Tiger Day 10

We are now using the e-collar on Tiger before applying the Lamisil cream to prevent him from licking the cream and his sores. Then, we leave the e-collar on for 30 minutes before taking it off.

Of course Tiger doesn't like it and is stressed though he just sits quietly in his cage.

But the moment the e-collar is taken off, he licks all his sores feverishly. So feverishly, that the sores become inflamed. I wonder whether it's because he hates the cream (being something foreign on his body) or he likes the taste?

Today, he did that again, and while he was licking feverishly (and me trying as feverishly to distract him with the string toy), I thought I spotted another sore spreading out from the original one on the inside of his right thigh. So I went over to him to check and he got really angry.

As you know, Tiger never gets angry. But he was angry this time.

And I certainly don't blame him. We cannot expect him to understand all these changes to his life - why he is confined outside, all this force-feeding of medications, the cream, the cage, the e-collar. It's all a lot to take in, especially when the human cannot explain the reasons behind all these changes to a cat.

So, Tiger hissed and tried to bite me.

I stopped immediately.

Within minutes, I think Tiger felt bad and he did something unexpected.

He came back to me, rubbed his face on my foot and pulled down the string toy from the table, as though telling me to play with him.

That was a moment to savour.

So we played with the string toy again.

Me sorry for getting angry...want to play with me?

Look at that apologetic face...how can you say "no" to that, right?

So we played again.

But playtime only lasts a few minutes at most.

And Tiger is bored.

Later I decided to check the "new sore" again, and it turned out to be just the old sore getting all inflamed due to the licking.

And since Tiger was sitting comfortably on his chair, I decided to apply a tiny bit of Lamisil onto some of the sores again, especially the inflamed ones. So the e-collar comes on again.

He is still sitting on his chair, so I hope he's happier (than being caged). Maybe in time, he will get a little bit more comfortable with the e-collar.

Today is Day 10.  The days wheezed by quite fast, maybe because of the water rationing and we've been kept busy all the time in planning how to live with the water rationing exercise.

Sometimes, it's good that time flies, especially when you are looking forward to seeing the end of 6 weeks of treatment.  But I'm taking it one day at a time, of course. Not rushing anything. Just doing all that I can for Tiger.