My cat, Pandora, slunk in this evening and I found that something had bit her on the haunches. She’d already torn away a chunk of her fur trying to scratch at it. I immediately got the number of a 24 hour animal hospital and brought her over there. Ahead of us was a cat who had used up at least three of his nine lives when he decided that chewing on a power cord would be a spiffy idea and essentially killed himself (the only thing bringing him back being his owner’s massaging his chest).
Pandora got her backside shaved and there’s a nasty single puncture wound. I’m left wondering what would have left a sole puncture, since most animals you’ll run into–with the exception of Bucky from “Get Fuzzy”–have more than one fighting tooth. The doctor pumped her up with antibiotics and a pain killer, and put a collar around her that she initially had off in about ten seconds. We put it back on her and since then the pain killer kicked in and now she’s just lying there. She hasn’t even emerged from the cat carrier even though the door’s been sitting open for half an hour.
I’ll bring her to her regular vet Monday.
PAD
• 
Peter:
It’s also a question of circumstances.
About a month ago, I was at my folks house helping my dad with the yardwork, when we heard one of the dogs barking and growling. Realizing that somehow a snake had gotten into the yard, we began yelling at Princess Muttley (the dog) to get away. Worse case scenario we would of tried to kill it with the garden tools in our hands.
Muttley stood her ground and both lunged at each other. Muttley missed her opponent entirely, but since she also attacked, the snake only managed to get one fang into the dog’s leg.
Muttley managed to shake the snake off, and my dad killed it with the garden hoe before the snake could coil around for another attack.
Princess Muttley is back to her old, “regal” self now, but any idea why vet bills are just as expense as a regular doctor’s?
God, just an hour ago I was watching the Fellowship DVD, with the tabby sprawled across the window and the calico lying on my chest, and I was annoyed that the calico was shedding all over me and digging her claws into my chest.
Why are vets as expensive as a physician? Well, people won’t buy pet food that doesn’t have something to the effect of “Nutritionally Balanced” on the label, but every now and again, we all buy a cheeseburger.
Hey, PAD, at least she’s okay. I know that doesn’t help much.
God, just an hour ago I was watching the Fellowship DVD, with the tabby sprawled across the window and the calico lying on my chest, and I was annoyed that the calico was shedding all over me and digging her claws into my chest.
Why are vets as expensive as a physician? Well, people won’t buy pet food that doesn’t have something to the effect of “Nutritionally Balanced” on the label, but every now and again, we all buy a cheeseburger.
Hey, PAD, at least she’s okay. I know that doesn’t help much.
*
I’ll bring her to her regular vet Monday.
PAD
*
Only if it lives that long. Good luck.
Wow, PJ, way to be optimistic.
Anyway, hope everything goes well. I’ve got several of the furballs myself, so I know how you feel.
Possibly the kitty got caught in a chain link fence somewhere.
Same thing happened to my cat a couple of years back. I couldn’t figure out what it was, looked like an animal bite, but the single hole confounded me. Then I saw her getting in under the fence, where the wire is twisted to form the mesh. Those little ends can be sharp as all hëll.
On the other hand, I’m not a vet, so who knows.
Didn’t know you were a cat person, Peter. If any of these anecdotes are helpful……
My cat Elsa, has led the longest and most uneventful life of all the cats that I’ve had, but one time, I actually witnessed an altercation between her and Pixie, the next door neighbor cat, and it was somewhat shocking. Wrestling with each other on the ground, Elsa literally sent Pixie’s fur flying, but after they separated, I got to Elsa, and I saw that Pixie had held on for dear life, and left two paper-thin cross sections of her talons into Elsa’s face, one right above her left eye, and one in her cheek. Thank God neither went into her eye. So even though, cats have many claws, only two were left sticking out of Elsa.
Elsa’s mother Spot was not so fortunate. At one point, I noticed an odd bump on her skin that I thought was some kind of growth. Some time after that, I found her with a tiny hole in her body. She had lost fluids, the pinkish color from the inside of her mouth faded, and she became cold. I took her to the vet, and they told me keeping her alive with surgery and fluids would be inhumane, so I was forced to euthanize her. But the doctor also cut open the odd “growth” from months before, and produced a tiny BB. Whoever shot her fatally that day had tried months earlier, and it lodged in her skin. Could the hole in Pandora’s body be a BB wound?
An earlier cat that I had when I was twelve named Prince once came home, and to my horror, had an awful gash underneath his chin, on his throat. I don’t know how it happened, or how he didn’t bleed to death, but he was walking around with a big hole on the underside of his head, so we took him to the vet, who stitched him up again. I guessed he had either had a vicious fight with another cat or a dog, or passed under a briar bush or some other sharp object or plant. (I’m guessing though, that Pandora’s wound isn’t as serious.)
PJ: Only if it lives that long. Good luck.
Luigi Novi: What’re you, retarded or something? Or just bereft of tact?
i’m sure the little rascal will bounce right back.
my cat is still going hearty even after slicing himself on a corrugated iron fence. you know those pads they have on the bottom of their feet and the ones on the back of their legs? fence went through part of the one on back of his leg. spent a night at the vet so they could cut the rest off and then bandaged him up. the vet was also kind enuff to point out kitty had a heart murmur and after another nite at the vet’s an x-ray in another town they told me he had an enlarged atria (or something). nothing they could do for him. that was 2 years ago and he’s still alive and kicking and stealing half the bed at night 😛 oh well makes a good hot water bottle substitute 😛
and you’re right about the cost of a vet these days. for a bit there kitty’s visits were more expensive than my docs. now i go to the docs by work and i’m more expensive again at $56 a visit 😛
The way a dog’s teeth are set it’s possible that only one tooth penetrated (had enuff childhood dog bites to realize this does occur) but the possibility of a snake bite (tho slim I’d think), a piece of fence as mentioned or even a protruding nail in a crawl space of a house could be the cause. Then there’s always the evil neighborhood kid with his pellet/bb gun. Give Pandi a lot of TLC and a pint of Chunky Monkey and purrhaps after her next vet’s visit all will be well.
**Lee Houson, Junior wrote:
Princess Muttley is back to her old, “regal” self now, but any idea why vet bills are just as expense as a regular doctor’s? **
Basically it comes down to one thing, pet medicines cost the same as human medicines. In many cases the medicines are exactly the same, just smaller doses for smaller bodies.
Not to mention that Vets go through just as much schooling as a “regular” doctor, and the insurance for the clinics are just as expensive, if not higher, than a “regular” doctor.
Personally, I’ll do what it takes to care for my pets, same as I would for the rest of my family, no matter the cost.
jeff
Ouch. When I was 10, my cat Abraham came into the house at night with a huge gash in his side and a hole through his ear. We took him to the emergency vet. He survived, but man, was that traumatic for us. Best wishes for Pandora.
Oh, Poor Pandora! This sounds to me like she got caught under a fence.
I hope the regular vet has good news for you.
Lenaing towards the fence/nail theory myself. Hopefully the little girl will be fine. With 3 cats and 3 dogs of my own, I know where you’re coming from, they’re basicaaly the only kids we plan on having.
Plus remember that while vets can specialize like human doctors, they still have to learn several species worth of medicine, rather than than just two genders or the same species.
Hëll, we spend more on our animals medical care than we do on our own…
Spider bite? Wasp sting?
The collar’s probably a good idea. I’ve thought about getting one for Stan just for the damage he does to himself with his obsessive grooming. I swear, that cat gets an itch someplace he can reach and he’ll turn it into a giant raw spot in a day…
Paul
Pandora is sitting in front of the keyboard as I type this occationally licking my fingers as I type. She has hidden her collar somewhere in the house. She seems better today. When she is not with me, she is going into her cat carrier and sleeping there. Which is a little unusal for her. The fence theory is a good one since our neighbors recently redid a section of their property which broke part of a wire fence that has been across the back of the property since Peter bought the house. I guess I’ll check it out later and see what needs doing. She’s our only outdoor cat. The rest are indoor cats.
Kathleen
Kathleen, cats generally look for secluded spaces, usually dark, when they know that they know that they’re about to give birth, when they’re feeling very ill, and when they know that they’re dying. For Pandora to crawl into her carrier when it’s not usual for her to do so might cause concern for me, but then again, it’s possible she just found a new sleeping spot that she’s gotten used to. Hope she’s okay. 🙂
Awww… Poor kitty…
Oh, and I gotta say it…
Blast it, Jim, she a kitty, not a super hero!
Best of luck with Pandora. Lord knows I cried my eyes out when I lost my Rainbow last year.
Why wouldn’t vets be as expensive as human doctors? They perform essentially the same set of services, with the following differences: 1) vets have to know the anatomy and physiology of multiple species, not just one (and they’re a lot more different than you might think); 2) vets are a lot more liable to be bitten or scratched than a human doctor; 3) you have to be able to diagnose problems with virtually no useful feedback from the patient (“Where does it hurt? Speak up, kitty!”).
And we’re not even talking about vets that see large animals, and who therefore still make housecalls at all hours of the day and night. Or how very few people have any pet health insurance and instead default on their bill and leave their pets behind for the vet to look after rather than pay for it (which is how we got our dog) making it a risky profession with high accounts receivables.
All while being the lowest-paid profession among those with equivalent schooling. So, why should your vet bill be less expensive than your doctor’s bill?
Glad to hear that Pandora seems none the worse for wear, Peter. My wife, the vet, suggests that if she’s limping there might be an abscess that would need taking care of, but hopefully she would be showing any major problems by now. Good luck on Monday!
For those interested in why Vets ate so expensive I would recommend a recent issue of “Consumer Reports” which has a facinating article on that very subject.
Animals a pretty resliiant and I’m betting Pandora will be fine very soon. Best wishes at your Vets.
Scott: Why wouldn’t vets be as expensive as human doctors? They perform essentially the same set of services, with the following differences: 1) vets have to know the anatomy and physiology of multiple species, not just one (and they’re a lot more different than you might think); 2) vets are a lot more liable to be bitten or scratched than a human doctor…
Luigi Novi: Tell that to the doctor who saw my Uncle Clyde last month. Poor bášŧárd never saw that one coming.
The vet was also kind enuff to point out kitty had a heart murmur and after another nite at the vet’s an x-ray in another town they told me he had an enlarged atria (or something). nothing they could do for him. that was 2 years ago and he’s still alive and kicking and stealing half the bed at night.
Actually there IS something you can do for him. If this is the same condiditon that one of my cats has (and it sounds like it is) then he can take medicine for it. When my regular vet detected the heart murmur she referred us to a vet that specialized in internal medicine. The specialist shaved a little patch on Mouse’s (yes, a cat named Mouse) chest and did an ultra sound and showed us the thickening of the walls between the chambers of the heart. She gave us a prescription for Atenelol which we get filled at our normal pharmacy. He takes 1/2 a tablet a day to help regulate his heartbeat and a 1/2 an aspirin every other day to thin his blood. These are preventative measures so that he won’t have a problem in the future. Mouse might have been fine without the drugs but if we can add even one or two years to his lifespan then it’s worth it to us. The Atenelol is only like $9.00 for a two month supply so it’s not prohibitively expensive.
And Peter, if the collar doesn’t work and you need to keep Pandora from licking her wounds I have a solution that one of our vets used. A maxi-pad. Seriously. It works like a cervical collar and prevents the cat from bending their head far enough to lick the wound. Strange but true.
Hope Pandora is doing fine.
Fazhoul, what method do you use to get your cat to take his pills?
We’ve got the routine to give the dogs any pills they need down pat, but for the cats it’s alway a battle, the “put in the back of their mouth, hold the muzzle closed while rubbing the throat doesn’t seem to work on the cats…
Hey, Peter.
I have no cat anecdotes to add. (My feline Wyatt (Wingfoot,not Earp)is an indoor cat and will be while there’s breath in my body.)
I just want to send my best wishes for the recovery of Pandora.
\\Fazhoul, what method do you use to get your cat to take his pills?
We’ve got the routine to give the dogs any pills they need down pat, but for the cats it’s alway a battle, the “put in the back of their mouth, hold the muzzle closed while rubbing the throat doesn’t seem to work on the cats…
\\
Well, the Atenelol and the aspirin that we have to give Mouse (the cat) are small to begin with and then we have to cut them in half. I then take the half and break it into quarters and then put the tiny pieces into a small spoonful of canned cat food. The cats usually eat dry cat food so this is a treat for Mouse and eats the canned food so fast that he doesn’t realize that there is a pills in it. Mouse then runs to join the other guys for some dry food. We’ve got the routine down and Mouse has us well trained. 🙂 I have to make sure that the pills are completely covered with the food otherwise Mouse sees/smells/tastes it and leaves it in the bowl.
If this doesn’t work for you then I don’t have any other suggestions. I just hope your cat never gets conjunctivitis which is an infection in the soft tissue lining the eyelids. We had to pry his eye open, pull the eyelid away from the eye and then squirt some ointment inside the eyelid and hold the eye shut until the ointment dissolved (about 15-20 secs.). We had to do this twice a day for 2-3 weeks. After awhile Mouse would put up some token resistance and then just give in and let us get it over with. Trimming the back nails on some of the cats can be fun too. 🙂
This is why my cats stay indoors…(well, not just the injuries, but also FIP, Feline Lukemia, etc etc).
“Fazhoul, what method do you use to get your cat to take his pills?
We’ve got the routine to give the dogs any pills they need down pat, but for the cats it’s alway a battle, the “put in the back of their mouth, hold the muzzle closed while rubbing the throat doesn’t seem to work on the cats…
Posted by Ken M”
I have to give my cat 2 pills a day for her thyroid condition, so i’ve got it down to a science: flip the cat upside down in your lap or tilt their head, either way just as long as they’re looking up. Now, if you lightly touch right at the joint of a cat’s jaw, it’ll spring open automatically (most cats aren’t going to want to leave their mouths open so they may do a chewing motion). While the mouth is open, toos the pill all the way to the back of their throat, past the tongue, they’ll suck it down on reflex. If it’s a big pill you may want to break it in two first.
Now the same cat has bad kidneys and has to get fluids put into her back a couple times a week…that’s a whole other ordeal….
I’d like to add my well wishes, whatever they’re worth, to PAD’s Pandora.
And as long as we’re swapping cat health histories…
My first cat, Panda was a tuxedo cat who through sheer corpulence earned the name “Lard-ášš.” He learned to answer to it. As I recall, his weight gain really kicked in after his sex-change operation. Not kidding — he had a urinary tract infection and the vet needed to do something drastic to fix it. Panda died of a heart attack at age 13.
Our 2nd cat, who came and went within Panda’s lifespan, was Ohno — named by my father when my mother announced this stray was coming into the house. Ohno was another tuxedo cat, who soon became a bookend to Panda. Ohno was never in great health — physically, he looked like a sausage on toothpicks, and I think his IQ was negative. We never figured out whether he died of something he came in with or because chewing on electrical wires finally caught up with him.
Minnie was Ohno’s replacement, because Panda was lonely. Minnie was never friendly — Mom described her as a turnip in tabby clothing. Minnie died at 18. She might have made it to 25 on spite alone, but the vet spotted oral cancer when Minnie had teeth problems. Minnie had almost been suffocated a dozen years before that, when she’d used the underside of my bed as a scratching post. Dad had just finished re-stuffing and sewing up the mattress when Mom screamed there was something moving in there. After some debate, we let the cat out.
Not a month after Minnie was put down, Mom called me in tears. Freebie, an adopted stray who replaced Panda, had taken ill — and it turned out she’d had FIV all these years. Bye, Freebie.
Now the folks have Barnum and Bailey. Barnum does all the eating, because he has a thyroid condition my father has to give him shots for. Bailey gains all the weight — she seems healthy so far, but for some reason she likes to play with pill bottles.
OK, I’ve rambled long enough. I’ll save the dying cat story for when this blod does a thread on worst-date-ever stories.
I participate in a lot of animal rescue. Cats that go outside live– on average– 7 years… Tops.
Housecats can live as long as 20 to 25– with proper care and if they stay inside all the time. It would be great if you could get Pandora to stay inside. She’ll wail, scratch at the door (and dart outside if you give her half a chance)… She’ll do all kinds of things… But after a few days (up to a week) she’ll stop and she will acclimate herself to living full time in the house.
Pandora will also be much less likely to be injured or killed. She also won’t be bringing in any fleas or perhaps viruses (or other ailments) from the outside and speading them among the indoor cats.
It’s really simple: An indoor cat is a safer, healthier cat… and with the right amount of interaction from her family… Just as happy as an outdoor cat as well.
Thanks for the tips, the meds we had to give Baby Scully last year were in liquid gel caps that we’d poke a hole in and drip onto her food, much like the crumbling the pill. The problem was, she didn’t (still doesn’t) eat very much, and the pill was to help her gain weight (our other two cats need to lose weight).
I asked because she may have to go on pills of some sort soon after we recently found a melanin-filled cyst on her back, we’re awaiting the test results currently.
How’d the vet trip go, PAD? Hopefully Pandora is going to be fine.
My parents’ cat, Max, actually got shot in the leg a few years ago. We never found out who did it (which is good, because my father would have killed them, really), but they lived out in the country and it’s possible sombody though he was a rabbit or something. At least that’s what I tell myself to keep from seething with rage.
Anyway, Max dragged himself home all bloody and battered, and while he lost the leg, he recovered beautifully and is still hopping around happily (tho not outside anymore).
My mother later adopted ANOTHER three-legged tabby that she saw on TV. The neighbors are beginning to wonder…
The “nine lives” thing really does seem to be true. Max also got lost in a strange neighborhood when my mother moved, but despite 100-degree heat and a missing leg, he turned up fine a few weeks later.
Hey Peter.
I am a longtime fan and firsttime poster. I don’t have any cat anecdotes at the time, I was just jazzed to see you reference Darby Conley’s Bucky from the classic strip Get Fuzzy. I stumbled onto this strip over a year ago, before the collected editions began, and I was an instant fan. I am glad to hear I am not the only one.
-jim
These are preventative measures so that he won’t have a problem in the future. Mouse might have been fine without the drugs but if we can add even one or two years to his lifespan then it’s worth it to us. The Atenelol is only like $9.00 for a two month supply so it’s not prohibitively expensive.
Fazhoul – Atenolol is an odd choice for a preventative measure, as it will actually shave years off of an animal’s life. The way it was described to me is that, if the atenolol takes two years but the problem it solves would take four, then the atenolol gains your pet two years and you call it good. This one is of particular interest to me, as I take atenolol myself. Good to hear about the price, though – I haven’t had to buy any since I moved to the States, and it was considerably more expensive up in Canada ($30 for 90 days).
In regards to my earlier commentary:
My folks paid Princess Muttley’s vet bills, which in the end were right about $200.
It was not a question of the money itself. Medical expenses always have been and will be met whether the family member in question has two or four legs. It was just a question of curiosity.
All our cats are indoor as can be, and one is a “recovering feral” 🙂
Our only male cat (and yes the females are spayed and he’s neutered. Thank GAWD.) loves to try and get into the garage. Not nessecarily outside, just into the garage, where he’ll immediately flop down, so you have to pick him up and carry him back inside. Little Guy we call him. Strangely, andhas anyone else noticed this, but out of all our cats, Little Guy, the only male, is the most affectionate. He LOVES to be carried around, kissed on the head, all that. This is really the first time I’ve noticed this. I’ve been around cats all my life, but L.G. is only the second male we’ve had, and the other, Banjo, was neurotic as all get out.
I’ve had cats all my life. At one point we had between 20 and 25 cats at my parents house. One thing that I had learned, and it’s been reinforced since my wife and I have had our own cats, is that each cat has their own personality. Someone had told me that female cats are always friendlier and more loving. We have four cats, two male and two female and they are all different.
Dante, the oldest male, is a black and white, 14lb cat who is a big baby and a bigger coward. Outsiders (anyone besides me and my wife) almost NEVER see Dante because he always hides whenever other people are around. When it’s just my wife and I Dante talks to us almost consstantly. I’ve never known a cat with so many different vocalizations.
Mouse, the second male, is a creamy orange colored tabby. Mouse is the smartest and the orneriest of the bunch. I have sat and watched him PLAN ambushes on the other cats. He has also figured out how to open almost every closed cupboard door. He also used to jump into the fridge and sit on the bottom shelf whenever we would open it. that ended when he got shut inside the fridge for about 15 min. when my wife didn’t see him jump in their.
Kiko is a grey female tabby who has to be the neediest cat in existence. She ALWAYS needs attention. If we are brushing one of the other cats she will walk over and push herself in the way of the brush. She is constantly following my wife around. She is the sweetest one of the bunch.
The fourth, and last, cat is Oreo. Oreo is a black and white long hair who was so fat when we got her that I started calling her Double Stuff. She is a rescue kitty. A coworker of my wife’s was moving and didn’t want to take Oreo with her. Lisa said that she would take Oreo “just until we could find a home for her”. That was last October. Oreo is a generally nasty cat and she seems to have a perpetual scowl on her face. My wife and I also call her “Moody Bìŧçh”. Oreo wants NOTHING to do with the other cats. there is a 3ft. buffer zone around her that the other cats cannot come into or else she will hiss and smack at them. The funny thing is that sometimes, out of the blue, she will jump up on our bed and she will be just the sweetest thing, purring and rubbing up against you wanting attention. It’s like a Jekyll & Hyde thing in reverse where her second personality is the nice one.
Well, I’m sure that this is boring to most of you but my wife and I aren’t having any kids so this is our family.
Given that we’ve got a Pandora of our own (literally: three cats, the eldest of whom is named Pandora), this story’s resonating over in the Lynch/Hazard household. Best wishes to Pandora, her siblings, and her humans.
Cat stories to follow some other time as appropriate. 🙂
TWL
Is the cat carrier “Pandora’s Box?” Just asking.
Actually, I worked at a vet’s last summer, and assuming that Pandora doesn’t get at her wound, it usually will heal just fine. So to add to the anecdotes, I helped out when a nurse brought in her 65 lb black lab a day after it had been attacked by a larger dog in front of her house. It was a serious wound, with internal organs visible, and it was stitched up and not infected as long as the dog did not scratch at the drain (which of course it did, and had to come in 3x for follow ups b/c the owner thought that the sweatshirt we gave him so that he wouldn’t re-open the wound “wasn’t his color.” Sigh).
Anyways, good luck with Pandora.
Chris
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