Thursday, June 17, 2010

Critters...

Why is it as soon as you manage to get a few bucks ahead of the game, critters get hurt or sick. *headdesk*

Early Tuesday morning I went outside to mow before the heat hit. DC has taken to sleeping in my wheelbarrow. I keep it up on its front end to keep rain from sitting in it. She sleeps on the front end. Nothing unusual. But if you look real close at the left side of her face, you can see the swelling.

Lovely. Trip to the vet on the horizon.

By nine, I had her at the Cat Vet. They ended up keeping her so they could surgically lance and drain the abscess. I know she was confused about staying overnight away from home but so was I.

I'm a terrible insomniac. I don't have trouble going to sleep but I wake up several times a night. It's not unusual for me to see every hour on the clock as the night passes slowly into dawn. And each time I wake, I check on the critters. Count heads actually. LOL Several times Tuesday night, I forgot DC was at the vet and was scared when I couldn't find her.

Since the evil day job beckoned yesterday, I left my mother DC's carrier and a check. She picked her up yesterday morning and dropped her off at the house before I arrived home.

She also dropped off the "pink stuff". Amoxicillin. A thick pink liquid antibiotic that my cats hate. Every last one of them. No matter how sick, how injured, how much pain, will fight me to the death to avoid a dose of the "pink stuff". Joy, joy. So far, two doses later, I have had pink stuff all over the bathroom, all over me, in my hair, all over DC.

And I'm terrified I'll hurt her neck if I try to hold her too hard while I squirt the meds in her mouth. The next few days will be fun but we'll get it done. Have to. She's one of my babies.

Oh, and I'm being paranoid and calling the vet when they open. Her neck looks a little swollen. We may have another vet visit in the near future...

4 comments:

Miriam Newman said...

Aw, Shayla, I hear you. Jack the Cat came in at 5 a.m. Monday morning with a chewed-on ear and a big fat abscess brewing. Let's just say somebody apparently bit him on the butt (probably as he was making his escape). I have the thrill of poking Clavamox down his throat for a few more days, as well as paying the bill. Oh, the joys! Hope your baby is OK.

Rachel Lynne said...

Oh, I hope DC is ok. I know just how you feel ... I just shelled out 200.00 to drain an abcess on a tom cat I adopted. He belongs to my neighbors but they don't pay him any attention and the husband lost his job so I knew they weren't going to take him to the vet. He loves me better anyway, I give him canned food and let him sleep on my bed :)
Just a tip: Simba isn't fixed (I'm still saving up for that) so he fights, a lot! Most abscesses can be treated at home. Sims had two on his cheek/side of neck and he swelled up. I held warm compresses on it for a few days then I was going to lance it with a sterilized needle but he scratched and broke it open for me. Dr. Rachel then had to push the gunk out a couple of times, (gross) sprayed some peroxide on it and slathered on the neosporin. He was good as new in no time. The one on his side had to be treated though, he ran a fever of 105 and just about died. I guess the infection got into his blood stream or something. He came limping home the other day with a booboo on his paw and I doctored it up too. Saves a little on those vet bills!

Lisabet Sarai said...

Ah, Shayla,

It's hard when our furred ones hurt. My hubby and I have done the amoxycillan thing--not easy even with two of us! Then there was the period when we were giving subcutaneous fluids to Harla, our kitty who had kidney disease. Not fun for anyone.

It's worth it though, isn't it? They give back so much.

For the last twenty years or so, all our cats have been strictly indoor. They really don't mind, and it greatly reduces the number of trips to the vet.

All the best,
Lisabet

katsrus said...

Hope your kitty is doing better. I always feel bad when pets are sick or hurt. I have one who has thyroid disease so he gets bloodwork every 6 months plus pills everyday. He's been on pills for many years now & he's still hard to give a pill too. LOL. I started giving him canned food too cause he is an older cat and frail so now he goes in my son's room & sits and stares at him or follows him around until he gets his extra food(he feeds him in his room cause I have 3 others). LOL.
Sue B