Re: First Weekend in Dec. Time Wasting Thread

On Dec 2, 2:33 am, Mary Ballard <balla...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Brady <watercl...@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

: So what's happenin', people?

***unpleasantness spoiler warning//injured cat (in addition, this is
long and tedious and very OT and it is a bit gross)***

I've been having a pet crisis. My male cat, Tao, who (along with
his sister, Pooh) is nearly 15, was attacked by something earlier
this week. I didn't see him at all on Monday. I was a bit concerned,
but not too worried, as Tao still occasionally stays out all night.
But, when he wasn't around on Tuesday morning, I got very worried
and started looking for him. I found him crouched in a corner where
I couldn't easily get to him. He just glared at me and wouldn't come
out. I worried about him all day, but couldn't get away from work
until about 7 to check on him.

That evening he came when I called him and I was relieved, at first.
Then he turned around and I saw the awful wound on his shoulder. I
don't know what had gotten him, but he had a large abrasion and 2
bad puncture wounds. I tended the wound the best I could, and he ate
and drank and wanted to be petted, so I decided that he could wait
until morning, when my vet opened, to go to the Dr.

I dropped him off for his examination and went to work. About an
hour later I got a call. "He might live with just antibiotics, but
he really needs surgery. He has a nasty infection and we need to
put him to sleep and remove some tissue and put in a drainage tube."
I was about to freak out. I agreed to the surgery and asked if I
could come and be with him until they took him in.

I went to the vet's office and spent about 1/2 hour with Tao before
they took him into surgery. I asked how dangerous the anesthesia
would be for a cat his age and they admitted that it was a bit of a
risk, but not as much of a risk as not performing the surgery.

The vet (who was terrific, btw) called about an hour later to tell
me that Tao had made it thru the surgery fine and had woken up from
the anesthesia and seemed to be doing fine. The vet said that Tao
had a very nasty bacterial infection that had destroyed a lot of
tissue.

The next day Tao was alert and eating well, but still required enough
care that we decided that he'd be best off spending a few days "in
the hospital." I went and visited him and he was so cute and pitiful
with his stiches, drainage tube, and plastic collar shield. He seemed
fine otherwise and, as always, drooled copiously when I petted him.

I picked him up today from the vet today and I think he will recover.
He has lost a lot of weight, but seems okay otherwise. I have no idea
what got him. He's still on antibiotics and still has his tube and the
plastic shield. As a result, he can't see where he's going and walks
a bit like a drunken sailor. I have him in a small "cat proofed" area
so that he can't hurt himself and he's very annoyed that he can't go
outside. I've had to separate him from his sister, which is a bit odd,
but the vet was worried about that she might pull out his drainage
tube. I have to take him back on Monday to have that removed and then
he can shed the dreaded collar.

Hopefully within a few weeks he'll be back to his old self.

MeanMary

--
--
Winner of the 2005 AFL Basketball Bracket Contest - Go 'Heels.
--
Mary Ballard // I do not speak for Appalachian State U.
// balla...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx - remove *s* and *a* from spam to email me.


Oh poor Tao! I'm so glad he's doing better now, Mary. Do you think it
was a raccoon or a possum or some other wild animal that attacked
him? Thinking of Tao reminds me of my cat Tabitha. I bought Tabitha
(a gray Persian) when he was a tiny kitten and I was a junior in
college. Tabitha moved with me from Nashville to Knoxville to Virginia
Beach to 3 different homes in Athens. Somehow, she disappeared during
the move into our second Athens house and was missing for a few days.
It was close to Christmas and my daughter, who was around 9 at the
time, and I visited a nearby church that Sunday. The minister invited
the congregation to come pray at the altar rail and my daughter
started down the aisle. Surprised, I followed her to the altar where
we knelt and prayed silently. Before going home, we stopped for lunch
and, curious, I asked her what she had wanted to pray about that
morning. She told me that she had prayed for Tabitha to come home. And
when I pulled into our driveway, there was Tabitha, sitting on the
front steps, meowing loudly. Tabitha lived to be 17.

We also had a female sheltie, Heather, who lived to be around 15 or
16. When she was about 13, Heather was sleeping under a large shrub
one day when two dogs, a chow and a chow mix, ran into the yard.
Without any provocation from Heather, the dogs grabbed her and started
viciously biting. My husband-at-the-time was working in the yard and
raced over to Heather, punching the attack dogs with his fist until
they let go of Heather and ran off. We took Heather to the vet school
at UGA where she was hospitalized for several days. She came home
shaved bare and swathed with bandages wrapped all around her
midsection. It was weeks before the wounds healed and her beautiful
coat grew back in. I found out that one of the dogs was owned by our
neighbor and had gotten out of their fenced backyard. I told the
neighbor about the attack on Heather since the family had two kids,
and they got rid of the chow -- but never offered to reimburse us for
Heather's medical bills.

Now since my son is allergic to cats and dogs, we have an albino
cockatiel. Very cute, but bird poo on your sweater is not in fashion
where I live.


Kate
.

Relevant Pages