A stove burn is decided in 2 minutes and then judged over 24 hours. Start cool running water on the burn within 2 minutes and keep it there for 15 to 20 minutes, because heat keeps travelling into a pad for 15 to 20 minutes after the cat is off the burner. Never use ice, iced water, toothpaste, butter, oil, flour or soy sauce. On the drive, do not apply ice to save time, do not wrap the foot in cotton wool, and do not give any human painkiller.
Why the first 2 minutes decide the depth
A coil burner glows at 300 to 400 C, an induction surface holds a pan at 180 to 220 C, and a gas flame runs at 800 to 1,000 C. Skin contact at 70 C for 1 second already produces a burn, so a cat that lands on a hot coil for half a second has had 5 to 10 times the dose needed to injure it. The damage does not stop when the cat jumps off: stored heat in the pad and in the burned tissue keeps cooking the layers underneath for another 15 to 20 minutes. Water started at minute 2 removes that heat; water started at minute 20 has nothing left to remove.
Water at 15 to 25 C for 15 to 20 minutes
Use the tap at a temperature you would bathe a baby in, 15 to 25 C, and let it run over the pad, the toes and the hock for 15 to 20 minutes. A 4 kg cat loses heat fast, and water below 10 C drops the rectal temperature under 37.5 C in 5 to 10 minutes, which is a second emergency on top of the first. Hold the cat in a towel with only the burned foot under the tap, and keep the rest of the body dry and warm. A 2 minute rinse only wets the fur; 20 minutes is the number that lowers tissue temperature.
Six things that make it worse
Ice and iced water constrict the vessels that need to carry heat away, and they deepen the injury while adding frost damage. Toothpaste brings fluoride, menthol and an abrasive, and it seals heat in. Butter, oil and lard hold heat against the skin for the full 15 to 20 minutes and give the cat something fatty to lick. Flour and soy sauce are not sterile, and both have to be scrubbed out of the wound later. Alcohol and peroxide kill surviving tissue. Cotton wool and adhesive bandages shed fibres into the burn and tear the new surface off at the first change.
The first 72 hours in five bands
| Time after the burn | What you see | What you do | Numbers that decide |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 to 2 minutes | cat pulls the foot up, licks it | water on, 15 to 25 C | start inside 2 minutes |
| 2 to 20 minutes | pink or white pad, shaking | keep the water running, warm the body | 15 to 20 minutes of cooling |
| 20 minutes to 6 hours | swelling, first blisters | loose non stick dressing, vet call | blister over 2 cm, any white patch |
| 6 to 24 hours | blisters at full size, oozing | exam, pain relief by prescription | temperature 38.1 to 39.2 C |
| 24 to 72 hours | smell, pus, black skin | same day visit, no home dressing | odour, redness past 1 cm, fever 39.3 C |
Three depths, and the one that hurts least
A superficial burn is red, painful and heals in 3 to 7 days. A partial thickness burn blisters at 6 to 12 hours, takes 14 to 21 days, and is the most painful of the three. A full thickness burn is white or leathery and often painless, because the nerve endings are gone, and it takes 21 to 30 days and sometimes a graft. The cat that stops reacting when you touch the burn is the cat in the most trouble, not the one that flinches.
Area, site and the drive
Measure the burn with a ruler and write down length by width in centimetres; a cat's whole skin surface is only about 0.2 to 0.25 square metres, so 10 percent of the body is a patch of roughly 200 to 250 square centimetres. Any burn over 10 percent is admitted for fluids. Any burn on a pad, the face, the belly or the genitals goes in regardless of size, because a pad bears weight, a face threatens the eye and the airway, and a belly is thin skin over organs. Cover the burn with a clean non stick dressing or a sheet of cling film, wrap the cat in a dry towel, and drive with the cat in a carrier.
Pads take 21 to 30 days, and that is normal
A cat carries 60 percent of its weight on the front legs, and a pad that is bandaged badly will be chewed off within 12 hours. Expect a bandage change every 2 to 3 days, a cone for the whole 21 to 30 days, and a litter tray with paper instead of clumping litter, because clay packs into a healing pad. Do not let the cat jump on furniture for the first 14 days; a 1 metre drop onto a fresh pad re-opens it. If the foot is still up at day 5, or the toes swell, the bandage is too tight or the burn is deeper.
Stove habits that stop the second burn
A coil stays above 60 C for 15 to 20 minutes after it is switched off, and an induction surface reads 60 to 90 C for 10 minutes, so the danger outlives the cooking. Use the back burners, turn handles in and away from the edge, and park a heavy pan on the front ring while the stove cools. A cat reaches a 90 cm counter from a chair or a stool in one jump, so the chair is part of the stove. Never leave a hot pan with oil unattended for even 2 minutes, and keep the cat out of the kitchen while anything is above 60 C.
Five steps in the first 10 minutes
- Take the cat off the heat source and turn the burner off, then look at the pad.
- Run water at 15 to 25 C over the burn for 15 to 20 minutes, body covered and warm.
- Do not use ice, toothpaste, butter, oil, flour or soy sauce.
- Cover with a non stick dressing, wrap in a dry towel, and call the clinic.
- Go in for any white or painless patch, a blister over 2 cm, or a burn over 10 percent.
If the burn came from a hot liquid rather than a hot surface, the same 2 minute rule and the same 15 to 20 minutes of water apply, and hot water scalds adds the numbers for a splash on the belly and chest. The general sequence is set out in burn and scald first aid. If the cat licked a cleaning product off the stove top while it was up there, the toxicity tool covers that second exposure before the skin one is even dressed.
Frequently asked
The cat pulled its paw away at once. Can the burn still be serious?
Yes, because contact time is not the same as injury time. At 300 to 400 C, half a second on a coil delivers 5 to 10 times the heat needed to burn skin, and stored heat keeps cooking the pad for 15 to 20 minutes after the cat is off it. Cool with water at 15 to 25 C for 15 to 20 minutes and have any white or painless patch seen the same day.
Why is ice worse than cool water?
Ice constricts the vessels that need to carry heat away, so the burn gets deeper, and it adds frost injury on top. A 4 kg cat also loses heat fast: water under 10 C can push the rectal temperature below 37.5 C in 5 to 10 minutes. Tap water at 15 to 25 C for 15 to 20 minutes removes heat without the second emergency.
Should I bandage a burned pad before the vet?
Cover it loosely with a non stick dressing or cling film and wrap the cat in a dry towel, nothing tighter. Cotton wool sheds fibres, and a tight bandage on a pad that carries 60 percent of the cat's weight cuts circulation within 2 to 3 hours. Do not apply toothpaste, butter or oil, and do not give a human painkiller on the way.