Azie Azure, a student and a regular reader of this blog, wrote to me last week to seek assistance in helping a female cat who had gone to her house (to seek assistance also?). Apparently, this cat has not been eating well. So, the appointment was made today.
But last night, Azie texted to say another male cat had gone to her house as well (also to seek assistance?). Cats are smart people - they know where to go to ask for help.
So, Azie came with two cats today.
Tanteng, the female cat, was in a basket, but the male cat (whom Azie later named Hero) was only put in a cardboard box since he was a last minute case. As expected, Hero had come out of the box in the car and I thought it would be too risky to transport him from the car into the clinic in a cardboard box.
I borrowed a carrier from the clinic, just to bring him from the car to the clinic. Can't risk him running away in a new environment. It would be a total nightmare.
But Hero was banging on the door of the carrier, so we quickly put him inside the examination room.
Hero must have broken free from the carrier and jumped up to the shelves inside the examination room because there was the noise of things falling all over inside the room within minutes. When we looked in, both the shelf-doors were wide open and bottles of medicine had fallen to the floor.
Wow....it was quite a commotion in there, but Hero was just nervous, that's all.
Okay, okay....we know you're nervous, it's alright. (He may look fierce here, but he's not....he's a total pussy-cat, actually)
We put him back into the carrier and let him face the wall.
Tanteng first...
Here's Tanteng.
Tanteng has gingivitis; the vet pinpointed one particular tooth where infection has set in.
She has ear mites as well.
Tanteng's temperature is normal, so there is nothing really wrong with her. Just needs to be monitored for a few more days to see if she would eat well.
Tanteng needs to be frontlined as well. The ear-mite treatment is optional since Tanteng is a community cat. Azie's sister does not allow cats into the house. The vet explained that ear-mites do not cause any potential danger except for over-scratching which may lead to infection. If the cat is a community cat, the mites would just come back after one treatment. Regular, monthly treatment is necessary and this is more applicable to pets.
We don't know if Tanteng has been previously spayed since she is so friendly. She could have been someone's pet. Maybe she got lost or has been abandoned. Tanteng is female, so we can't tell.
We'll wait until she regains her appetite and take it from there.
Now, it's Hero's turn...
He didn't dare come out of the carrier so we had to open the top hatch.
Azie noticed a big lump on her underside.
See that whole lump hanging down?
It is an abdominal hernia. This means there is a tear in the abdomen and the intestines and "other things" have come through the tear and hangs down. If not repaired through surgery, the intestines might get strangulated and this might result in death. But we don't know how long Hero has been living with the hernia, though. He could have got it through an accident or he could even have been born with it.
The vet could actually push all the organs back when Hero is lying down, but once he gets up, the organs fall through the tear and hang down again. The vet let me feel the hole - gosh, it's as big as a 50 sen coin. I could push the organs back as well.
So we need surgery, and since we're going to do it, might as well neuter him as well.
Both were dewormed.
Hero is a total pussy-cat who warms up to you instantly.
The vet said she would bandage the abdomen to prevent the lump from coming out again until surgery on Tuesday.
There...all done, nice and neat.
Hero is pretty photogenic...
See?
I'm cute too, am I not?
How about this pose?
Azie followed me home to get my Frontline and also borrow my cage so that Hero can be kept confined until Tuesday. If let lose, we don't know if Azie would be able to catch him again since he only dropped in for a visit last night.
Surgery is scheduled for Tuesday morning. It is supposed to be quite a simple surgery to push the organs back in and sew up the tear.
Today's consultation is sponsored from our funds. The surgery and neutering will also be sponsored from our funds.
P.S. Azie just texted to say the bandage has come off! Oh well, that's okay. Till Tuesday, then.
Updates at 2.15pm: Hero escaped from the cage. He must have squeezed his way out through the gap of the door. We hope Azie can catch him by Monday evening.
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