I Spoke Too Soon

--Our poor, poor kitty ended up with an abscess that had to be dealt with today. In the 8 years that we have had him, he has had that untamed wanderlust. Yet, he always comes home fully intact and without any sign of confrontations. He used to proudly come home with birds that he had caught ... but never with any sign that he went out looking for a fight.

--After his muskrat encounter a while ago, he slipped out one more time. This time he didn't come back for over 8 hours. I was just giving up on him and thought I'd have to go to bed and hope he was there in the morning. I called for him one last time. He came home meowing me a story like you wouldn't believe. He was definitely trying to tell me what he had been up to. But since the cat translator that they have invented only works in Japanese so far, I had to just nod and smile. I touched him and he had that 'mauled' feel to him. Kind of like a dog had slobbered all over him. But there were no bumps, lumps or injuries and I thought nothing more about it. That was a week ago, last Sunday.

--This Sunday, when we returned from the wedding, he didn't come running out to greet us as he usually does. I called for him and he appeared but he had a few meows "with attitude" (I thought he was mad at us for leaving him again) and he disappeared. I was busy unpacking and tending to all the things I thought I had to do that night ... and I didn't see him again until I was headed for bed.

--He was very lethargic and sort of looked like he was favoring an ear (his ear was slightly cocked). There seemed to be a little lump but I thought it would heal itself and didn't think too much about it.

--Monday night, he was really looking rough. Before the night was through, this lump started to ooze a bit and it looked like it must have been infected. The next morning, he scratched it and most of the lump burst. Again, I hoped he may be able to tend to himself ... but being a cat ... he scratched it until it was a terrible mess. I called the vet and they could squeeze him in this morning. Thank goodness Dale is willing and able to help me out on these little emergencies - this is the second time he ran Andre to the vet during the day (their evening and weekend appointments are really booked up quite far in advance).

--Dale picked Andre up for his appointment. I expected Andre to come home with a cone to keep him from scratching and antibiotics ... but Dale returned catless. My heart skipped a beat when Dale told me they had to keep him - they had to put him under anesthetic to deal with the abscess and we could pick him up later.

--6 hours and $307 later, our poor sad kitty is back home. He is so annoyed with that cone that I don't think he is appreciating the fact that we are trying to make him feel better.

--A person spends money on their pets without blinking an eye. There is no way that I could have not doctored him through this episode. Without question, he needed medical attention. I've always managed to juggle the books to compensate for whatever financial crisis's come up. Somehow, things have a way of working out.

--'Family first' ... and our cat is a cherished member of our family. I'll juggle the books and make this affordable. I just want my cat healed and happy again. I just hope he's laying there ''thinking about what he has done", to get into this predicament. He's not a thinker. He spent a night in jail (the pound) when they caught him wandering at large ... and he didn't learn his lesson then either. Here's to hoping this time is the charm .........