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Why Do Bad Things Happen To Good Cats?
Feb. 4th, 2013 04:22 pmHaving learned my lesson from previous posts, I'll state up front that none of our cats have died. So you can now read on without that mounting sense of dread.
A couple of weeks ago Cal disappeared for a couple of days. I spotted her hanging around the woods near the bottom of the drive but she moved away when I tried to approach her. Pretty typical "going to ground" behaviour, indicating that something was wrong. Shadow, Bacchus and Persis will all go to ground inside the house when they're not feeling well, but the other five tend to head for the trees, forcing us to just grit our teeth and hope that they can get through it on their own.
Cal returned to the house a few days later, was a bit listless for the first couple of days but then perked up. She'd lost quite a bit of weight but was eating again and didn't seem in any discomfort, so I assumed that she'd gotten over whatever it was.
When Cal was spayed she was left with two flaps of furred skin hanging below her belly. I guess all cats get that when spayed but with Cal the flaps were much bigger than with our other cats and their swaying back and forth as she moved gave her a very distinctive walk. A few days ago I was petting her belly and I noticed that the formerly empty flaps now seemed to have something fleshy inside of them. Up closer to her spine there was almost nothing. I'd previously taken that to be an indication of heavy weight loss but I began to suspect instead that some of her internal organs had dropped out of her abdominal cavity and into her belly flaps.
I took her in to the vet today (how many times must I suffer scratches to my face and arms before I learn to pick cats up by the scruff of the neck??) and he confirmed that her abdominal wall had herniated and some of her intestines had dropped. He said that it must have been the result of being hit or crushed, though there were no contusions or broken bones or other signs of trauma. She likes to hang out at the bottom of the driveway a lot, so the most likely cause is that she got hit by a car or truck. The driveway is steep and curves sharply so the speed would have been low. That might explain the lack of other injuries. I just hope it wasn't me that hit her. I know it shouldn't make any difference, but it does.
She's been prepped for surgery, which will take place either tonight or tomorrow. I assume we'll then have to keep her in the dog cage for a couple of weeks while she heals. I'm guessing she'll handle that better than Timid did, but you never know.
Cal is a sweet cat. Whenever I lie down on the bed she comes in and curls up next to me, often even getting there ahead of Shadow, which is quite a trick. She had a difficult kittenhood thanks to Bacchus continually terrorizing her and Bang. That's why we originally got the dog cage. We used to put Bacchus in it whenever he went after one of the other cats. It worked remarkably well.
After that tempestuous start to her life, Cal deserves a nice, quiet adulthood, with lots of scritching and yummy food. I hope she comes through this okay.
A couple of weeks ago Cal disappeared for a couple of days. I spotted her hanging around the woods near the bottom of the drive but she moved away when I tried to approach her. Pretty typical "going to ground" behaviour, indicating that something was wrong. Shadow, Bacchus and Persis will all go to ground inside the house when they're not feeling well, but the other five tend to head for the trees, forcing us to just grit our teeth and hope that they can get through it on their own.
Cal returned to the house a few days later, was a bit listless for the first couple of days but then perked up. She'd lost quite a bit of weight but was eating again and didn't seem in any discomfort, so I assumed that she'd gotten over whatever it was.
When Cal was spayed she was left with two flaps of furred skin hanging below her belly. I guess all cats get that when spayed but with Cal the flaps were much bigger than with our other cats and their swaying back and forth as she moved gave her a very distinctive walk. A few days ago I was petting her belly and I noticed that the formerly empty flaps now seemed to have something fleshy inside of them. Up closer to her spine there was almost nothing. I'd previously taken that to be an indication of heavy weight loss but I began to suspect instead that some of her internal organs had dropped out of her abdominal cavity and into her belly flaps.
I took her in to the vet today (how many times must I suffer scratches to my face and arms before I learn to pick cats up by the scruff of the neck??) and he confirmed that her abdominal wall had herniated and some of her intestines had dropped. He said that it must have been the result of being hit or crushed, though there were no contusions or broken bones or other signs of trauma. She likes to hang out at the bottom of the driveway a lot, so the most likely cause is that she got hit by a car or truck. The driveway is steep and curves sharply so the speed would have been low. That might explain the lack of other injuries. I just hope it wasn't me that hit her. I know it shouldn't make any difference, but it does.
She's been prepped for surgery, which will take place either tonight or tomorrow. I assume we'll then have to keep her in the dog cage for a couple of weeks while she heals. I'm guessing she'll handle that better than Timid did, but you never know.
Cal is a sweet cat. Whenever I lie down on the bed she comes in and curls up next to me, often even getting there ahead of Shadow, which is quite a trick. She had a difficult kittenhood thanks to Bacchus continually terrorizing her and Bang. That's why we originally got the dog cage. We used to put Bacchus in it whenever he went after one of the other cats. It worked remarkably well.
After that tempestuous start to her life, Cal deserves a nice, quiet adulthood, with lots of scritching and yummy food. I hope she comes through this okay.
