Hallson Gardens

I noticed a lump at the base of Jet's tail yesterday morning while I was petting him. By afternoon, we could see that it was visibly larger and starting to hurt. We had him in to the vet at 5:30 last night and they did surgery to drain and clean out the abscess, then put in a drain to allow it to keep healing for several days. Brought him home around 9 last night. It was caused by a bite, and since our cats don't go out, it was most likely during "daily wrestling time" with Monkey.

Poor Jet has to wear one of those horrible collars so he won't chew on his tail or the drain. Last night he kept trying to back out of the collar, and he kept running backwards with his rear end into furniture and walls, right where the drain is. He was in such a panic that we had to take turns physically holding him down for a few hours until he settled. He's sleeping like a log today, though he's mad that he can't groom, which he does normally a lot.

It's been a stressful night, and both of my girls are upset and feeling queasy, I'm sure because it looks gross and also because they're just worried about him. So glad I work from home so that I can keep an eye on him !

If this was just a bite from his "brother" Monkey during play time, I can't imagine what it would be like to have to treat an outdoor cat who had been in a full-out cat fight!

Andi

Awww....poor Jet! If it's any consolation, cats heal at an amazingly fast rate! It's truly incredible to me how fast they recover from things!

Awwwww.....those animal bites are so icky, aren't they? Cat bites are the worse, I know from Curtis....I hope it's over soon for him!! Pat him on the head for me!

Poor baby. You know he is so humiliated to have the collar on. My little Troublety-Poo (my psyco cat from college) got bitten by something on her face. She had to have this gauzy stuff threaded through her cheek to drain it. It was gross. Give him a kiss for me.

Kas

Poor littly guy. Hope it heals quickly.

Fight with outdoor cat = overnight stay, lost eye and $1700 bill. Then the stinking cat runs away

Hope Jet feels better soon. Tiger finally got somewhat used to the collar after about the second day.

Tami

Hope he is doing better today!

He is doing much better, he got his stitches and the drain tube out on Sunday morning. He is such a trooper! We take his collar off for him to eat, drink, and use the litter box.

He HATES not being able to give himself his 10 x daily baths, so we let him do that as long as he doesn't go near his tail. He gets such a bummed look on his face when he knows we're going to put the dork-collar back on

Andi

I'm glad Jet is getting better. Jet and Monkey are smaller versions of my big black cat and I always enjoy seeing their pictures!

My cat got a nasty abcess on his cheek last summer. I was able to pinch it and get gross nasty stuff out, did that for the first week and it kept coming back. Finally took him to the vet and she said abcesses are a common result of getting bitten. Some antibiotics took care of it. But I agree with the girls, it is indeed very gross! YUCK!

Give Jet my best!!

I remember my parents squeesing the junk out of a cats bite on his neck when we were younger! Totally grossed me out then! Cat bites are nasty.

Glad he's doing better. But how in the heck to give him antibiotics? I've got one cat, that would have to be drugged big time to get a pill down! I can't imagine having to deal with that! Poor baby. You and him.... and the family.

I've always had an easy time pilling cats... our old FuzzButt is super-easy and she has to take pills occasionally. She purrs through the whole thing!

Jet is a bit harder, I have one of my girls hold him really tightly, then I put my finger in his mouth way at the back near his jaw, and when he opens up I pop the pill as far back as I can get it. If you've ever put a bridle on a horse, it's kinda like that. Not bad at all once you get the logistics of it figured out

andi

No, never bridled a horse But this cat even tore up the 'cat only' vet when she wouldn't believe me and tried to do stuff to her. She said brushing her teeth would be easy! She agreed with me, although it killed her (the vet) to admit it! THis is THE CAT FROM Hell-0!

Awww...sorry to hear about his boo-boo. Hope he'll be better soon and can ditch the Elizabethan collar.
I picked up a little item at my vet's office to give pills to my cats. It looks like a little syringe, but it has a rubber tip that you put the pill in. I just pull back on their upper gums to get their mouth open and insert this contraption and pop the pill right into the back of their throat. Works great and it prevents me from having to put my fingers in their mouths to get bitten. Cost me about $4.00 I think.

Joan, I have the same thing for pills....we HAD to when we had old Stanley....It is so easy!

How is Jet? Cone head gone? Hope so!

No more cone head, and he's really not even touching his tail. It's healed over, and I'm sure if it was me it would be itching like crazy, but he isn't fazed by it at all. He's sooooo happy now, and me too, that he can eat and drink on his own. That was getting to be not fun

Andi

Glad to hear the little guy is all better now.

Hey Mike - how are your 4 feline babies doing?

And on the scaly side of things, will you be ready for another reptile in a few years?

Andi

Andi! So glad to hear he's doing well now!