a gross story with disgusting pics

Tonight, our beloved cat, Astrid, jumped into my lap while I was on the computer, as she often does. I started petting her, only to have her start hissing at me and looking like she was going to bite me. Since I was in pajama pants, and she's not declawed, I tossed her off of my lap brusquely. (We still haven't totally decided if we want more kids, or not.)

A few seconds later, she wandered back in, wanting some more attention. This time, while petting her, I felt something warm and sticky on her rear hip. I turned on the lamp for a closer look...and saw a golf ball-sized hole where her hair used to be. Gross! Apparently, something got ahold of her today, or she got caught under something.

She's not bleeding, which is weird because you can see right down to the pink and slimy subcutaneous tissue. (Whatever got her didn't just get hair--it got the entire layer of skin.) I called the emergency pet hotline, and was reassured that she's going to be fine for the night (they told me to keep her from licking it, if I can--yeah, right). I plan to take kitty to the vet first thing in the morning, where she'll get something to put on the wound, and I'll get scolded because she's overdue on her shots.

If you want to see the damage, I just uploaded a couple of the pics, but they're pretty gross.

Astrid licking her wound.
A better view of the wound.

I promise that the wound looks twice as big from the top as it does from the side. :)

Have a nice day!