Beware the ides of March
(Warning: if you're in a particularly good mood, or don't care about other people's pets, don't read this, because I am not in the mood to hear about how I ruined your mood, and I definitely don't want to hear how it's just a freakin' cat, for god's sake.
Anyway.)
So y'all know how I am about my cat, Sanchez. I don't have kids, and I've had him for 19 years, so he IS my kid. I fucking love my FurFace, and so today is one of the worst days ever.
He wanted to go outside last night, which is nothing unusual, so I let him go. He sits on the front porch, usually for about 10 minutes, then he's ready to come back in. Last night was different. I kind of forgot about him--not really forgot, exactly. He likes being outside so I don't worry if he's out there longer when the weather's nice--so he was outside for almost half an hour. When I did remember him, I hurried to the door, whipped it open and...there he was, laying on the sidewalk. I remember thinking, 'how odd...is he sleeping?' before I saw all the blood and ripped-out fur on the steps and sidewalk. Then he moved, tried to stand up, and fell down crying before he was even half-way up. I was a little panicked, but managed to get him wrapped in a few towels and tucked in a box for a trip to the emergency vet. I didn't want to stuff him into a cat carrier, and he wasn't moving much anyway. So I called my mom, and she drove us to the vet. He was in shock, has a big cut on the side of his neck, a puncture wound in the back of his head, he broke 3 of his canine teeth off at the root, and the guy said that whatever got ahold of him, Chezie put up a hell of a fight. And because he's so old, it's the equivalent of scaring an 80 year old man into running a marathon, and it's going to take a good amount of time for him to recover. They put him on painkillers and antibiotics, shaved bits of his head around the injuries, and kept him overnight. I had to pick him up at 7 this morning and take him to the regular vet, where I got the rest of the story. He also has a head tilt and his pupils are two different sizes, which means he's got some sort of neurological problem. It might be swelling from the injuries, or it might be that the injuries caused him to have a stroke, and they don't know which until he has some steriods to take down any possible swelling. Then I went to bed, because I have to work tonight, and I woke up to a message from the vet. She wants to do some x-rays on him because his back end isn't moving and he doesn't respond when she pinches his back legs. He may have a neck or spinal cord injury, and they can't do anything to help him if he does, and am I sure he was attacked by another animal, because his injuries are consistent with him being hit by a car.
I won't know how he's doing beyond that until tomorrow morning--they're going to keep him sedated overnight. And then I'll call and tell her she can do the xrays, and I'm terrified of what they'll show, and how in the hell am I supposed to get through work tonight when I can't stop crying for more than 5 minutes at a time?
(Warning: if you're in a particularly good mood, or don't care about other people's pets, don't read this, because I am not in the mood to hear about how I ruined your mood, and I definitely don't want to hear how it's just a freakin' cat, for god's sake.
Anyway.)
So y'all know how I am about my cat, Sanchez. I don't have kids, and I've had him for 19 years, so he IS my kid. I fucking love my FurFace, and so today is one of the worst days ever.
He wanted to go outside last night, which is nothing unusual, so I let him go. He sits on the front porch, usually for about 10 minutes, then he's ready to come back in. Last night was different. I kind of forgot about him--not really forgot, exactly. He likes being outside so I don't worry if he's out there longer when the weather's nice--so he was outside for almost half an hour. When I did remember him, I hurried to the door, whipped it open and...there he was, laying on the sidewalk. I remember thinking, 'how odd...is he sleeping?' before I saw all the blood and ripped-out fur on the steps and sidewalk. Then he moved, tried to stand up, and fell down crying before he was even half-way up. I was a little panicked, but managed to get him wrapped in a few towels and tucked in a box for a trip to the emergency vet. I didn't want to stuff him into a cat carrier, and he wasn't moving much anyway. So I called my mom, and she drove us to the vet. He was in shock, has a big cut on the side of his neck, a puncture wound in the back of his head, he broke 3 of his canine teeth off at the root, and the guy said that whatever got ahold of him, Chezie put up a hell of a fight. And because he's so old, it's the equivalent of scaring an 80 year old man into running a marathon, and it's going to take a good amount of time for him to recover. They put him on painkillers and antibiotics, shaved bits of his head around the injuries, and kept him overnight. I had to pick him up at 7 this morning and take him to the regular vet, where I got the rest of the story. He also has a head tilt and his pupils are two different sizes, which means he's got some sort of neurological problem. It might be swelling from the injuries, or it might be that the injuries caused him to have a stroke, and they don't know which until he has some steriods to take down any possible swelling. Then I went to bed, because I have to work tonight, and I woke up to a message from the vet. She wants to do some x-rays on him because his back end isn't moving and he doesn't respond when she pinches his back legs. He may have a neck or spinal cord injury, and they can't do anything to help him if he does, and am I sure he was attacked by another animal, because his injuries are consistent with him being hit by a car.
I won't know how he's doing beyond that until tomorrow morning--they're going to keep him sedated overnight. And then I'll call and tell her she can do the xrays, and I'm terrified of what they'll show, and how in the hell am I supposed to get through work tonight when I can't stop crying for more than 5 minutes at a time?
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*hugs*