Mary, queen of cats

One wild guess what this post is going to be about…… yes, you’ve guessed it!! Mary is off to the vet……again….. today. The timing could not be worse – Mary and I have just patched things up.

Her skin condition is worsening. We have tried, as you already know, everything as far as food is concerned. We have taken her off fish, she is getting sick of the chicken, and last night my partner boiled her some raw steak and kidney. If you think chicken stinks when you boil it, then boiling steak and kidney is sure to make you gag. The smell has crept in to everything. You can smell it on my partner’s clothes, his hands….. and to top it all off, Mary has zero interest in the food (lord alone knows I don’t blame her!). She did not even so much as feign any interest.

In the pictures below you can see some of the irritation on her skin (and no, it is not ring worm). The base of her tail is full of tiny little scabs and the fur is thinning in the area. It is clear Mary is uncomfortable – she is constantly over grooming, her tail is always twitching and she is incredibly vocal. These are all signs we have come to identify when the skin flaring is especially bad.

Wish us luck, we are leaving for the vet in about 10 minutes!

On the inside of her leg

On her neck (raw and moist and scabby)

I know I have said it before – I have not been as good at updating Mary’s blog as I should. The fact is, I never thought anybody read it. Today I got an email from a friend asking me about Mary’s site. So there ARE people out there reading her site and that is why I will do my very bestest to post regularly.

Mary’s food has still not entered the country. We tried to alternate the only cat food she would eat (whole pilchards and/or sardines), with fresh, boiled chicken and meat. This really grosses me out, and plus the smell of boiling meat just plain stinks and makes me feel ill. But it is Mary’s food and it is what she likes and what is good for her. It is just as well we got in to the routine of feeding her this meat, because after a visit to the vet on Sunday, we were told to take her off the fish immediately as it just compounds her skin allergies.

Yes, you read correctly. Mary was at the vet. Again. Saturday night she came inside all wide eyed, her head full of stinky gob. She had bits and pieces of dislodged fur all over her head. That only meant one thing: fight. We inspected her and found no obvious wounds.

The next morning (Sunday morning) was a different story though. Mary had a nick in her ear that turned in to an abscess overnight. I opened it up and took out quite a bit of gunk, but it was clear she will have to go to the vet. Happy happy joy joy. It is just as well because Mary’s skin was flaring up again and it was time to get that treated.

The vet cleaned up the wound a bit, gave Mary an injection and then gave us antibiotic tablets: a four day course. She gave us extra tablets for next time it happens, as Mary seems to form abscesses very quickly.

As per usual, madam is not a happy camper. I have fallen out of favour because as per usual, it is all my fault that she had to go to the vet and I am a beast and a monster for force feeding her tablets every day. Never mind the fact that I boil her stinking meat and cut it up for her and make sure it is the right temperature….. ungrateful little brat!

I have no idea how long I will be paying for my “mistake”, but I will be sure to keep you updated.

The vet’s waiting room

Waiting for the vet

One very unamused cat

Mary’s vet is the best vet in the world!

It’s been a while since I posted on Mary’s site. I took a bit of a prolonged break from anything computer related. Since the last post, Mary had to go to the vet twice, and we experienced quite a few “tantrums”.

The first visit entailed injections. We went to the vet to get more of her prescription food as she was all out, only to be told the food won’t be available in the country for the next 3 months as there is some or other problem with customs. We called around everywhere. All surgeries were out of stock. We fed her on ordinary cat food pouches. After 3 days, we noticed Mary’s irritable skin condition was back. This confirmed what the vet suspected: there is something in the food that irritates her skin. Makes one wonder what they put in it….

Anyway, so off to the vet we go. She got a shot to help relieve the condition. We were worse than dog poo. Oh wait hang on no, I was worse than dog poo because somehow this was all my fault. This put us in a difficult position. What is she going to eat? We can’t feed her ordinary food! The vet suggested some other food (which was ludicrously expensive, but there is no price on Mary’s health!), but madam rather starved herself for two days than eat it. We tried absolutely everything. We even bought her fresh raw fish. She just was not interested. We were desperate. We finally found a tin of food called Lucky Pet Supreme, containing whole pilchards or whole sardines in jelly. This she happily ate. I was worried at first that it was because she was so damn hungry she would eat just about everything and then as soon as her hunger were satisfied she would pull her nose up at it again, but so far so good! I don’t know what effect it will have on her skin because the injection lasts about a month or so, so we will just have to wait and see.

The next visit saw Mary stay overnight at the vet’s. She came in one morning with a fat bottom lip. Literally. By the evening the swelling had not gone down, so off we went to the vet. Somehow she hurt herself on her bottom lip and in the space of a day the wound developed an abscess which had to be drained. We had to leave her there overnight and pick her up the next day after work. It was painfully difficult to carry her to the cage and leave her there. I wanted to crack. My poor poor baby.

When we collected her the next day my partner and I were like little kids on Christmas morning! We could not wait to have kitty back with us again! She was equally happy to see us. All these visits meant she had to stay inside for a day or so after each visit – we did not want her to run away because she was upset with us (you never know with Mary!).

I am pleased to report that she is doing well and I sincerely hope it stays that way. I really can’t afford to lose the teeny bit of popularity I worked so hard to get!