more cat-astrophe (haha!)

(This is another story about our cat, so if that sounds incredibly boring to you, I'm sure there's something else you could be doing.)

Since Alecia took the car--and the kids--to Alabama for the weekend to help her mom out with some wedding planning, Todd gave me a lift to the vet yesterday to pick up Astrid. I knew two things going in: 1) the cat would be very unhappy, and 2) she'd be wearing a cone on her head to keep her from licking her wound. What I didn't know is that the poor cat had major surgery and now looked like Frankenkitty.

Apparently, the wound was a bite that the cat probably obtained a few days prior, and which had since gotten infected, resulting in an abscessed area. The abscess had burst, causing the skin (and fur) above it to fall off. Gross, huh? The golf ball-sized effected area presented a challenge to the doctor. She couldn't just sew the sides together--it would seal in the infection and the gap was too big to just stretch the skin across it. She also couldn't leave it open, as it would take forever to heal and the subcutaneous tissue shouldn't remain exposed for that long. In the end, she decided to insert a drain, clean up the rough edges of the wound, and then do a partial suture. The results were ugly.

Here are a couple of pictures of our poor kitty after her surgery. The white tubes are the drain the vet inserted. It will be removed on Monday, if all goes well.

WARNING: While these aren't pictures of open flesh wounds, they are almost as gross. Mom, you may not want to click on them.

A close-up of the area.
A rear-view of the cone.
A front-view of the cone.

As you can see, our lovely little cat looks like an animal testing experiment. But the really painful part of the story is what happened when she came home.

The doctor told me I needed to keep Astrid away from other animals and indoors for about ten days while she healed. She was already fighting infection, and the drain provided an easy avenue for more problems to enter her system. Plus, if she or another animal started licking or messing around with the wound, it could cause all sorts of trouble. I decided the easiest way to keep Astrid away from our dogs and out of danger was to seal her up in the office with her food, water and litter box. When Todd and I brought her home, hissing and snarling within her travel box, I took her straight into the office and set up a space for her. Being the loving owner that I am, I felt guilty that our explorative cat would be trapped inside for so long, so I opened one of the windows to let in some fresh air and let her peer out through the screen.

Within a few minutes of being released from the box, Astrid was calmly sitting on the windowsill, gazing at the great outdoors. It seemed like she was going to be fine, for now.

That's when the screen fell out.

I'm still not sure what happened here. I'd popped the screen out back in December to pass the cord from some Christmas lights in through the window. I guess I must not have replaced it correctly. When the screen fell, the kitty saw her opportunity. She leapt for freedom.

Panicked, I ran out the front door to get her. When she saw me approaching, she took off running in the direction of our back yard. At least she was staying close to the house, I thought. I followed her into the backyard, where she scrambled to hide under our back porch. It's not usually that hard to get her out from under the porch--I just shake her bag of treats, and she comes to me. Surprisingly, this was no exception. I shook the treats and she walked out from under the porch, only slightly suspicious of me. Just before she could get to me, however, she tried to reach back to lick her wound. Frustrated that she couldn't do so, she let out a big meow and rolled over in the dirt. The dogs, who had previously been ignoring her while they wandered around our fenced-in yard, saw this as an invitation to wrestle. They ran at her, barking, causing her to freak out and dash for a new safe spot...under the shed.

By now, I was cussing and Todd was laughing. We got the dogs inside again, but the kitty was determined not to come out. Todd headed home, as I pulled a chair onto the porch and settled in. After about fifteen minutes of waiting, the cat finally emerged. I headed for her, intent on bringing her in. She headed for the fence, determined to get out. She was faster. Before I could reach her, she had jumped the fence. To make matters worse, as she jumped, her cone got stuck on the fence. She dangled for half a second, suspended by the cone around her neck, but quickly fell free on the other side of the fence. As I ran to the gate, trying to get to her, she ran for the hills.

I didn't see her again for eight hours.

I wandered the neighborhood, talking to neighbors and calling her name. She was nowhere to be found. I was getting really worried. She not only had a partially open wound, but she had a tube straight into her inner workings. I thought there was a good chance that something would get into that wound. Or, even worse, that the cat (or another animal) would pull out the stitches or the tube.

Around 9pm last night, after I'd almost given up hope, I opened the back door to let the dogs out and she came wandering in. Her stitches and tube were covered with dirt, but seemed to be intact. While she ate her food, I wrapped her in a towel so I could re-attach her protective hood and clean her wound a little without her biting me. She's been inside since then, mostly asleep under Maddie's crib.

The worst part of this whole story is that Alecia couldn't be here to help me chase the cat or to share in the worry. After all, this animal owes her inclusion in this family to Alecia. Years ago, when I brought home a litter of nine kittens that had been left in a box by the soccer fields, I had no intention of keeping any of them. I'm allergic to cats, and think they have too much attitude for pets. But Alecia kept sneaking the runt of the litter out of the room we had them in. After the other eight had been adopted, she begged to keep just that one.

See what you did, Alecia? Next time, you're getting a goldfish.

(By the way, I know I've been lazy lately, double-posting things here that are on my family site. If you read both, I apologize. I'll try to be more productive and original in weeks to come.)