Mary, queen of cats » vet visit

Back to Normal

Nikki — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 13:55:22 +0000

So we took Mary to the vet to have her lump checked out. But somehow, the day after the previous post and three days after the appearance of said lump, it mysteriously disappeared. The lack of the lump was discovered just before we went to the vet. We took her anyway, just in case. The vet declared her as fit as a fiddle and fortunately Mary wasn’t too upset. The worst part was a thermometer up the bum which yielded a look that was a mixture between extreme embarrassment and anger. But once the offensive object was removed, she was just fine.

One remark I would like to make though – the day before we took her to the vet she scratched the area of the lump furiously which makes me believe that perhaps it was a ganglion. But who knows. This is Mary.

Since we came from the vet though, she has been acting strangely. Mary is not a very playful cat and only my husband ever seems able to get her in the mood. But lately, you look at her or move in her direction and she hops like Tigger from Winnie the Pooh and bobs her head back and forth like one of those cheap head bobbing dolls people tend to put on the dashboards of their cars. And then she would just attack the carpet. Last night it looked like she was trying to bite my husband’s pants.

Who knows where this behaviour comes from. As I said, this is Mary and there is a very good reason her name is what it is.

How To Make Yourself Real Popular With A Cat

Nikki — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 13:32:49 +0000

One way to make yourself popular with your cat is to lug them off to the vet every other day.

As mentioned in a previous post, Mary recently went to the vet to have her teeth cleaned. We made that decision a week before while the vet was giving her an injection as her skin flared up again.
Fortunately, Mary couldn’t associate the trip back to the vet for her teeth with me. My husband dropped her off in the morning and collected her again in the afternoon. All I could think of the whole day is “my poor baby, alone and scared and drugged in a place which doesn’t hold fond memories”. I couldn’t wait to go home to see her after work. I was expecting a drugged and goofy cat, but she seemed no worse for the wear. The vet said we should keep an eye on any swelling of the gums, but Mary didn’t have any issues afterwards: clean breath and clean toofies.

So why are we taking her back to the vet barely two weeks after her last visit?

I don’t know whether I am an overly paranoid human companion, but Mary has a lump in her neck. It isn’t something under the skin either, so it is not an abscess. The lump is connected to deeper tissue and we feel this warrants a trip to the vet. I would rather Mary hate me for a couple of days (or weeks, you never know!) than have her fall ill if we could have prevented it with early detection.

I think this time around I dread going to the vet as much as she does.

A Popular Queen

Nikki — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 09:48:31 +0000

As posted many times before, we always know Mary is in need of a visit to the vet when we notice changes in her behavior. Lately she has become needy and clingy and when I felt the base of her tail, she had the skin irritation again. Off to the vet we went. She wasn’t particularly amused (she never is!), but she is *such* an incredibly good cat. She didn’t meow once, didn’t struggle, sat quietly in her carrier cage and that was that. I remember there used to be a time where we would take her to the vet without any restraints and she would sit next to us on the chairs in the waiting room. We eventually decided on a carry cage for her own safety in case other animals decided she looked like she was a worthy opponent for a fight.

Mary will be going back to the vet this week, but this time to have her teeth cleaned (which is long overdue). We will report back on how that went.

On a different note though – the one night I was sitting in front of the telly, laptop on my lap, when I heard this unearthly scream. I almost fell of the couch, the laptop almost went flying and my heart rate went through the roof. Turns out Mary was standing at the door, warning everyone within the lair (the flat) of stranger danger by the door! I was so proud of her! It happened a second time and this time I quietly snuck out to check who this “stranger” was. Turns out it was Murphy, her friend from a while back. I have seen her and Murphy around and there has never been any animosity, but clearly Murphy wanting to join us in the lair was a huge no-no which she made clear to just about everybody within the complex!

There is another twist to the story. Another kitty seems to be calling out for Mary (she is mighty popular within her own community it seems). Jasper, a fluffy black and white cat, has been in the vicinity calling out for Mary in gentle cries. Mary would pop her head outside and just sit and stare at Jasper, which I think is kind of rude of her. All he wants is her company and all she does is sit and stare at him.

It seems Jasper has kind of given up because I have not heard him call her in the last two days. But maybe he is more forgiving than she is and will hopefully try and become Mary’s friend again.

Mary’s blue period

zsh — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 18:27:59 +0000

Being someone who truly appreciates animals, both wild and domesticated, for what they are and what they have to teach us, I’ve never been one to condone the ridiculous practice of clothing one’s pets. The majority of people who do so, in my humble opinion, are anthropomorphisizing in a sad way, and generally using their animals as pseudo-people to make up for some lack in their lives and/or themselves. And I’m not the only one who thinks so, thank your-deity-of-choice.

However, be that as it may, recently we found ourselves crossing this line with Mary. Not for the reasons one would imagine, though – it was simply the least complex solution in order to stop our silly Siberian from over-grooming a wound. The Victorian collar option was out, as the wound was outside the area, meaning she could still reach it with her hind legs. We’d tried bandaging her paw, but that led to her toes becoming painfully sensitive for some reason.

As a last resort, we bought her a blue cat (or dog, more the humiliation…) shirt, tore off the very badly thought out sleeves – she could barely walk with them hampering her movement – and put the thing on over her collar. Needless to say, little Miss Fluff was very indignant about the whole thing, but it paid off in the long run (+/- 3 weeks, cringe) as her wound finally healed.

Adjustments around the collar area.

Final tweaks around the collar area.

Finally shirt is on...

And not even a solid under-shirt scratch...

... can stop Mary keeping her distance from the those shirty savages.

When outside for the first time, Mary checks to see if anyone is watching her misery.

And like many before her, uses grass to feel better.

Heading out into the cruel world.

Finally at rest, plotting her revenge.

One Wild Guess What This Is About

Nikki — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 17:15:14 +0000

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

I wonder what she is trying to say?

Nikki — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 18:31:51 +0000

Here we go again. This time, I had my shoes included.

The vet said Mary has allergies that causes her to self mutilate. Fabulous.

For real

Nikki — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 07:50:53 +0000

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)

AGAIN.

Nikki — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 14:27:55 +0000

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!

What does the vet have that I don’t have?

Nikki — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 11:45:20 +0000

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!

Mommy’s little scrapper

Nikki — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 11:54:56 +0000

Mary is so damn unpredictable. You simply never know how she will react when she sees, or is confronted with, another animal. It can be anything from literally soiling herself, to blatantly ignoring the other animal, to absolute fierce aggression! There really is no telling.

Last Saturday we were on our way out to pick up my sister and her boyfriend for a late lunch, when we heard some terrible cat “screams” outside our apartment. Since it sounded nearby Mary’s window, I ran outside in my high-heeled boots to come to Mary’s rescue. My first thought was “oh heavens, she is under attack!!”.

What greeted me outside was not something I expected. Mary was clearly the aggressor in a very serious fight between her and another cat I have not seen before. It was pretty wild and clumps of her fur were all over the parking area. I shouted at her and the other cat took off, with Mary in hot pursuit. I eventually managed to catch up to the two rolling balls of flying fur and separated them. I picked Mary up and took her inside. Madam was all wide-eyed and wired. We immediately inspected her for damage and found two of the other cat’s claws embedded in her skin. But fortunately, there was no real damage that would require a trip to the vet. We locked her inside and went our merry way.

We got home about 5 hours later and Mary was visibly docile and not herself. We have witnessed this behaviour before and knew immediately that she was hurt somewhere. She was shaking her head continuously and there was dried liquid in her ear. Yet, we could not find anything other than a slight swelling on the side of her face.

Sunday morning we noticed the swelling had increased considerably. That meant one thing. A trip to the vet again. I am pretty sure that Mary is the vet’s most regular patient.

Our regular vet was not there and Mary saw a new female vet. The vet concluded that the swelling is an abscess. We briefly hashed it out – this was not an abscess. First off, there were no puncture wounds, secondly, an abscess does not form this quickly and thirdly, she had no fever (a common symptom of an abscess). The vet decided to draw some fluid from the swelling to determine what it was: pus would be indicative of an abscess, where as blood would not. Unfortunately, Mary had to have her beautiful soft ruffle shaven.

The fluid that was drawn from the swelling was just blood. The diagnosis was a ruptured gland. Mary was given a broad spectrum antibiotic, and if the swelling did not abate after a day or two, the gland would need to be removed. This is a tricky and delicate operation as there are many nerves on the side of the face.

The good news is, the swelling was down by Monday evening. Crisis averted. The bad news is, Mary has a bald patch on the side of her face again.

Mommy’s beautiful little scrapper.

Ready for attack (look at those wild eyes!)

Target acquired

ATTACK!

A docile Mary after the fight, when we got home 5 hours later

Waiting for the vet

The vet inspecting the swelling, before Mary being shaven
Back home, one very unimpressed and unhappy kitty (shaven spot on the right)

Bald patch