Another Cat in Sugar’s Backyard

The Sunday evening before Thanksgiving, Sugar called me on the phone to say that he had cat drama. 

Can I just say here that Sugar always has animal drama? The drama is of varying levels, but it’s always drama, at least the way he views it. 

He said that a young cat had showed up in his back yard at dusk. He could hear her meowing outside, and at first he thought that one of his cats had gotten out. When he went outside, he saw her and knew she was hungry, because cats are always hungry. She gobbled a bowl of food, and when he put a second bowl in a humane trap, she went right in. 

 By the time he called me, he had a cat in a trap and no plan. He had noticed she had what he described as a bad wound on her neck. Since most of his descriptions are of a dramatic nature, I brushed his comment aside. I sent a text to a veterinarian friend who told us to bring the cat in the day before Thanksgiving for a spay surgery and vaccinations and testing for feline hiv and leukemia. 

*****

I went over the next day to see the cat, and there was an open wound as big as my palm on the back of her neck. She had been digging at it with her back feet, and it was bloody and crusty. 

She went off to the vet as scheduled. Tests were negative, and surgery and vaccinations went well. Then back to Sugar’s to recuperate. 

Fast forward 6 weeks, and the wound isn’t completely healed. It’s better, but not healed. He goes to another vet who says to put an article of clothing on the cat so that she can’t scratch her neck. Now, I know this vet and she is not a crazy person, but this sounds like a crazy plan. The wound is actually up high on the cat’s neck, like between her ears, so how can a turtleneck protect that area, and when she scratches it, won’t her nails get hung up in the fabric? Sugar decided to use a small Elizabethan collar that he cut down to about two inches in height. She can still eat and drink without a problem. 

He goes back for a recheck today, and I tag along. 

The vet and her assistant were not particularly happy that the cat wasn’t wearing an article of clothing to protect her neck, but they weren’t pissy about it. So they devised a stocking-like fabric tubing. First they applied Neo-Predef powder which helped keep the wound dry, and slid the fabric tube over her head. 

So today’s visit had a happy ending, even though the first vet tech that came in the exam room was not happy that the cat was not wearing fabric protection and said the E-collar was too tight and we should be able to get 2 fingers under, and she demonstrated with 2 fingers and Sugar demonstrated with 1 finger, and it was an entirely academic exercise since her two fingertips were equal to his one, and he used to run a shelter, and he KNOWS STUFF, and if she had known how gentle and kind he is, she would have known that he would be careful and not strangle his cat. She hadn’t even seen the cat at the exam last week. Apparently we pissed her off and she didn’t return to the room. 

And that’s how it is with animal people. 

Here are some photos of Tabitha after her vet visit today. There’s one of the wound, but it isn’t graphic, and it is so much better than it was. 

Wonder where Tabitha will live when her neck heals up?

Tags: cats