As you might not have recognised due to the incredible subtlety in the title, the hiatus is finally over. Mary is back, hopefully to stay. We aim to update this blog at least once a week with insights into sharing one’s life with a clawed, furry friend. More information, more pictures, more drama, more warm, fuzzy feelings and – most importantly – more awareness.
Take one wild guess what this post is about. The winning answer of course is another trip to the vet.
Christmas day, Mary’s new human friend, The Neighbour knocked on our door informing us that Mary had a wound on her shoulder blade and it was bloody.
We have been dealing with this particular wound for quite a while. We have no idea how she got it. It looks like a graze of some sort. It is not a tear and it is not deep enough for stitched. And we couldn’t put on a Victorian Collar because the wound falls outside the area of the collar. Mary kept on scratching and scratching and it would heal and then just be bloody after she was done with it. We were stumped.
Being Christmas, the vet was closed and we had to wait until the 27th of December for the vet to open. The solution of course was something I never thought of – wrapping the back paw she does the scratching with. As per usual, Mary was really not happy.
Sometime in January the scab of the wound came off. I took off the bandages around her back paw thinking everything was finally over. I was sadly mistaken. The day after I removed the bandage, the bloody wound was back. So back on the bandages went. It has now almost been a month and the wound is almost healed. Mary in the meantime, has figured out the most impossible ways to remove the bandages, meaning we have to rebandage her foot every second day or so.
She also uses the bandage to her full advantage. When meowing in the morning to wake us up for food does not work, she loudly sits and picks the bandage with her teeth. She bites and pulls (hard) and then releases it with a loud snap of the teeth. That get us up in a flash.
The Wound
Back from the vet, the wound clearly visible
The bandaged paw
The bandaged paw
One thing about Cape Town that seems to get to even the born and bred Capetonians, is the wind. Otherwise known as the Black South Easter or the Cape Doctor. This wind is a constant in summer and can get to strong that people have to hold on to poles just to keep up right.
Unfortunately, we live in the basin of the city where this Black South Easter turns. When it blows, trust me, you know it. This also means kitty gets locked inside. This also means we have a very, very unhappy cat on our hands who has no problem in letting us know exactly how unhappy she is about not having access to outside. She keeps us up all night and howls non-stop. She drives us insane. It is not fun trying to sleep with a loudly complaining cat in the background doing her utmost to keep you awake. And of course, she no longer cares about being squirted. Mr. Squirty has lost its effectiveness.
When she is outside, she is in her element. And what she loves more than being outside, is if we are outside with her.
Recently, she came back from outside for a nibble. Her food was finished and when we did not jump up and give her biscuits, she went outside again. Ten minutes later I went to look for her and found her crunching on something (as in literally, you could her “crunch, crunch”). I first thought someone gave her a piece of meat or something and I panicked. Upon closer inspection, I saw she was eating a mouse, and the crunching sound was the head in her mouth. I felt insulted – we are obviously not important enough to share in the spoils of the hunt. No gifts brought to the lair (for which, I have to admit, I am eternally grateful!).
This morning, I noticed that she has a wound in her neck. It is a deep gaping hole. Fortunately the vet gave me extra antibiotics which I will give to her to keep infection at bay. If that does not help, it is back to the vet again.
The Hunter with the Hunted
The Wound
