Thursday, February 16, 2006
We'd noticed for the last few days that Merlin, our oldest cat and the "Dog in a Cat Suit" hadn't been himself. He'd been shunning bedtime treats and wasn't greeting us at the door.
Petting him, C noticed that he didn't want his tail touched and would yell if you did so - thankfully he's very mild-mannered and didn't bite us.
Having had similar occurences in the past, we were fairly sure of what was going on - one of the other cats had bit him on the rear and he had an abcess. So today I got off work a little early and went home to pack him up and take him off to the evil V.E.T. for treatment.
I left plenty of time. As other cat owners know, cats have an amazing ability to sense when you are looking for them in order to do terrible things to them and hide. Sometimes it can take a while to discover the currently favored bolt hole.
Luckily I discovered where he was fairly easily and stuffed him the in the carrier. This was my first offense and failure as a good Cat Mom. He moaned, he whined, he meowed loudly all the way to the vet's office. I kept telling him it was for his own good and he'd feel so much better afterwards but I don't think he believed me.
After a bit of a wait, we saw the vet. I told her what was going on, explained he was antisocial and his ears were warm and his butt tender and I suspected a cat bite abcess. She felt him up, found the abcess and looked at me saying "Who is the vet here!" and laughing.
100% correct. The poor guy had a HUGE abcess on his leg and up one side of his butt. They shaved his butt, gave him a local and lanced it, leaving a pretty good sized opening for drainage. Apparently it was one of the larger abcesses they'd seen. I'm sure he appreciated that.
Now we have to keep the drain area open for a few days and give him antibiotics 2x a day - much easier for him than any of our other cats. I gave him one dose + some of C's turkey lunchmeat (shhhh, don't tell)!
He REALLY didn't appreciate the hydrogen peroxide on the drain site. Lots of yelling but, again, no biting or clawing. He really is a very sweet cat.
I'll have to get up at 5 am tomorrow to help C with Merlin's drain site again - definitely a 2 person job, so I probably won't get writing done (again) today. But after the weekend he should be okay to let it heal up.
I really feel bad for him. I just hope he's feeling better tomorrow and starts being his normal self again.
And I have to remember to hide my shoes - no sense making revenge TOO easy.
Petting him, C noticed that he didn't want his tail touched and would yell if you did so - thankfully he's very mild-mannered and didn't bite us.
Having had similar occurences in the past, we were fairly sure of what was going on - one of the other cats had bit him on the rear and he had an abcess. So today I got off work a little early and went home to pack him up and take him off to the evil V.E.T. for treatment.
I left plenty of time. As other cat owners know, cats have an amazing ability to sense when you are looking for them in order to do terrible things to them and hide. Sometimes it can take a while to discover the currently favored bolt hole.
Luckily I discovered where he was fairly easily and stuffed him the in the carrier. This was my first offense and failure as a good Cat Mom. He moaned, he whined, he meowed loudly all the way to the vet's office. I kept telling him it was for his own good and he'd feel so much better afterwards but I don't think he believed me.
After a bit of a wait, we saw the vet. I told her what was going on, explained he was antisocial and his ears were warm and his butt tender and I suspected a cat bite abcess. She felt him up, found the abcess and looked at me saying "Who is the vet here!" and laughing.
100% correct. The poor guy had a HUGE abcess on his leg and up one side of his butt. They shaved his butt, gave him a local and lanced it, leaving a pretty good sized opening for drainage. Apparently it was one of the larger abcesses they'd seen. I'm sure he appreciated that.
Now we have to keep the drain area open for a few days and give him antibiotics 2x a day - much easier for him than any of our other cats. I gave him one dose + some of C's turkey lunchmeat (shhhh, don't tell)!
He REALLY didn't appreciate the hydrogen peroxide on the drain site. Lots of yelling but, again, no biting or clawing. He really is a very sweet cat.
I'll have to get up at 5 am tomorrow to help C with Merlin's drain site again - definitely a 2 person job, so I probably won't get writing done (again) today. But after the weekend he should be okay to let it heal up.
I really feel bad for him. I just hope he's feeling better tomorrow and starts being his normal self again.
And I have to remember to hide my shoes - no sense making revenge TOO easy.
posted by Maura Anderson at 9:16 PM
poor baby - big smooch from me
byBeen there, done that! Except our baby's abscess was on his tail and he had to have all the 3+ inch long hair shaved from his tail, pretty much making him a huge orange rat.
byEarlier this week had to take the other one to the vet...he bloodied his nose trying to get out of the carrier on the way. Sheesh. You'd think they'd be reassured by all the sweet talk they get on the way there. Only they probably can't hear it over the howling.
Oh, well, one dental procedure and a bottle of antibiotics later, I think he's getting back to normal. Now if I can only remind him that he only gets fed on the bed and allowed to sleep with us when he's SICK. I think we may have a hard time with that. :-)
Shannon