As I entered the vet's, the senior vet said Zurik was being done but there were some complications. Apparently, one of his digits was badly infected and the wound already had pus. Oh my goodness, I didn't know. It was, in a way, a blessing in disguise that I had caught him in time, because given a few more days, it would have been infected with maggots.
Wow...thank you, Universe, for making things fall into place at the right time.
I asked if antibiotics would be needed and the vet said probably not. Also, since he is a TNR case, would I be able to feed him medicine for 10 days? I said I would, if I had to, for his sake.
The vet who was performing the surgery was upstairs cleaning up the infected wound.
Then a phonecall came from upstairs saying Zurik had ear mites as well, and would I want him to be advocated? I said, yes, please, go ahead.
Hmm...looks like Mr Zurik does have some problems. "Luckily", I brought him in...
After a few minutes, I was summoned upstairs by the vet.
The vet wanted to show me the wound. Actually, there are TWO wounds.
The photo up there shows the worse of the two. This one already had green pus and was on the verge of turning maggoty. The whole toe is gone and will not grow back. In fact, the toe was still dangling from the wound when the vet noticed it. Suturing the skin is not possible as there is insufficient skin to cover the wound. The surprising thing is that Mr Zurik had no fever even with a wound this bad. And..he could still walk, run and attack other cats!
Well, Mr Zurik is Russian, you know. He's a tough guy.
The only reason that made the vet suspect he had a wound was the extremely foul smell in the carrier. And the vet called me up because she wanted to let me smell the wound. Oh my goodness....it smelled like rotten fish. REAL foul. The vet said the wound is quite recent.
Poor Mr Zurik....
This is the other wound in the middle toe. The toe is also gone.
The vet suspects he must have got it in a fight, then secondary infection (from the soil, probably) set in and it got infected that way.
Judging from the wound, antibiotics is necessary. 10 days.
For today, an antibiotic jab has been given, so I'm safe for the day. Tomorrow, we start on the oral medication. Clavomox, twice daily, so help me, please. The vet suggested an e-collar for easy feeding. Well, I have three e-collars at home, so since he is groggy, I will put it on him by myself when we reach home.
The vet also said Mr Zurik was extremely nice throughout the examination when she took him out of the cage. No need for the squeeze cage at all. Yes, we know he's a nice guy, just extremely smart.
However, the vet used an IM-sedative instead of IV (IM = Intra-muscular, IV-Intravenous) because he started struggling when she flipped him over to check for the wounds. This also means that he will take a longer time to wake up, which gives me more time to put on the e-collar when we reach home. The vet cautioned that he might be groggy until tonight. Nothing to worry about as he is already waking up now. Just that the grogginess will last longer than those under the IV-sedative.
We drove home.
Mr Zurik had already turned and curled up by the time we reached home.
The er..."welcoming home" committee?
I swear I saw a worried look on Ginger's face as he turned toward Vincent and I swear I heard Ginger say, "Oh no, he's back??"
Anyway, I brought him into the house.
Oh, he's awake already? I guess I cannot put on the e-collar now, especially when he is in this groggy state. He might attack me.
In you go, Mr Zurik.
The cage door is fortified with a string.
A colourful curtain to help the healing process!
Escape! I must escape!!
Mr Zurik climbed the bars.
I saw him drink water, so that's good.
It will take some time before he is more awake, so I shall reserve the food for then. Putting food now is a waste as he would just topple everything over.
Meanwhile, he has company.
We have a long day ahead of us...
And 10 days of adventure, eh?
Wish me luck!
In fact, please wish all the patio cats luck as Mr Zurik is staying on longer than intended at Jojo's Healing Haven, your friendly and caring nursing centre for recuperating cats!
Mr Zurik's neutering and treatment today is fully sponsored by Tabs & Associates. So is his stay at Jojo's Healing Haven!
5 comments:
From experience, I found it much more easy to use strong twisty ties instead of strings as reinforcement for cages.
You know what, i think he wanted to be caught. Sometimes, injured animals know how to find help. Dr. Ranjit had a stray male cat, who 'check-in' by himself. Walked into the clinic one day for treatment, then didn't want to leave. So she named him after the clinic ... JR :D
So you are safe from the shrews hehe
Oh, Ginger did that when he was bitten by Mr Quack and the wound was turning gangrenous. At that time, he wasn't a patio cat yet. In fact, there were no patio cats at that time. Ginger walked in and sat in the cage. That's how I could take him to the vet's for treatment and luckily he came by himself, because the wound had turned purple already and about to turn gangrenous (which could have required amputation - yikes!).
His wounds looks really bad. Luckily everything fell in place at the right time and he's in good hands now after the vet's treatment and also 5 star post-op care from you. You be a good boy now Mr Zurik, co-operate with your medication and and don't give Dr Chan too much trouble. Will send positive and loving thoughts to him every day for his speedy recovery.
Thanks very much, Jasmine! Mr Zurik says: *спасибо* (that's "thank you" in Russian!).
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