u/corvidcore

i started spraying it 1-2x a day with saline spray. it’s getting gray and skin is sloughing off inside the piercing. normally i wash it off in the shower at the end of the day with plain soap and try not to touch it otherwise. I asked my doctor and piercer and they said keep doing what i’m doing, just make sure it’s dry… the doctor suggested aquaphor for the irritated skin since it’s constantly wet.

i do have a tendency to check it by moving the surrounding skin to see if the piercing bump has gone down at all— unfortunate compulsion of mine— but considering i work with kids and i’m constantly getting bumped or punched or elbowed or bending down i feel like i have to give up on this piercing. I’ve managed to curb the compulsive checking but it used to be really bad.

this piercing is about a month old. it’s just a straight barbell. I’m disappointed it ended up like this after a kid jumped on me about a month in. It used to weep clear fluid and blood constantly; after getting the saline spray, it just weeps blood. Maybe a little pus. it weeps the most after it gets nudged, or i move too much. I don’t know why it’s getting crusty but i’m assuming it’s the salt.

my cat (14F, neutered) lost her brother (14M) abruptly to GI cancer April 3rd. We woke up to him howling in pain in the litter box after a few months of decline, then 3 days of decline so bad we thought to put him down. when we took him to the emergency vet they said it was time.

she didn’t get to see her brother after that. the home euthanasia I scheduled would not make it before he likely died naturally and painfully. when i came home she howled incessantly despite my petting playing with her to distract her. This continued for a few days before she suddenly became very cuddly which she really has never been. Her brother was always the cuddle bug. She has always hung out near me but now she is always on me or at my heels somehow.

lately when i come home from work she will stand at the door screaming. I think she has been screaming for a couple of hours each day, because if i leave for a few hours, she’s fine. But every day after work she is at the door howling loud enough i can hear her from the apt building door. Also, she has a hairball EVERY DAY. every day. I think she grooms herself too much and way more aggressively than she used to. She used to groom her brother constantly but now there is no one left but her and me.

since her brother‘s death i have implemented two 5-10 minute play times followed by a puzzle treat. I bought her lots of toys that she can play with independently and an automatic feeder so she doesn’t have to wait for me to feed.

i have also tried pumpkin for her hair balls. I moved her cat tower to be out the window and sometimes i will leave the patio door open because she likes to sit at the gate (it’s screened) and smell the smells.

i don’t want another cat. I can’t fathom it. I want to fix whatever is making her caterwaul and hairball constantly if i can without finding her another friend. There has to be something else i can do because the thought of losing her and being left alone with Another cat who needs a buddy makes me genuinely sick.

Should i give up on this piercing?

Increased hairballing after sibling died