I’d promised myself I would run another 2 10ks this month and one was gonna be this weekend. However life got in the way and after 3 fairly sleepless nights I just about managed a 5k this morning and the last 1k I was counting the steps. Legs like lead and no ooomph. Oh well 5k is 5k.
The reason for the lack of sleep is that my poor Loki, who I took to the vets on Wednesday morning because he was lethargic, protruding tongue and limping on back leg... spent wed night there in a drip because his tongue was ulcerated and they couldn’t see what was wrong with his leg so he was doped up on painkilling injection, and given antibiotics and anti inflammatories and sent home for us to keep an eye on. Telling me he was struggling to eat. As soon as he was home with the others he was eating happily although soft food not his usual fried food. That night about 9.30, his back paw looked weepy and sore and twice the size of the other one, so I rang the vet again and they said bring him up in the morning.
When I’d got him back from the vets he’d weed in their cage and rolled in it and they had “ bathed” him but he stunk so I bathed him an hour before his appointment and then realised he cdnt dry himself because of his tongue 🙄. I tried drying him but he wasn’t happy so we arrived at the vets with him quite wet still. While he was wet I’d noticed his knuckles were oozing and also had found a bloody footprint on my white windowsill where he sleeps sometimes. So I mentioned this and handed him over to the vets. They asked me to wait outside while they checked him over.
40 minutes later the vet came out empty handed. My stomach dropped. She said “ he’s ok but... it’s not an animal bite as we first thought. It’s a chemical burn!!! And his skin is starting to come away from the pad. “ well I cried. The pain he must have been in !!! And that’s how he got the ulcers !!!
So they said they were going to keep him in and operate, shave the fur off the leg and see the damage. So home I went bawling all the way!!!
Luckily I had my daughter and son there waiting for news because I went to pieces. Anyway the vet rang back about 4 and started to tell me about him but we got cut off, he rang again said 4 words and got cut off again and as they had said they were having trouble with the phones the day before I drove up there. One of the receptionists was in the car park apologising as there was a power cut for the whole estate and the phones and computers were down.
Vet came out and said that it has gone well. The foot is ok but a lot of the skin is badly damaged - not full thickness but that it should grow back. Cats are amazing at regrowing skin he said” so I could take him home and make an spot today when the phones are in again to have his dressings changed on Monday. There will be a few more appointments apparently ☹️but those are included in the price of the op. Good!!!
He also said to keep him in a dog crate at night to stop him hurting himself so I borrowed one from my friend nearby. When we first got him home he was still groggy from the anaesthetic and he’d sit and gaze into the distance then suddenly get up and try to pitch off somewhere. He hated the cone and kept banging into things and we had to keep rescuing but every now and then he would fall asleep for 20 mins before waking and trying to move again - I think he want sure where he was. He did eat his tea though with the painkiller meds in.
Then about 8.00 we put him in the crate and he went nuts. About 90 mins of crying and digging. I’d put him in the dining room but we could still hear him all over the house. At 9.30 my shopping got delivered and I went past him to put it all away and wipe it down in the kitchen. And he has his head down in the corner with the damned collar. I felt awful. Then it has all gone quiet by the time I’d finished and as I came j to the room I realised why. The still locked dog crate was empty and he was curled up asleep- minus the cone in his comfy bed in the sitting room.
He’d managed to pull the tray back at the bottom of the crate ( it slides out to clean it) and he’d got the cone off and got through a 3”x4” hole in the bottom and god knows how!!! We are renaming him Houdini!!
Free advice
Sunday morning walk.
Light at the end of the tunnel!
