Monday update: my gf's cat was mauled Sunday night. [her skin was ripped and bleeding in several places and the fur was scraped off in other places]
My gf and I discussed this and I took the risk ... not realizing that such a wound, a puncture wound to the abdomen, could become septic overnight... We would take her to the vet first thing in the morning.
Monday (yesterday): We waited until morning to take her to the vet at 7am when they opened. --- She (Eloise cat) slept on the day bed in the basement that night. She usually sleeps with us. She bled out pinkish lymph.
The next morning, we loaded her into a cage and took her to the vet. Immediately, the situation at the vet was disconnected and out-of-sync with what was going on with the cat.
In the waiting room:
Vet tech: Is this Eloise (we had just called and made an appointment)? Has she had an ID chip implanted yet? Would you like to get her an ID chip?
We told the vet tech "no" and that the cat needed to be looked at and treated for her wounds. So she led us into the vet's examination room:
She weighed in at 12 pounds. Normal body temperature. Shaved the wounds and cleaned and visually inspected them. Took X-rays. They revealed black spots in the wall of her abdomen. The spots outlined the imprint of a jaw, the top and bottom half on either side of the cat's abdomen. The vet, Dr. F___ explained that these were air pockets where the tissue lining her abdomen was ripped and possible punctured. An animal the size of a medium dog or coyote did it. I've seen both types of animal moving through the backyard recently. Dr. F said the wound went all the way through, puncturing the abdomen, but this was not obvious visually. They had to run another test for abdominal fluid type or something to determine this.
Then Dr. F__ left and came back in a few minutes with a handful of printouts with prices for several treatment options.....He recommended hospitalizing th4e cat for the next several days, doing "exploratory surgery" on the second day without even knowing if it is necessary, and continuing to monitor Eloise's condition. Mentioned danger of fatty tissue necrosis. If that set in, he would have to euthanize her as nothing can be done in that case. My gf started crying. He seemed very eager to hospitalize her and especially do the surgery, someting that would run the his bill well over $1000. He disappeared into the back again while my gf and I thought about what to do.
My gf and i talked about this.... we weighed the options
Dr. F's eagerness to conduct expensive "exploratory" surgery made us both wary. (We were already puzzled by the vet tech who was pushing microchip implants.) Also, nobody is at the vet after 7 pm and tfhe cat would be unattended if somethign happens. Not only that, but while hospitalized here, she would yowl and be stressed - the loud noises of machinery and other animals, dogs, the tiny cage, unfamiliar surroundings,,,,,
Better to keep her in familiar surroundings where we could watch her oursleves, we decided. .. Less stress, animals and humans heal more quickly in pleasanter surroundings. I read that in JAMA or Nature or New Scientist or someplace similar... and we would call and all-night hospital if somethign happens..
We told the vet of our decision. He seemed disappointed and said this wasn't the best medicine and gave us a little lecture.... so he took her in back again to prepare her to go home. He injected her with saline since she wasn't eating. I assumed the vet meant an iv until I saw a huge bleb, a huge pocket of saline they had injected under her skin on one side. It was leaking out a little bit from her wounds -- you could tell when we picked her up from the towell she was on. Gave her antibotics. Sent us home with several syringes of kitty morphine and several cans of cat food containing an additive that makes it so appealling to cats that even the sickest cat can't resist eating it.
We gave her one dose of the pain killer. She perked up and stood up about 1/2 hour after the shot. Tried to be normal after the kitty morphine. 2 a day, every 12 hours under the tongue. Was try8ing to socialize with us.made a tiny meek little kitten meow. Even purred, but only for a minute. Then she ate 1/2 can of the special cat food. That's all she ate that day. They are small cans. She slept most of the day and night.
My gf and I discussed this and I took the risk ... not realizing that such a wound, a puncture wound to the abdomen, could become septic overnight... We would take her to the vet first thing in the morning.
Monday (yesterday): We waited until morning to take her to the vet at 7am when they opened. --- She (Eloise cat) slept on the day bed in the basement that night. She usually sleeps with us. She bled out pinkish lymph.
The next morning, we loaded her into a cage and took her to the vet. Immediately, the situation at the vet was disconnected and out-of-sync with what was going on with the cat.
In the waiting room:
Vet tech: Is this Eloise (we had just called and made an appointment)? Has she had an ID chip implanted yet? Would you like to get her an ID chip?
We told the vet tech "no" and that the cat needed to be looked at and treated for her wounds. So she led us into the vet's examination room:
She weighed in at 12 pounds. Normal body temperature. Shaved the wounds and cleaned and visually inspected them. Took X-rays. They revealed black spots in the wall of her abdomen. The spots outlined the imprint of a jaw, the top and bottom half on either side of the cat's abdomen. The vet, Dr. F___ explained that these were air pockets where the tissue lining her abdomen was ripped and possible punctured. An animal the size of a medium dog or coyote did it. I've seen both types of animal moving through the backyard recently. Dr. F said the wound went all the way through, puncturing the abdomen, but this was not obvious visually. They had to run another test for abdominal fluid type or something to determine this.
Then Dr. F__ left and came back in a few minutes with a handful of printouts with prices for several treatment options.....He recommended hospitalizing th4e cat for the next several days, doing "exploratory surgery" on the second day without even knowing if it is necessary, and continuing to monitor Eloise's condition. Mentioned danger of fatty tissue necrosis. If that set in, he would have to euthanize her as nothing can be done in that case. My gf started crying. He seemed very eager to hospitalize her and especially do the surgery, someting that would run the his bill well over $1000. He disappeared into the back again while my gf and I thought about what to do.
My gf and i talked about this.... we weighed the options
Dr. F's eagerness to conduct expensive "exploratory" surgery made us both wary. (We were already puzzled by the vet tech who was pushing microchip implants.) Also, nobody is at the vet after 7 pm and tfhe cat would be unattended if somethign happens. Not only that, but while hospitalized here, she would yowl and be stressed - the loud noises of machinery and other animals, dogs, the tiny cage, unfamiliar surroundings,,,,,
Better to keep her in familiar surroundings where we could watch her oursleves, we decided. .. Less stress, animals and humans heal more quickly in pleasanter surroundings. I read that in JAMA or Nature or New Scientist or someplace similar... and we would call and all-night hospital if somethign happens..
We told the vet of our decision. He seemed disappointed and said this wasn't the best medicine and gave us a little lecture.... so he took her in back again to prepare her to go home. He injected her with saline since she wasn't eating. I assumed the vet meant an iv until I saw a huge bleb, a huge pocket of saline they had injected under her skin on one side. It was leaking out a little bit from her wounds -- you could tell when we picked her up from the towell she was on. Gave her antibotics. Sent us home with several syringes of kitty morphine and several cans of cat food containing an additive that makes it so appealling to cats that even the sickest cat can't resist eating it.
We gave her one dose of the pain killer. She perked up and stood up about 1/2 hour after the shot. Tried to be normal after the kitty morphine. 2 a day, every 12 hours under the tongue. Was try8ing to socialize with us.made a tiny meek little kitten meow. Even purred, but only for a minute. Then she ate 1/2 can of the special cat food. That's all she ate that day. They are small cans. She slept most of the day and night.