And the hits just keep on coming... however this one is more trauma related than disease. My other kitty, Biddle, the 9 month old tabby got out several nights ago and disappeared for 24 hours. I looked everywhere for him and was sick with worry when he turned up the next night scratching furiously at my front door. When I let him in and was giving him love because I was so glad to have him back I noticed his mouth looked funny, and his tongue was hanging out of the side of his mouth. Turns out he had broken his jaw. A "mandibular fracture" as the vet called it.
I thought great, this is just what we need. He had no other injuries though, no scratches, punctures, swelling, pain, nothing except in his jaw. I took him to be seen the next day by a doc who works where my other cat's oncology vet works as the place doubles as a trauma unit for animals. He thought Biddle may have fallen from a very high tree, but we'll never know.
Anyway turns out a broken jaw is not an easy thing to fix. I left my kitty there for surgery to correct this, and I'm just heartbroken and stressed out about the difficult road ahead for my little guy. When the doc called me yesterday to tell me what they had to do he said they had to reset the bones and wire his mouth shut. His mouth will have wires in it for the next two months, and be wired completely shut for the next 10 days. He'll have a feeding tube going into his stomach that I'll use to keep him fed for that time. He's so small, it's painful for me to think of his little 5 pound body going through this, it will be hard to see him when I pick him up tomorrow with his face all taped up and tubes coming out of him.
My mother FREAKED as usual, calling me at work yesterday morning screeching "You need to put him down! Don't you spend another dime on those stupid cats, don't put him through that pain, just put him down." I got so frustrated I ended up hanging up on her. There's just no way I could do that, but it does kill me to think of all the pain he's going to have for months. But what can I do? Oh Biddle, he's probably so scared right now at the hospital not understanding what is going on.
So here I am, back on the catsite needing to vent
See pics of his crooked little mouth below! I took these right before his surgery.
I thought great, this is just what we need. He had no other injuries though, no scratches, punctures, swelling, pain, nothing except in his jaw. I took him to be seen the next day by a doc who works where my other cat's oncology vet works as the place doubles as a trauma unit for animals. He thought Biddle may have fallen from a very high tree, but we'll never know.
Anyway turns out a broken jaw is not an easy thing to fix. I left my kitty there for surgery to correct this, and I'm just heartbroken and stressed out about the difficult road ahead for my little guy. When the doc called me yesterday to tell me what they had to do he said they had to reset the bones and wire his mouth shut. His mouth will have wires in it for the next two months, and be wired completely shut for the next 10 days. He'll have a feeding tube going into his stomach that I'll use to keep him fed for that time. He's so small, it's painful for me to think of his little 5 pound body going through this, it will be hard to see him when I pick him up tomorrow with his face all taped up and tubes coming out of him.
My mother FREAKED as usual, calling me at work yesterday morning screeching "You need to put him down! Don't you spend another dime on those stupid cats, don't put him through that pain, just put him down." I got so frustrated I ended up hanging up on her. There's just no way I could do that, but it does kill me to think of all the pain he's going to have for months. But what can I do? Oh Biddle, he's probably so scared right now at the hospital not understanding what is going on.
So here I am, back on the catsite needing to vent
See pics of his crooked little mouth below! I took these right before his surgery.
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