An 'F' in pet ownership

Ah, our poor animals.

About a month ago, Chuck--the cat we ALL love, even Chris--came home with a small hard lump on his side. I made Chris check it; he said that it wasn't fluid filled and we could just keep on eye on it. So we did. And it got smaller and disappeared.

Then, Saturday, as I mentioned in the Halloween post, I was petting Chuck up in Danny's bed (he loves to sleep with Danny) and the lump was back and very big. I brought him out to the living room to keep an eye on him for awhile and decided that he most definitely was not feeling good: wouldn't eat breakfast, was obviously in pain, very lethargic. Chris checked it again, declared it a fluid filled abscess and suggested that if Chuck were to live, we should get him to the vet.

Maybe I'll change our grade to a 'C', b/c at least we kept an eye on it and rushed him to the vet.

Luckily, our vet clinic was open (ER vets are not fun, or cheap, we know this from Zeus) and they squeezed him in. One of the reasons why I am still driving down to Salmon Creek instead of finding a new vet here. Plus, the visit came in actually under their estimate, and was pretty reasonable.

Poor guy had a raging fever and was dehydrated, so they admitted him to drain the abscess and then kept him until Monday evening to make sure the infection cleared up. I was very excited to find out there is now a broad-spectrum antibiotic for cats that requires ONE injection and lasts for 10-14 days. No shoving pills down his throat!

And I had to share a picture, b/c he looks hilarious with his cone head thing on. We've been taking it off to allow him to scratch and lick non-open-wound areas, but he goes right back to licking the abscess as soon as we turn our heads.

You can see in the picture, he's waiting at the door to be let out, but he's supposed to be inside for 10-14 days. We'll see how long that lasts.

Ok, now I sound like a crazy cat lady, but we were all fairly concerned for poor, sick, Chuck and babying him has taken up a substantial amount of our time.

Zeus, Oscar and Biscotti and more neglected than ever. Chuck better sleep with one eye open...