Well, breathe a sigh of relief: She’s well on her way to recovery.
The swelling has gone down on the area of her flank where she was bitten. The wound crusted, then the crust fell off to reveal a small hole no longer inflamed. Bleeding and oozing has completely ceased. Even more important, she’s acting more like her old self, even repeatedly going to the door and asking to be let out (which I’m not going to do until she’s done with the antibiotic and the shaved area has grown back in).
PAD
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You’d be better off not letting her out at all anymore. She probably won’t like that for quite a bit, but in the long run she’ll…actually, in this instance there will actually BE a long run, as oppossed to the other way around.
Glad to hear Pandora feels better.
I’m sure you feel much better, too.
You might reconsider that part about waiting for the shaved patch to grow in… my cat had a patch shaved for a pain patch and it tooks MONTHS for the hair to grow back in =)
YEAH! 🙂
But make sure to keep her kitty litter fresh. You certainly don’t want the old wound exposed to a new infection.
Glad to hear good news.
In the words of Sgt. Esterhaus: Remember, let’s be careful out there.
My cast Elsa sends her best wishes. 🙂
What kind of area do you live in? Dense or semi-dense packed urban? Or more rural and country?
Back before urban sprawl got bad, our cats were always allowed outdoors and they lived good, long lives (15+years), but as the city got more overrun with humans, and cars, and by-products of increased population, it became unsafe.
So I’m glad that Pandora is recovering, but if you live in a somewhat Rural area where Pandora can roam without a lot of cars and leaking anti-freeze and the like, than I applaud your decision to allow Pandora time to run free outside.
We danced the Mamushka while Nero fiddled, we danced the Mamushka at Waterloo. We danced the Mamushka for Jack the Ripper, and now, Pandora, this Mamushka is for you!
PAD, glad to hear the good news about Pandora. We also had a recent close shave with our cat, Topper, named not for the ghost, but because we adopted him after we rescued him from the top of a tree.
One of my sons noticed Topper had a hard lump on the inside of his back right leg and was limping a lot. My wife, an OB/GYN, brought home a mini-surgery kit and we went to work. Being unskilled in medicine, veterinary or otherwise, I got to shave the cat and hold him still.
My wife anesthestized the cat with a local and then proceeded to remove a bb that had become lodged and encapsulated under the cat’s skin. After she sutured the wound, Topper limped away and hid for several days.
He’s now back to normal, ruling the neighborhood cats with impunity, but we’re still searcing for the scumbag who shot our cat.
Here’s to a full recovery, for Pandora and Topper.
Whew.
I’m so glad to read this.
Glad to hear your cat is doing better. We have an inside cat, who craves going outside like we live in the middle of a catnip field.
There are two outside cats that wander our neighborhood, and when Boots sees them he hunkers down and tries to hide. They routinely knock over our trashcans and spread trash around our lawn. If I knew who they belonged to, they’d get an earful.
Hopefully once we get the dog we’re shopping around for, they’ll stop coming around.
Rich
Glad to hear that Pandora is feeling better.
Our younger cat, Fuzzbucket, was a wild thing when we got him and we realized he wouldn’t be happy unless he got to go outside when he wanted to. When he was younger, he occasionally would vanish for a day, but that pretty much settled down and he’d usually come in at night.
About a month ago, I was out of town for the weekend and my wife, Gretchen, couldn’t get Fuzz in when she needed to go to bed. The next morning, she opened the door and he ran in like a shot.
After that, he was really skittish about going out at all, which was really strange. We’re guessing he ran into something that he didn’t like that scared him pretty badly.
But last night, he saw a rabbit in the back yard. I let him out (not having seen the rabbit) and he chased the rabbit under the fence, then returned to be let back in.
Later that evening, he asked to be let out again and stayed out for a few hours, so I’m thinking he’s back to normal. (Whatever that is for a cat, anyway…)
Terrific news!
I’d echo the suggestions to not let her out at all if possible, though — indoor cats tend to be a lot safer and healthier in the long run. If you’ve had her for a while, she undoubtedly knows the area well, but given dangers both natural and not (e.g. coyotes and cars, respectively), our cats stay in all the time, and don’t seem to mind.
Again, great news!
TWL
Good to know the kitty’s OK. Now if we could only convince Spyboy that whatever did it to her was working for SKINS…
Good news!
Well, Tim, cars may be a problem where Peter lives, but I’m not sure if coyotes a real problem on Long Island. 🙂
(Or are they?)
No jokes about a shaved cat???
Glad to hear, Peter!
I’m glad Pandora is better but I do think cats are better off not going out. My wife is vet tech and allways has horror stories of cats going out and never returning.
We have a total of five cats living in the house, and we only allow Pandora to go out because she came to us as a stray and I just don’t think she’d be happy if she were confined. However, to the best of my knowledge, she never goes off the immediate property. She hangs with other cats who occasionally come by, and I can only think that they had a disagreement that got nasty.
I know she’d be safer and likely live longer if she was confined. But I think in her case, quality of life would be diminished. So I’m willing to let her take her chances if she is.
Topper, by the way, wasn’t a ghost. Cosmo Topper was the guy who talked to the ghosts. The ghosts were the Kirbys.
PAD
PAD “Topper, by the way, wasn’t a ghost. Cosmo Topper was the guy who talked to the ghosts. The ghosts were the Kirbys.”
Funny, it was just a few days ago that my wife and I were talking about Topper. For some reason we ended up deciding it was a good idea to do an updated comicbook version. Why I don’t know.
Fair enough, then — that is, after all, why you’re the human in charge. (You think…)
And Luigi … yeah, I kinda figured PAD wasn’t having much of a problem with coyotes, but they’re certainly a big issue where we are — which is why I quoted them as a reason why WE keep our cats indoors, not why he should. 🙂 (Cars actually aren’t much of a problem in our current house, but stray dogs would be a huge one.)
TWL
Peter, while I appreciate your feelings that Pandora’s “quality of life would be diminished” if she were not allowed outside… I would appreciate it if you would at least consider a few things before you and your family make your final decision. None of the following questions or statements are meant to offend– Just written out of good old fashioned concern for Pandora: 1) What “quality of life” will Pandora have if she dies prematurely because of some outside agent? (Disease, car or animal attack, etc.) 2) What “quality of life” has she had while she has been suffering and recuperating from her wound?… and finally, 3) FeLV & FIV. Both diseases are certified cat killers– both are normally contracted from infected free roaming cats. FIV’s (according to the Cornell Feline Health Center) primary mode of transmission is through bite wounds. FeLV can be transmitted by bites, simple scratches and even minor secretions (sneezes, saliva). BOTH of the diseases can be brought into your home and given to your other healthy cats that live inside… And while modern Veterinarian Care has progressed to the point that FeLV cats (and even FIV cats) can live for many years relatively symptom free before they develop complications and die… I carefully ask, “WHY RISK ANY OF IT?” I appreciate that Pandora wants to go out… But, as I mentioned in my response to your original post about her injury, she will acclimate herself to indoor life fairly easily. Any wailing and whatnot is mostly bluster. She will be fine… and most importantly, all your cats (including Pandora) will be spared from ever contracting any of these horrible feline diseases.
In response to an earlier comment made by Fazhoul on 21/7/03 (that’s 7/21/03 for americans)
i was given capsules for my cat and told to give him asperin as well. i dn’t think its was the same pills you mentioned though. he had to have half a capsule a day. this entailed opening the capsule and tipping half of its content into his food and mixing it up so he wouldn’t find it. of course he did and he stopped eating. odd thing was the other cat loved it. she won’t have any heart problems anytime soon 😛
so i thought i’d dissolve it in milk. didn’t dissolve and he didn’t drink it.
i was basically faced with keep trying to give it to him and have him die of starvation, or stop giving it to him and have him eat. he’s eating, not taking his medication and he’s been alive and happy for 2 years since. still a frisky, friendly, crafty, pouncy boy.
oh and the cost of these capsules? around NZD30 for 30 capsules. and yeah we got them from the chemist. gave them a shock when a chick in their 20s purchases heart medication though. quite amusing.
and i always thought male cats were more friendly. the dámņ female cat we got bolts at any noise, will sit on you but stare at ou the whole time, is a dead weight on the bed so you wake up thinking its dead cause it won’t move while you thrash your legs about. but dámņ can she pick a fight with other cats eh.
my cats are indoor/outdoor cats. come and go as they please, don’t dictate limitations on their freedom.
no dogs in the area, very few cars. never heard of those diseases, not about to force a change on their lives just because of them. sides they go bonkers if they wanna go outside and you’re not moving fast enuff to let them. not to mention spraying the tv.
my kittys are resiliant, bit like kids really. people let their kids outside so why not animals that have been able to fend for themselves for thousands of years.
mind you i treat my cats like family, so they’re like ppl to me. better conversationalists in some instances too 😛 and that unconditional love thing? brilliant. keeps me warm at nite and he’s good company. er he sleeps in my bed. and if you hurt my cat i will hurt you, as evidenced when one bf smacked him, i punched the guy. overprotective psycho b*tch? nah, i had warned him in advance.
now what was my point… oh yus, treat kittys as you would want them to treat you if the roles were reversed.
Glad to hear she’s improving.
I strongly recommend turning her into a full time house cat. Cats live a lot longer and a lot healthier lives when they don’t go out. Doesn’t matter if its rural or urban, where you live, the cat’s better inside. There are other cats, dogs, raccoons, oppossums and sick, sick people out there. Even a rabbit can cause a nasty wound.
yeah rabbits are awesome. one of mine used to lure out cats when i let him run round in the backyard. he would let the cat chase him for a bit and then he’d turn round and chase the poor dumb cat into a fence. gee i miss that rabbit. didn’t hurt my cats at the time which were little kitty’s at the time. all the animals seem to get along. unless theres a fish or course. cats eat the fish, fish eat the fish. bloody cannibal.
I would just like to preface my forthcoming response by saying that I am not an “animal nut”… I am just a person who can read statistics and realizes that an INDOOR cat is a SAFER cat.
That said…
batmansero– If you have never heard of those feline diseases… You should do a Google search immediately… Or go to the Cornell Feline Health Center web site and learn everything you can about them. They are VERY real and VERY dangerous to your cat.
I was fine with everything you wrote until you typed, “now what was my point… oh yus, treat kittys as you would want them to treat you if the roles were reversed. ” That is EXACTLY what I am advocating… Treat animals as you yourself would want to be treated. Except, unlike you, I wouldn’t want my guardian to let me outside unprotected from very dangerous and VERY prevalent viruses. I wouldn’t want my guardian to let me roam free with limited knowledge of how to handle speeding cars or without adequate protection from people/animals who might launch unprovoked attacks against me.
Sure, I’d be able to defend myself for a while because I am smart and agile– but sooner or later my luck WOULD run out… The dangers to outside cats are that overwhelming.
So, in short, I would want my guardian to keep me safe from these dangers… because if I lose my life– the question of whether it is a quality life is moot.
In the end, however, the cat/human analogy is a load of crap. The world we know today is RULED by HUMANS… NOT cats. You CANNOT expect a cat to negotiate the world (even if it is “just” your neighborhood) as well as a human can.
For those who think that keeping your cat in the house is “unfair”to the animal… One already assumes you are NOT keeping them in cage or torturing them… but allowing them to interact with you (and all the other loving members of your family).
Folks, these are DOMESTICATED animals who have just a FRACTION of the instincts their ancestors possessed. They are NOT wild– unless they are feral– and wild feral cats live even SHORTER lives because they NEVER have a home– or even a backyard– to call a safe haven.
Leaving your cats inside ALL the time is a true act love… because, in the end, you extend their lives and help keep them from disease and uneeded pain.
But if one were to go back and use batmansero’s analogy– Isn’t that the way YOU would like to be treated… Knowing that your guardian was doing EVERYTHING they could to protect you and keep you safe from harm?
My Mother used to let my brother and I walk along the top of a ten foot privacy fence that enclosed our back yard. We did this almost every day– weather permitting. He was nine and I was six. Nowadays, people would call child protective services if they knew your Mother was letting you do that… But every day we would climb and walk along the fence… Until, one day, my brother fell and broke his arm. I was NEVER allowed on the fence again.
Did I miss it? A little– for about two weeks. Did it ruin my quality of life and make me withdrawn or unhappy? Hëll no.
The only thing the fence ban did was give me one LESS chance to break my arm… And I have NEVER broken my arm to this day.