Monday, May 28, 2012

Abscessive compulsive disorder

Vet bills are punitive enough at the best of times. It didn't help when Mrs Spat went AWOL for a week to nurse her abscess to the largest possible size... thus requiring surgery and anaesthesia and heroic antibiotics and a post-op IV drip,* when she did finally show up looking starved, dehydrated and generally sorry for herself. The staff at the clinic were impressed, describing it as the second-largest abscess they had dealt with, and the largest where the patient could be saved. They welcome her further custom.
With the sutures removed and her shaven patch beginning to grow back, her resemblance to a haggis is not so pronounced. There is a second row of stitches lower on her belly, where the abdominal fat pad had turned necrotic and had to be removed. Let it be noted that the liposuction was for genuine medical reasons and was not at all cosmetic. Perhaps Mrs Spat can recoup some of her medical expenses by modelling for those zipper-bellied animal pyjama-bags.

Mrs Spat has all her old energy back and here she is showing her Flying Superman pose to BFF Doodleberry Cupcake.
Bonus couple time
* Also a drainage tube. I kept expecting a nurse to fling Mrs Spat over one shoulder and blow into the tube to demonstrate how to inflate the flotation device in the unlikely event of an emergency landing.

15 comments:

M. Bouffant said...

One of my feline friends had a decent sized lump on the back of his neck. I was quite impressed that all the ick I more or less accidentally squoze out was black, not that chicken fat-looking crap that squeezes out of humans.

Glad to see all are doing well. Maybe next time she'll come home a little sooner.

Smut Clyde said...

I was relieved not to be the one dealing with the effusion of pus when the vet opened the wound while shaving it... I had the convenient duty of holding her scruff. A chocolate milkshake of decay that smelled like an exhumation, and it came out in bucketloads.

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

Poor kitty!

Glad every thing it turning up. And yes, thanks for the detailed grossing out.
~

Pen Ultimate said...

Aw, kitteh! Heal up ASAP!
.

zombie rotten mcdonald said...

Shave the rest.

mikey said...

Certainly that is a large cat, but do you honestly keep her on a pallet? Do you have a fork lift or perhaps merely a pallet jack dedicated to moving the very large cat around?

Do you call it a pallet jack down there?

Smut Clyde said...

Pallet is on wheels, mikey!

Big Bad Bald Bastard said...

Poor Mrs Spat
With necrotic fat
A pustulant cat
That's gone suppurat...

Needs work... glad to hear she's on the mend.

Hamish Mack said...

Mrs Cat sends her regards to Mrs. Spat and adds that she is just saying that young cats these days should be more careful.

Rachel said...

Puss-Puss sends her love AND admires your wonderful porto-cat-shack - she sat down and started to draw up plans for something I must make her from the stuff lying around... I think we'll just keep our eyes peeled for a second-hand baby buggy. Thanks for the idea!

Rachel said...

Now I remember... Emily Carr (Canadian painter) was reputed to walk around downtown Victoria with all her pets, including a monkey, in an old fashioned large pram. You're in good company!

Smut Clyde said...

Emily Carr is not a good role-model for sensible pet ownership.

Substance McGravitas said...

Relevant.

alison said...

A chocolate milkshake of decay...
I wish I hadn't read that before dinner :-(

Get well soon, Mrs Spat!

Rachel said...

Having a pet pram is perhaps best left to those pining for children and happy to anthropomorphize the little critters, which may seem dumb to some.