Is this not the most sweet precious little kitty?
So day after Memorial day I'm at home at my laptop and I hear a terrible cat screeching from outside the window. I run outside and my neighbor is pointing towards the trees/bushes on the North side of our house. I see this huge grey cat running away and my neighbor yells there is another cat in the bushes, which was sweet little September hiding under the hosta. I picked her up and carried her inside. Then I see I'm getting stuff all over my shirt and arms, she was so scared, she diarrhea'd on herself! :( So I took her to the sink and washed her belly and legs off. Then when she seemed more settled I brushed her fur since she's been shedding like crazy lately. And pretty much coddled and felt bad for her but that was the end of it I thought.
I go hang out with Liz and get home in the evening and Doug was petting her and we see blood on his hand and see that a big chunk is missing from her tail! How I did not notice earlier I'll never know!! And September had been totally normal eating and playing and wanting to go back outside. Anyway, we washed it off with soap in the sink and were worried because it looked bad. Of course by now it's 10pm and we both had to work in the morning.
The next day Doug's parents come get her and take her to the vet and mid-morning I get a text from Doug that they might have to amputate part of her tail off. I thought it was a mean joke, so called him, and he said he was sorry but not joking. So then I'm sitting at work crying about my poor baby. They said that they would first shave it, clean it, and then go from there. Meanwhile I'm back to work and one of my patients is reading a cat magazine (?!?) and asks me if I have a cat and I start crying again. Anyway. In the afternoon Doug called the vet to see what they were thinking and they said they bandaged it and she could come home on antibiotics with a re-check next week. But they couldn't guarantee she was out of the amputated-tail-woods yet.
So she came home.
Look at this sad little tail
(it looks broken here, but it's not really)
Actually she didn't seem to mind much at all. They said not to worry if she got the bandage off, which she did last night, and immediately started licking. So today was recheck #1. The vet assistant said it's looking good, to leave it open to air (which is not recommended for wound healing in human hospitals FYI), but we had to get her a cone so she wouldn't lick.
cone of sadness and frustration
eventually she was able to relax, but she seems depressed and is having a hard time getting to her food bowls
her tail wound does look pretty bad, but seems like could just scab up, no need to cut it off!!!
Monday will be recheck #2 and will be the deciding factor I think. Hopefully the antibiotics will be doing their job to prevent infection and the cone will be preventing unhelpful kitty interventions.
This has all made me realize how much I love that little gal. Doug and I know that her going outside does bring more risks to her, but she loves it so much and we decided when we adopted her that we wanted her to have a more full, altho possibly shorter, life. But now that stuff like this is happening it really seems more scary and I hope her life really won't be shorter! I don't know that she doesn't walk to other yards and is a bully herself to other cats she meets, but it seems extra sad this happened in her own yard. Poor little girl. Seems silly, but would appreciate healing prayers. Thanks!
So day after Memorial day I'm at home at my laptop and I hear a terrible cat screeching from outside the window. I run outside and my neighbor is pointing towards the trees/bushes on the North side of our house. I see this huge grey cat running away and my neighbor yells there is another cat in the bushes, which was sweet little September hiding under the hosta. I picked her up and carried her inside. Then I see I'm getting stuff all over my shirt and arms, she was so scared, she diarrhea'd on herself! :( So I took her to the sink and washed her belly and legs off. Then when she seemed more settled I brushed her fur since she's been shedding like crazy lately. And pretty much coddled and felt bad for her but that was the end of it I thought.
I go hang out with Liz and get home in the evening and Doug was petting her and we see blood on his hand and see that a big chunk is missing from her tail! How I did not notice earlier I'll never know!! And September had been totally normal eating and playing and wanting to go back outside. Anyway, we washed it off with soap in the sink and were worried because it looked bad. Of course by now it's 10pm and we both had to work in the morning.
The next day Doug's parents come get her and take her to the vet and mid-morning I get a text from Doug that they might have to amputate part of her tail off. I thought it was a mean joke, so called him, and he said he was sorry but not joking. So then I'm sitting at work crying about my poor baby. They said that they would first shave it, clean it, and then go from there. Meanwhile I'm back to work and one of my patients is reading a cat magazine (?!?) and asks me if I have a cat and I start crying again. Anyway. In the afternoon Doug called the vet to see what they were thinking and they said they bandaged it and she could come home on antibiotics with a re-check next week. But they couldn't guarantee she was out of the amputated-tail-woods yet.
So she came home.
Look at this sad little tail
(it looks broken here, but it's not really)
Actually she didn't seem to mind much at all. They said not to worry if she got the bandage off, which she did last night, and immediately started licking. So today was recheck #1. The vet assistant said it's looking good, to leave it open to air (which is not recommended for wound healing in human hospitals FYI), but we had to get her a cone so she wouldn't lick.
cone of sadness and frustration
eventually she was able to relax, but she seems depressed and is having a hard time getting to her food bowls
her tail wound does look pretty bad, but seems like could just scab up, no need to cut it off!!!
Monday will be recheck #2 and will be the deciding factor I think. Hopefully the antibiotics will be doing their job to prevent infection and the cone will be preventing unhelpful kitty interventions.
This has all made me realize how much I love that little gal. Doug and I know that her going outside does bring more risks to her, but she loves it so much and we decided when we adopted her that we wanted her to have a more full, altho possibly shorter, life. But now that stuff like this is happening it really seems more scary and I hope her life really won't be shorter! I don't know that she doesn't walk to other yards and is a bully herself to other cats she meets, but it seems extra sad this happened in her own yard. Poor little girl. Seems silly, but would appreciate healing prayers. Thanks!
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