One Reason I Like Pay Day
I came home from work Thursday to find a bit of blood on the carpet, and a bit more in Ivy's bed. It was clearly coming from the back end, and I immediately assumed internal bleeding was happening. It's my go-to fear with my cats, primarily because it leaves me with so little control. D and I hurried her off to the vet.
$450 later, we learned that 1) she weighs 19 pounds, 10 ounces. !; 2) she, the most docile creature in the universe, would not let them clip her without sedation, 3) she had an abscess high on her back leg that had to be drained and flushed. ( I secretly think she is so lazy that she gave herself a bed sore.) We were sent home with oral antibiotics and analgesics, both in suspensions. She had a plastic cone on her head, and was groggy from the sedative.
We removed her "bed," a large basket lined with a cushy blanket that I think was the root of the problem, aside from the obesity, of course, because it created an inviting means for staying in exactly the same position for roughly 99.999% of every day. Leaving .001% of her time for eating and kicking litter out of the box. D gave her the meds and sprinkled activated charcoal powder on the wound. This is not brickets, people, it's a medical grade charcoal. As in, what your stomach will have pumped into it should you swallow poison. And what gets put into facial masks to suck out impurities. (It has worked fabulously well. The abscess is no longer seeping, and it's probably protecting the wound from litter dust.)
The real fun came later. While Ivy walked into walls with the cone and tried to get comfortable on the copious blankets D spread across the floor, the other cat, Simon, proceded to melt down. Who/what is that in the cone and why is she/it in our house? Why does she/it kind of resemble that large cat who is my sister, but the smell is different, as is the large and intimidating cone? WHAT"S GOING ON?? He did this all night, up in our faces, purring nervously, walking to the edge of the bed and snarling. ALL NIGHT.
I was not the happiest nor clearest thinking teacher on Friday. I missed a fun outing with friends Friday night because I could not prop my eyes open any longer. I was too tired even to eat. D made me a big salad when he got home at 2 a.m., which is when I finally had the energy to chew. But my cats, both of them, are okay, and will continue to be for a while.
*I would have included a photo of Ivy in the cone, but by the time we got home from work Friday, she had pried it off. . .
$450 later, we learned that 1) she weighs 19 pounds, 10 ounces. !; 2) she, the most docile creature in the universe, would not let them clip her without sedation, 3) she had an abscess high on her back leg that had to be drained and flushed. ( I secretly think she is so lazy that she gave herself a bed sore.) We were sent home with oral antibiotics and analgesics, both in suspensions. She had a plastic cone on her head, and was groggy from the sedative.
We removed her "bed," a large basket lined with a cushy blanket that I think was the root of the problem, aside from the obesity, of course, because it created an inviting means for staying in exactly the same position for roughly 99.999% of every day. Leaving .001% of her time for eating and kicking litter out of the box. D gave her the meds and sprinkled activated charcoal powder on the wound. This is not brickets, people, it's a medical grade charcoal. As in, what your stomach will have pumped into it should you swallow poison. And what gets put into facial masks to suck out impurities. (It has worked fabulously well. The abscess is no longer seeping, and it's probably protecting the wound from litter dust.)
The real fun came later. While Ivy walked into walls with the cone and tried to get comfortable on the copious blankets D spread across the floor, the other cat, Simon, proceded to melt down. Who/what is that in the cone and why is she/it in our house? Why does she/it kind of resemble that large cat who is my sister, but the smell is different, as is the large and intimidating cone? WHAT"S GOING ON?? He did this all night, up in our faces, purring nervously, walking to the edge of the bed and snarling. ALL NIGHT.
I was not the happiest nor clearest thinking teacher on Friday. I missed a fun outing with friends Friday night because I could not prop my eyes open any longer. I was too tired even to eat. D made me a big salad when he got home at 2 a.m., which is when I finally had the energy to chew. But my cats, both of them, are okay, and will continue to be for a while.
*I would have included a photo of Ivy in the cone, but by the time we got home from work Friday, she had pried it off. . .
posted by marcy at 9:02 AM
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