My cat, ladies and gentlemen

[mme_hardy]

My daughter spotted this evening that Shadow had something wrong with his neck and fluid all over his fur. We sprinted him off to the emergency vet, and it turned out that an abscess had burst. Common in cats, nothing to worry about, but it had to be cleaned so that it would heal properly. By the time they finished diagnosing him, Shadow had had enough of this bullshit and was squatting on the table hissing and growling. He had previously put up with the rectal thermometer with surprising grace, bless him.

He had to be sedated to have the wound cleared out. My daughter brought him home very groggy and out of it. Once he woke up enough to be hungry, he ate some stinky tuna and went to sleep. In his dish. We picked him up and scooted him away from his dish. He ate some more and fell asleep. In his dish. We eventually decided that a sick cat got to sleep in his catfood if he wanted to. The wound wasn't in contact with the food.

Meanwhile, he has a big lump of missing skin where "necrotic tissue had to be debrided" (sounds so much better than it looks), but no Cone of Shame. Apparently we just keep him inside and let his immune system do its thing; the skin would be likely to abscess again if either stitched or bandaged.

Silly drunken cat.

Comments

[movingfinger.livejournal.com]

I've been told (by the vet) that cats have really tough immune systems and that they get abscesses often because small wounds will heal over with new skin before they have scabbed/scarred. I guess that means wounds don't get to dry out as they ought.

[pameladean]

Long ago when I had cats who got abscesses, the vet said that the wounds scabbed over so fast that they made a haven for anaerobic bacteria. Not sure if that is current thinking.

I'm glad Shadow will be okay. Possibly sleeping in the food bowl is somehow therapeutic.

P.