This is Nightwatch. She’s an outdoor cat. She lives in my backyard / on the back porch. This morning I woke up to find that she has an extremely swollen right cheek and a visible injury on her cheek where she is missing skin and fur (see photos). I assume that she got into a territorial fight with another neighborhood cat, but I don’t actually know for sure. There are also some huge raccoons around here that could’ve done this to her. Very plausible since the neighborhood cats are scared of her but the raccoons aren’t.

Anyway, I am not sure what to do. I certainly don’t want her to get an infection and get sick (or die), but I also don’t want to freak her out with a carrier car ride to a vet for something that might heal up in short order. She’s also neurodivergent and super scared of most humans, so a trip to the vet would definitely NOT go over well with her. I also have no idea what a vet visit would cost or if they can even help her anyway.

Is there a home treatment option? What should I do?? :/