Not for long, though...
Last Thursday night, we heard the sound of a very short cat fight on the porch, and after a few minutes, a very forlorn-looking Bunny walked into the kitchen and sat on a towel.
We knew Cow was involved in the fight as it happened right after Cow jumped into the porch. Moreover, Cow had been behaving quite crankily for the last few days.
Our cats do fight occasionally, but usually nobody gets injured (it's usually just a few cat-snarls and a stand-off where the loser-cat walks away). So, I thought perhaps Bunny had just lost the fight and was feeling dejected. Bunny is bigger in size, but he doesn't fight back.
It was much later that we noticed Bunny was bleeding quite badly from his chin, and upon closer examination, there was a pretty bad wound there. There was also another small injury on his paw. I wasn't sure if it was due to a bite or a scratch, though.
It was very late at night and it did not appear to be very serious, so I just cleaned his wounds with water and applied some ointment on it. The bleeding from the chin stopped.
The next morning (Friday), I noticed a small, soft swelling had developed on the chin. Bunny wasn't looking too good and wasn't his normal happy "talkative" self. By "talkative", I mean that he always answers us when we call his name, and sometimes on his own, he calls us by making his own unique Bunny-sounds. But Bunny was still eating, so I didn't think there was anything seriously wrong.
Friday was an extremely busy day for me and I only got back by evening. By then, I noticed the swelling had grown bigger but it was still very soft and jelly-like, sort of hanging down from the chin. Bunny also felt feverish. The left side of his face was clearly swollen.
On Saturday morning, I took him to the vet.
The vet said the soft jelly-like swelling on the chin was an absess, and Bunny would have to be sedated so that a "hole" (puncture) can be made to drain the pus out. If not, everything will turn septic and he might even lose the skin around the absess once it starts to decay. It had been barely a little more than 24 hours after the bite and already an absess had formed. Bunny's temperature was 40.2 degrees. He was having fever. He would need subcutaneous fluids as well. The vet wasn't sure how serious the wound had become until the fur was shaven off.
I had not expected it to be that serious... I thought it was just a scratch wound.
So, Bunny had to stay at the clinic and I only brought him home in the evening after the procedure had been done. He was given a new antibiotic and an anti-inflammatory medicine.
Bunny was shaven on the left side of his face. The vet explained that the most serious bite was not the one on the chin, but another one, located on the left temple, just below the ear. I hadn't seen this one at all because it was covered by his fur. There was also another bite behind his ear, and of course, the one on the chin.
Bunny's shaven face.
There is the bite behind the ear, and also the hole on the temple (not very visible).
The wound on the chin and the paw.
The injury on the temple was the worst of the three, and the fluids had no place to accumulate, so it flowed all the way down to the chin (also, probably due to gravity) and that formed the soft jelly-like swelling that was hanging down from the chin.
Another puncture was made on the chin so that whatever pus that were to form later would be drained out. So, Bunny had two puncture holes (one on the temple and another on the chin) for "drainage". I was given povidone iodine to apply on the three wounds. Luckily Bunny did not need to wear the e-collar. That would have been a great source of stress for him.
If it's any consolation, the vet told me that during the festive seasons when they are firecrackers, some animals go cranky, and they do get more fighting cases during such times. Some animals are scared of the noise and it makes aggressive.
When Bunny came home, everyone (Bobby and the cats) came to take a look. Cow came too, and I told Cow to look at poor Bunny's injuries. Cow seemed very remorseful (at least I thought he did). He followed Bunny from a distance and even sat next to him when Bunny went to the kitchen to eat. I think Cow felt bad.
Cow feeling quite sorry for what he had done.
That night, Cow even allowed Bunny to sleep on my bed with me. He (Cow) went downstairs to the sofa. Normally, only Cow and Bobby gets to sleep on the bed every night. Cow allows the other cats to come into the room, but they cannot sleep on the bed.
Bunny slept soundly, but woke me up at 3.30am. He was hungry, so I took him downstairs and fed him. From 3.30am onwards, Bunny was making a lot of noise. I guess he was feeling uncomfortable. Poor thing...
Bunny sleeps on the "favourite chair" in the house.
Bunny gets the chair now. It's a "privilege" for the sick.
However, I noticed that Cow has been targetting Indy, so I need to monitor the two of them now.
A potential fight between Cow and Indy.
Bobby acts as mediator: "Hey, you two, cut it out!"
Bunny's condition has been improving day by day. There is still some fluids oozing from the two holes, especially the one on the temple.
At the time of writing this posting, Bunny is sleeping on a towel on my desk.
And Cow is nearby....
"I promise I won't attack Bunny anymore."
"I promise I won't attack Bunny anymore."
"I promise I won't attack Bunny anymore."
Say "I promise I won't attack any other cat again', Cow.
But the vet said, "Ahh, it happens....even human siblings fight, don't they?"
Yes, I guess they do.
Goodnight, everyone.
