Poorly Puss's

Today started just horribly.  I had been worried about Charlie who had sat at the end of the bed scratching his ear throughout the night so that this morning it was a bloody mess and looked like it had been shredded - lots of black guff and dead skin had been strewn around the bedroom and he looked awful and was in some pain but he got up and had his breakfast and then disappeared rather than crawling into his cat bed like he normally does - this was going to make it difficult to catch him for his vet's appointment which I made as soon as we got up.  

When we woke all three cats were on the bed, Charlie and Minnie got off to have breakfast but unusually Boris did not move - in fact John commented on the fact that Boris had been very grumpy during the early hours when John had moved in bed and disturbed Boo and then we realised that there was something wrong with him because if we went near him he hissed and spat and growled.  He wasn't moving and when John touched his back left quarter Boo flew at him in distress.  At this stage we had no idea how badly he was injured but he was clearly injured and too much so for us to try and get him in a basket and take him to the vets with Charlie.

We left Mr Boo on the bed with some food and water on the floor - we had tried him on just about everything he normally likes but he wouldn't eat and when we approached him he growled which is so unlike him.  He has done this twice before when he has been injured and on both those occasions he had recovered after a period of time and we were hopeful that this would be the case once again but without getting him checked over we couldn't tell but we were sure we had seen a wound and if we touched him there he went mad.

Charlie's ear was a right old mess and I now fear the split will not heal which is a shame - we had studiously avoided having our cats ears clipped when they were neutered or spayed and now they were doing it themselves.

Anyway we managed to bundle Charlie into one of the cat baskets where he cannot turn round which we have found better as he could do less damage to himself that way.  He whimpered a bit en route and then we recognised the distinct smell of a cat who had poo'd - not only poo'd but tap-danced and summersaulted in it.

We arrived at Prodromi Vets and had to apologise to both the receptionist, Jean and the vet Dr Frank or Dr Hans (we aren't sure which).  Dr Who was actually really lovely about it all and cleaned up Charlie and the cat basket whilst I disposed of the offending items and took a good look at our battered boy.  Dr Who squeezed Charlie's ear so hard (far harder than we would ever do) that Charlie was so shocked he just let him get on with it.  The remainder of the abscess pus was extracted and then Dr Who set about cleaning the wound and sorting out some antibiotics.  

We were pleased to hear that Dr Who would have recommended the administration of some Dermagel to form a barrier on the wound - we always do that and have always done so it is gratifying to feel we have been doing the right thing.

On the way home Charlie hit us with a double whammy - he poo'd again and then threw up the contents of his breakfast which was my job to clear up on our arrival home as John doesn't deal with that sort of thing.

Charlie seemed none the worse for his morning and demanded to refill his tummy and then went on a walk about to check what had been going on around and about during his absence.

Mr Boo was still on the bed but I managed to coax him to eat some juice from a cat food pouch and he was marginally less grumpy or maybe that was just my wishful thinking.  We left he to it and went back down to Polis to stock up on food as we now don't intend to go out bar walking for the remainder of this restriction period which goes up to 10th January and after that we wouldn't be surprised if it isn't extended further.

On our return we found that Mr Boo was no longer on the bed - in fact he was nowhere to be seen - we checked out all his normal hiding places but he wasn't there and I began to feel very worried about him.

For several hours we searched and called, called and searched but he was conspicuous by his absence.  Just as I was planning to roam the streets I called him and got a weak little squeak back.  He had taken himself off to the shelter on Brammall Lane John had built for Chivers on the day that Chivers passed away.  We managed to coax him down which he did rather stiffly but he did and he came in and ate a little but we could see a little improvement but he still growled a bit and whinged if we went near him.  We decided we would check him out first-thing in the morning and take him to the vets if there was any sign at all that he was still in distress.

We left him sleeping in front of the fire when we went to bed with our fingers firmly crossed.