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My intact male cat has infected fight wounds. What should I do?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Cat | American Shorthair | Male | unneutered | 8 lbs

I recently moved to NC and the first thing I noticed is, there are a lot of homeless and feral cats. So naturally I feed them and befriended one very sweet male cat. He's the neighborhood cat and other people feed him as well but he is also an intact male and fights with the other cats. I started noticing wounds on his neck and then he got a big one his neck and now it's infected. I gave him a dose of clindamycin 1 ml. I have a bottle cause my cat had her tooth pulled and there's enough for both

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2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Emily, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on June 9th, 2017

It's so great that you are looking after these cats. A better option for Spinx might be an injection called Convenia which last 19-14 days so they don't have to keep getting oral medications. It also tends to be very effective against abscesses. It does have to be given by a veterinarian but at that time you could discuss having him neutered to potentially decrease the fighting. Also with how this one looks it may need to be cleaned out by veterinarian order to heal. Because he may not be easy to handle sedation maybe effective for him at the time of that appointment. Alternatively there are some that in areas that you have calls which you can look into.

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    Answered By Lauren Kennedy, DVM

    Veterinarian

    Published on

    It is very common for intact male cats to fight over territory, food and females. The best way to ensure this is not a constant problem is to have Spinx neutered and ideally have him as an indoor cat. If you are concerned his wounds are infected I would recommend taking him in to see your vet to have the wounds cleaned and flushed to prevent abscess formation. The Clindamycin that you have on hand may not be enough to get the infection under control.

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