Abscessing Over Cats

Rough week for my cat Charlie. I noticed last week that he was a bit droopy in the tail department and when I went to check it out, he freaked out, hissing and growling. Charlie is not like that, he is the most mellow of my 4 cats normally. I let him outside to use the potty (AKA the garden) and figured he must have gotten in a fight and been bitten. When he came back to door, I looked at him and said, hem, I think I need to take you to the vet. Charlie of course, being the smart cat that he is, turned tail and hid in the rose bushes. I called the vet and they said to bring him right in. Easier said than done.

I got my son to come outside with me to play the game of Capture the Cat. For a hurting and seemingly lethargic cat, he was moving pretty fast. After I had removed the rose bush and blackberry thorns from my ass that I got from scrambling after the cat, I called the vet and said the mission was NO GO. We made a tentative appointment for the next morning. Charlie did not show up again until just before 5pm. Did I mention that he can tell time? He knew the vet was now closing. He has done this before, showing up when he knew the vet was closed.

I decided that since he was in the house, I wasn't going to chance him disappearing again, so I set up a litter box. Charlie hates to use a box. He looked at me, climbing and promptly rolled around in the box. I think if he could have, he'd have flipped me off! He then went and hid out in my daughter's room for the night.

The next morning, Charlie was a sick kitty. The tail issue was bad and you could now see the abscess. I locked him into the bedroom and woke me son to help me with Capture the Cat Phase Two. It wasn't very hard this time, he just didn't have the energy although stuffing him into the carrier there was a bit of a scuffle.

He got to spend the day at the vet, they had to sedate him. He was not a happy camper. So $170 later, Charlie has a new poodle style shaved tail and is healing up. He is still avoiding me like the plague and gives me the stink eye. My daughter said she had never seen Charlie glare so darkly than when he is looking at me.

Our next step is to try and snip out the drain from his tail. Our first attempt was unsuccessful with Charlie peeing all over when we tried to hold him down. The vet said he may resist this procedure and it was okay to let him chew it off himself if need be. That's the route I'm voting for.