Poor Thomas. My son's cat. Rescued from the Oromocto SPCA in 2001. He's a fighter. That's a problem. He's mainly an outdoor cat, ruling the neighbourhood with a heavy paw. This summer a couple new cats moved into the house cross the road and Thomas has been busy educating them about turf boundaries as evidenced by all the fur they've been leaving behind. A couple weeks ago things didn't go so well for Thomas, and we wouldn't have known except for the bloody pillow that he left on his owner's bed where he spent the night to recuperate. By morning his face was a mat of dried blood and fur. I cleaned him up and he was back out on guard duty by the afternoon. Yesterday afternoon I got suspicious when he hasn't begged to be let out. I tracked him down hiding in the laundry room/my sewing room and gave a good once over. I didn't see anything wrong but when I tried to scratch his chin he started whining. Looking closer I noticed the right side of his face fluffier than normal. I gave it a little poke and he just about took my hand off. I thought he must have gotten into another scrap so I tried feeling around for a cut and when I couldn't find anything I decided to clip some of the fur off his cheek to get a better idea of what was going on. Turns out that his cheek was incredibly swollen under all that fur with a massive abscess and after some phone tag with the vet, she was able to see him this morning.
As I said, poor cat. He was so stressed out, his bladder failed him. Oh, the stench. The weigh in? 5.71kg! Definitely not a feather weight. Anyway, the vet told me to leave Thomas and come back after hour to give her time to lance and drain the abscess. She injected him with a time-released antibiotic so I don't have to shove pills down his throat. When I picked him up in his carrier, he had blood all down his chest, all the more dramatic looking because of his white fur. Poor kitty. After all that, I had to give him a bath when we got home to wash the blood and urine off before I could allow him to roam; on second thought I decided to make the bathroom his home for the next day or so to keep an eye on him. The vet left a hole in his cheek so it could keep draining, and I really didn't want Pandora harassing him in his weakened state.
All in all, very traumatic, but it looks tonight like he'll recover.
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5 comments:
I hope he gets well soon! Will he bo going outside or be staying in more often? Makes it hard once they've been an outdoor cat, trying to keep them inside.
Poor baby :( Hope thomas is feeling like his old self soon. It's hard for us when they hurt.
I had a cat like that when I was growing up! His name was Fluffy, and man could that cat be vicious! :) He managed to get holes in both cheeks at once with abcesses after one particular gruelling duel! Silly cats!
Poor cat. Fortunately for us, my daughter's cat sleeps all day in the house, eats a little, and then sleeps all night. I'd be more worried about coyotes than other cats if she were out and about though. Hope Tom and his enemies can negotiate some kind of truce although I bet they ganged up on him since he was previous "king of the hill."
Poor fur baby. His outdoor days are numbered. Not as young as he used to be, seems like he is now coming out on the losing end with the younger and faster new cats.
Hard on him but you are the one who gets to decide between "freedom to trash himself" and "sadness on your son's part" when the flying fur and injuries continue.
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