed...

Thanks, that article it says that dogs are unlikely to contract the "cat scratch" illness from a scratch or bite. I had a cat for many years (before marrying my guy with cat allergies) and I didn't even know this disease existed!

Checked his nose this morning...it is now a small dark dry clot with no sign of anything.
So I think he will be fine healing on his own. Rumo met his match, that was a fierce cat!

@amymeme, Hope you feel better soon!! Maybe you should get that recliner! Or, try making a "recliner" shape in bed with large multiple pillows to prop you up? There are all kinds of nifty foam wedges and cushions you can buy online...( I looked into it once, after I had a back injury.)

Update:
Only a small dark spot left, barely noticeable.
Healed itself nicely, and (I think) faster than a human's.

Apparently he did not need antibiotic and a bandage or any "mothering" at all!