I adopted two gorgeous ginger brothers in January through the RSPCA. After 4 weeks they were allowed out in the garden.

One day last week both boys flew through the cat flap as if pursued by a thunderbolt. I had no idea what had happened. Marcus was a little off colour for a day or two and then seemed ok. The last couple of days he was unwell, definitely not wanting to be brushed, which he loves, and generally not himself.

I took him to the vet today and he had an enormous abscess at the top of his leg caused by a cat bite. (Obviously I couldn't see it.) Vet said he must have been in a lot of pain and he had a fever. He was sedated and the abscess drained. Vet added it could take a good week for the infection to take hold.

They have sent a swab to the Lab to rule out MRSA - yes, it happens to cats. In the meantime he is on a broad spectrum antibiotic and we go back on Saturday.

This is really a warning that if you have an outdoor cat, especially one newish to the neighourbood, who is unwell for no apparent reason, do consider the possibility of a cat bite.

The vet said they see a lot of it and that cats are absolutely horrible to each other!

I hate seeing my poor boy like this but he is eating and drinking = just keeping very still.

Fortunately his brother has not hissed at him ---yet.

Awwww poor Marcus - sounds like you are doing everything you can. I hope he recovers soon and is back to normal asap

When my kitty was younger another neighbourhood thug-cat-bully bit her ear - she is 17 now and still has a tear in it where that nasty cat attacked her

One of my outdoor cats was a real scrapper in his youth, and often came home with bites - he had a really nasty one on his head that I had to drain (won't describe it any further, but it wasn't pleasant!). He's a pretty tough cat, so I dread to think what the other cat looked like! Male cats in particular will always have fights over territory, it's just what they do. It gets sorted out eventually, but all bites should be seen by a vet if the cat is unwell, or if they don't drain and heal.

One of my cats once got into a scrap which left her very unwell and needing antibiotics. She didn't have an abcess but she was limping and when the vet checked her leg she had what the vet suspected was the remnants of a bite mark. She was terrified to go out for months after that and I had to sit out in the garden with her or she wouldn't go out. Even now she never goes far and never stays out for long.
My other cat is much bolder and goes off all over the place. Twice she has come home with a front leg swollen to twice it's size and off to the vets we've had to go. It doesn't put her off though, it's a struggle to keep her in even when she's not fit to go out.

Yes one of mine does this pretty much every year. In a way I find it quite amusing coz he seems such a wuss when he's at home and is definitely not the dominant cat in the house but obviously is outside. We have an annual trip to the vets to get an antibiotic injection and then all is well. Apparently this time of year it's the time for territory scraps so it's bound to happen

You can't stop them doing it, all you can do is keep an eye out for any changes in behaviour and get them to the vets sharpish.

Another timely reminder to get all male cats neutered. ( and all females as well! )....entire Toms will literally fight to the death in some circumstances...and will spend their whole life fighting and collecting terrible wounds as they strive to protect their territory.

All mine are neutered - doesn't stop them fighting but it does make them less aggressive.

Some Toms still fight even when they have been neutered.

Marcus is neutered. I don't know about the other cat....

The fights are generally much more serious with unneutered toms, as charliesugar says they will more or less fight to the death.

All my cats are neutered but the Burmese female is regularly involved in boundary disputes. You can more or less guarantee that a cat fight will result in an absess, especially if the bite is into a large muscle, but absesses can be very difficult to identify under their fur. Last year one of my other cats had two ruptured absesses - the smell from that knocks you across the room - one on her shoulder, the other in her armpit. She had to go to the emergency vet and have them drained and washed out, plus antibiotics. They recover pretty quick once that is done though.

You're not kidding, it was horrible! It took about 3 days to drain properly, and I was bathing it with salt water and using honey as an antiseptic. No antibiotics needed, but I wouldn't advise doing what I did unless you've got some veterinary/medical knowledge.

The vet suggested we could drain and flush the wounds ourselves. My OH is a pharmacist... but we still said no thanks

I used to have the most dopey, docile cat ever. He never used to get into fights (was a useless apponent I think the local cats just gave up), he just used to play - with anyone and everything animal or human.

His best friend lived next door but one and they used to play like kittens, a lot of rolling around the floor and wrestling and stuff.

During a play fight he got bitten on the paw, I never noticed the absess untill it was bigger than all of his own pads!! I felt so bad, but they are common and fairly easy to treat

my cat got one from being bitten, I felt a lump under her skin, made a vet appointment then just as I was about to take her there she started running about like a maniac as it had burst, oh the smell! She had to have stitches and a collar thing and I had to wipe it with salt water, according to the vet cats have 2 layers of skin and can clean a burst abcess by licking it, their saliva has a natural healing thingy ('licking their wounds' e.t.c), this one was a biggy though, think the cat that bit her was a stray, had been hanging around the garden quite a bit and was covered in fleas so probably hadn't been 'done'.

My 20 year old was attacked a couple of times last year (she is a small tortoiseshell).

Like others I had no idea she had been attacked at first. Just noticed she was off her food (very rare).

After a few days I noticed a lump on the side of her head and realised what is was. I booked her into the vet but when I got home I let her into the garden and as if by magic it burst. I then washed with salt-water and took her to the vet.

It seems the bursting saved her an overnight stay but he shaved aroung the wound and he showed me the 2 puncture wounds...two holes either side of her jugular!

Anyway anti-bio and TLC did the trick and I got her a new wider collar to help protect her neck. A couple of weeks later, she had been attacked again. (Same spot).

She been ok for a few months now so either the rogue cat has moved on or she has kept out of its way. (The latter I suspect).

This happened to my "Buster" three weeks ago.
He has a rival two doors down and they always fight.
He got two vampire like bites to his cheek.

It's amazing how fast the infection starts, all swollen and full of puss.

£220 later he was fixed up.

Thank god for pet insurance.

Overnight stay? £220?
My vet has always just drained and flushed them on the spot and sent my cats back home with me, so the cost was just the normal consult fee plus meds.

Yeah, over night, he was pretty bad beat up too

I had to break up a cat fight yesterday and the Tom was a complete savage. He attacked one of my cats last week but luckily she got away before he could cause any damage. I was out in my garden so he ran away. However yesterday I was on my way out and he'd got hold of a female cat across the road. They were rolling around and screaming so I ran over but the Tom just wouldn't let her go. Every time she broke free from him he just pounced on her again. There was lumps of her fur flying all over the place. She ran under a parked car and he went for her again. I ended up chasing the pair of them down the street and kept shooing him away from her but he just wouldn't give in. I finally managed to get inbetween them which gave the female a chance to run off through a garden while I blocked the way of the Tom and shooed him off in the other direction. I'd never hurt a cat but I really felt like giving him a good kick. I bet the poor female cat had some nasty injuries today but I'm glad I was there because there were other people right by the cats when they started fighting and they just stood and watched.

My girls are never going out! There are some big, brawling, ass-kicking cats that live around us and I know they would hurt my two little ones. I won't even let them in the garden.

I must say I am impressed by what you did but I bet you will now be forever known as the mad cat lady*!

It must've looked comical watching you running down the street?

*= I assume but shouldn't.

Our cat Sophie died recently and miss her terribly! I think she must have been dominant or at least respected with the local cat clan because she has never been bitten!

I think flakecake did well in splitting the toms, do you know anything about the tom? I know its nature but perhaps he is not "done"? As for the other people just watching that's UK 2010 for you! Most people nowadays would watch their neighbours houses burning down.

Mr Dudley our 3 year old cat had a bad abcess under his tail last year, it swelled up seemingly overnight, then he sat down to eat his breakfast and it popped all over the floor. We took him in to the vets, they washed it and gave him antibiotics and sent him home, his hole where he was bitten was seeping bloody pus for about 2 days then dried up. The vet said the only way he could have been bitten there was if he was running away from teh cat who was attacking him.

Mr Dudley was neutered at 6 months old, he didnt even venture into the garden until he was done as my last tom was run down a week before he was due to be snipped and the vet told us he was more likely to wander if he was intact,so more likely to be run over. I wasnt risking that again! So hes never been in a real cat fight, not that ive seen anyway. Now hes the only cat around us, thankfully, i couldnt be dealing with that gruesome mess again just hope hes learnt to run faster if he does come into contact with another cat again