Friday, July 31, 2009

Miserable Skorpan

Sad Skorpan
Skorpan looking miserable with his cone

Monday I told you about Skorpan having problems with his tail. I thought it was sprained or twisted. However, Monday night he could move his tail around almost like normal and I examined him again (with the help of boyfriend who held Skorpan locked in his arms) and found a wound scab at the base of his tail. Skorpan hissed like crazy when I touched it and gently squeezed his tail around it. There was definitely something going on beneath the skin...

At the vet's yesterday it became apparent that he'd been bit by another cat (I blame the ginger cat or the black-and-white one that comes into our garden on occassion). And cat bites are nasty. Even for other cats. Skorpan was given some sedatives to calm down and when the vet peeled the scab off there was a jet stream of brownish-yellowish pus going across the table. It just squirted out... Parts of Skorpan's bum and tail got shaved, then the rest of the pus was squeezed out (and this hurt so much he hissed and wiggled a bit even though he was sedated) before the wound and the "cavity"/pocket that had formed in his tail from the pus was cleaned out with saline water and antibiotics.

He's now on antibitotics for 10 days and has to walk around with a plastic cone for a minimum of five whole days. He's miserable about it... Right after he got the cone on his head, he tried to back out of it. He walked backwards around the kitchen trying to escape the stupid thing. And when he realized that didn't help, he started moving forward, only to get stuck everywhere with the cone. And he didn't lift his head properly so even door-steps made him stuck. And he'd stand there butting the cone against the door-step or the wall or the chair or the food containers trying to move forwards. (I admit to laughing a bit as it looked hilarious, but at the same time I felt sorry for him as he clearly wasn't enjoying it...)

He was a bit more mobile this morning, but he's still having problems adjusting to walking around with the cone. He seems to understand how to back away from things when he gets stuck but there's still a lot of bouncing into things going on. And he doesn't lift his head properly so he stumbles when he walks as he'll put his paws on it... And even lying down looks uncomfortable as he doesn't rest his head properly. And I don't think he figured out during the night how to drink with the cone on 'cause he drank like crazy after he'd eaten his breakfast (I took the cone off so he wouldn't have to battle when eating). I don't think he's figured out how to get into the litter boxes on his own yet. I changed their position to make it easier for him and hope he has it figured out by the time I get home from work...

Poor little thing. My miserable Skorpan.



(And I'll try to refrain from going on and on about how upset I am with the cat owners who let their cats go outside without supervision and thereby making it possible for them to hurt my cat and leave me with a 1500kr/US$200-bill from the vet's office. Swedish legislation on animal rights says that owners of cats and dogs must keep their animals supervised and care for them in a way that prevents the animals from causing damage or inconveniences for others (2007:1150). Grumble, grumble, grumble... Having these cats in our garden and having one of them bite Skorpan is both a damage and an inconvenience.)

4 comments:

Geek Knitter said...

Poor kitty!

Hope he heals up soon.

Kim said...

oooh, poor kitty! At least your baby is on the way to recovering. I'm so happy for you!

Tempewytch said...

Oh poor Skorpan! I hope he is much better soon

Diet Coke Mom said...

Poor Skorpan! I'm glad you were able to get him sorted out at the vet. When pets have to wear that fashionable "cone" it's part heartbreak/part comedy. Poor Skorpan!