Alley cats will break your heart like that =/ If it isn't afraid to come inside, giving it food and a clean dry place to rest can help a lot.
No alleys for it to cat in, but yeah, it's been an outside cat. Feed it (and... like, over a dozen other cats, if you count the kittens out there right now) regularly, so that's not an issue, but I'll think about setting things up so he's got access to a clean(er, anyway) spot somewhere or another. S'not a bad idea. Inside is a bigger question, since the other house people don't particularly want cats inside, and the other care bits besides food would be money we can't much afford at the mo', but... yeah.
Also: is the swelling/infection localized? Cats, especially strays, are prone to abscesses. They look ugly but they're not often dangerous; draining it and keeping the area clean would help.
Yeah, so far localized, so it's definitely possible... haven't seen many things like it before with the cats in this area, though, which was the worrying bit. Biggest personal concern really is that it's a snakebite that's just taking a while to finish him off, which I've seen happen before, or some kind of internal issue (though it starting to ooze reduces that likelihood). Any recommendations for draining and cleaning? Despite all the years I've had cats I've never actually done or seen done something of that nature
And... best of luck, other folks. Iti, I totally feel you on the voice thing in particular... went through a few periods of that myself. If it means anything to you, I found talking to
myself helped with that a lot, particularly with a fair bit of ham. There's was a period I was quoting plays and speeches and whatnot to myself fairly regularly, heh, so I'd be having fun with the human voice (/at all) instead of it (and the people using it) just inflicting misery upon me. Made the overall experience more bearable, if not necessarily better.