Uh oh. I got a good look at the shaved areas on Captain's side and foreleg last night. Both cats have an area on one flank that was shaved for the post-surgical pain patch, and an area on a foreleg where an IV must have been put in.

Stanley's shaved areas have the fur growing back in, no problem. Captain has had some slightly irritated areas from the word "go" on both sites.

Well, last night, I noticed that the irritated areas are getting WORSE instead of better. Uh oh. I think they itch, and he's gnawing at them and causing additional problems.

Fortunately, I know what to do for this. Melody had "hot spots" all her life where she would chew at the fur and sometimes cause irritation and bleeding on the skin. Or at least, she had hot spots until I found out about an anti-inflammatory spray with a bitter taste called Lido-Med. I sprayed THAT on the hot spots and she would leave them alone and let them heal.

The moment I realized that Captain was starting to get a hot-spot problem, I got online and ordered Lido-Med. This is one behavior that I will bend over backward to prevent from becoming a habit. The spray in question has lidocaine in it to knock out the itching, and bitter apple flavor to discourage chewing at the inflamed region. It's the only thing I ever used for Melody that actually made her stop worrying at the hot spots and making them worse.

Poor kitty. I wouldn't have thought he even had enough teeth left to chew an itchy area into a worse state of irritation, but apparently I was mistaken.