Angel the Cat - Stitches Are Out!

Angel had her stitches out this morning, and she appears to be healing just fine. She made some fans while she was recovering in the hospital. All of the technicians came out to see how she was doing. The technician that was taking care of Angel, commented that she was a very lucky cat as she came very close to losing her life. Cue tears. I cry at the drop of a hat so when it is close to home the ducts just turn on by themselves.

I know need to keep a close eye on her to make sure that she continues to have good strong bowel movements. She is on a special (and expensive) high fibre food, Royal Canine, Medi-Cal,and may need to stay on it for the rest of her time with us.

Because her colon was so impacted, it caused the colon to stretch at least 6 times larger than normal. The Vet had to remove about 6 inches during her surgery. The danger is that the nerves could have been damaged.

Angel is still on anti-biotics but we are along way from where we started. I am so thankful for the wonderful care and attention that she received from the entire staff at our hospital.

Angels Mommy

Angel The Cat - Update

Welcome back, Angel had a very good weekend!  Did you know that cats can snore?  I was jarred awake by what I thought was my hubby's snoring and lo and behold, it was Angel, laying on my side (she loves to sleep on top of me, streched out along my legs) snoring her little heart out.  Of course I just smiled, what else are you going to do.

She is getting alot more active, we played fetch the ball early this morning, she woke me up around 2:30 am, jumped on the bed and dropped her wet ball on my uncovered legs, little monkey.  Since she was a kitten she has loved to play fetch (just like a puppy) go figure!

Of course this is all good!

Her stitches are starting to bother her, they must be itchy, she is supposed to have them removed this  coming Wednesday.  If you have any pearls of wisdom to share  to keep her from pulling her stitches, I would love to hear them.

Thanks for taking an interest in "Angel the Cat's story.

Angels Mommy

Angel's Road to Recovery

Angel The Cat - Part Two

Welcome Back! I decided to tell Angel's Story in two parts, one because of the length of the story and two to see if there is genuine interest in the subject of Cat's Fighting and the horrendous results that can occur when a Cat Bite is left undetected and untreated.

If you are just finding this story, read the first post below and then return back here.

As I picked up the phone, I was dreading the decision that I might have to make. Angel had not been in surgery that long, but the news was cautiously optimistic. She was still in surgery but her Vet had his technician call me to let me know that she had enough tissue to re-build her rump area. The next hurdle would be to see if Angel could have a bowel movement on her own. She was certainly not out of danger yet, but this was a huge step towards saving her life. She would have to stay at the hospital until this happened.

The surgery was on a Wednesday, and when I called first thing Thursday morning - No Poop,I called late Thursday afternoon - No Poop, she would have to stay another night. She was given several different post-operative medications (Baytril, Cispride, Lactulose and poor thing mineral oil - yuk!) to assist her and of course to heal the infection.

After a sleepless night, (me) I called first thing Friday Morning - No Poop!, this was not a good sign and I knew that she must be missing me and very confused and afraid to be away from me for so long. With permission I went to the hospital to ease her stress and to see if my presence might calm her enough that she might want to have a bowel movement. My reasoning was flawed as Cats do not poop on command! Anyhow, I cuddled her in my arms and she just purred and looked at me with her beautiful eyes, it was as if she was saying, "I'm glad your here Mommy, I don't know why I'm here but thank you for loving me" When I handed her back to the technician, I don't know who was more stressed, Angel or me. In the back of my mind, I was thinking that this might be our last special time together. Cue tears.

Another restless night, I called first thing Saturday morning, still No Poop! THings were looking dire, we were going into a three day weekend (civic holiday in our part of the world) and I knew that if she didn't have a bowel movement we would be facing the decision.

The phone rang around 11ish, I jumped six feet high, I was wound so tightly and I braced myself. The happiest words in the world came from the Technicians mouth - ANGEL POOPED, SHE WAS COMING HOME!! I cannot express the words to describe my relief, my joy - cue tears.

The next couple of days would be critical, she had to take medication twice a day, she was put on a high fibre food diet (for the rest of her life) and we had to make sure that the rebuilding would hold.

This is a picture of her surgical stitches

It took her a couple of days but by Monday she was able to have a bowel movement. We have her in our bedroom isolated from the other cats, and she just sticks to me like clue. She is so loving, the second she sees me she just purrs her little heart out.

She has been home a full week and progressing very well. She will have her stitches out next week and fingers crossed her infection will be cleared up. Our next hurdle is to keep her from tearing at her stiches, they are starting to bother her.  If you have any suggestions to keep her from licking and pulling at her stiches, please send me an email or leave a comment. I would be grateful.

Considering everything that we have been thru, we are very, very lucky and very, very thankful that our Vet had the expertise to do this type of surgery.

Check back on Wednesday for ANgel's progess report after her stiches come out.

If you have stayed with me, Angel and I thank you. I hope that our story has touched you but more importantly, I hope that if you have a multi-cat family or let your cats outside the likelyhood of a serious cat bite is very high. You should thoroughly check your cats periodically and if you find a small lump or even worse an open sour, if you take action, you can probably treat with a couple days of anti-biotics.

I would hate for your family to have to go thru the emotional and physical stress and of course the very high financial bill that you will need to pay.

Please pass this story to all of your family and friends. If you would like to send me a story about your feline family member, send it to me at:  AngelTheCat@Bell.net (no attachments please, just type it into the body of the email) a picture is okay. I will add your story to this blog. Comments are also most welcome.

Angels Mommy

Angel The Cat - Her Story "When Cats Fight the Results Can be Fatal"

ANGEL (aka) Cutie Pututie

Angel is my gentle and very sweet 4 1/2 year old baby.  She is a beautiful long-haired white domestic pussycat. Angel is a  feral rescue (born outside) who has been with me since she was about 3 months old. 

When I brought her into our home it was never our intention to keep her (we had three previous feral resuces living with us).  Not because she wasn't a heartbreaker from the start, but we felt three cats was already a handfull. I could not find her a home in our small community, so  I was on a waiting list for a shelter spot (the only one within 60 miles of our town). The weeks became months and I was not able to get her into the shelter, they were and always are at maximum capacity.  Before we knew it, it was time for her to be spayed, she had stolen our hearts and became part of our family.

Cue forward, four years, our home is now turned over to more kittens and cats than I care to mention.  This can and usually will create it's own set of probems.  Cats are very territorial and occasionally fights will break out.  In my personal research about Cat Behaviour most advice that I found was to let the situation play out and not to intefer, which I generally followed.  Any spats that happened in my presence were over as fast as they began and they were so infrequent that I really was never too concerned. My opinion and future response to any sort of altercation has changed 360 degrees.

I hope that by sharing this very emotional and personal journey that Angel and I have been thru over the past several weeks will open your eyes and give you pause for thought. I would hate to think that another family would have to live thru this experience.

Because Angel is basically a loner and I have witnessed very little aggression towards her, I was totally unprepared for what transpired next.

I'll never forget the Saturday, early August when I looked down and Angel was sitting at my feet while I was watching TV. She was just quietly sitting there looking up at me and had she not smelled so bad, I would not of even known she was there. The poor thing, she was just covered in diarrhea. I can tell you it was no fun cleaning her up.

I don't know if you have ever tried to wash a cat's bottom, but it takes a great deal of dexterity. She was not a happy camper, but she is so gentle that she only gave me a pitiful meow. At the time, I missed that she had an open wound fractions from her anal area and she was letting me know that she was in pain. I was just happy to have been able to clean her up. I dried her off and because she has had diarrhea problems in the past, gave the situation no more thought.

The following morning, when I was checking her to make sure that she had no more diarrhea, I found a small amount of  blood and she would not let me touch her rump, she let out a wimper of pain. Murphy's Law, it was a long weekend in Ontario (Canada) and our vet's office was closed on the Monday. Unfortunately, our small community does not have emercency service, we are forced to drive approximately two hours to the nearest Emercency Animal Hospital. I honestly thought that I was dealing with a diarrhea problem so I didn't panic when the first available appointment wasn't until Wednesday.  Angel's regular vet was on holidays so she would be seeing a new doctor.

What I discovered was not only surprising, it was shocking. Angel had an open wound fractions away from her anal opening about the size of a quarter. It was very deep and full of blood and feces. Because is was so close to her anal opening and was clearly abcessed and infected she had no way of eliminating her bowel movement (poop). The Vet stated that he had never seen anything like this before, but the only way that she could have a wound like this was from a cat bite. The bite had obviously abcessed and then burst.

When cats get into fights they bite and their sharp teeth leave puncture holes.  These puncture holes virtually disappear within several hours trapping bacterial which multiply at an alarming rate.  If the bite is noticed right away then a roud of anti-biotics will usually restore your cat to good health.

I was totally upset, as I did not even know that she had been in fight, let alone received such a vicious bite from one of the other cats in the house. A cat bight can go from bad to worse in a very short period of time, usually only a couple of days, and obviously this is what happened in Angels case. Because the wound was so close to her anal opening it could not be stitched. The only course of action that the Vet had to offer was to clean her out, and put her on a strong regime of anti-biotics and pain killers and hope for the best.

I brought Angel home, kept her isolated from the other cats and prayed. She really had a rough couple of days, especially when the pain medication was finished. Vets typically do not like to administer more that three days in a row of Anafen, as it can be very hard on cats. At the end of the two weeks of anti-biotics Angel was showing signs of improvement, she still had an open wound but it looked like it was getting better and she was going stir crazy isolated from the rest of the household.

I let her join the family, but everytime I tried to find her she was hiding under something and she was just not interacting like her ususal self. A couple of days passed and I just couldn't find her, she was definatley not feeling well. She was regressing and she had blood again near her anal opening. The Vet didn't even want to see her, he just refilled her antibiotic and pain pill prescription and told me to continue on the same course of action for two more weeks. Alarm bells went off, but my hands were tied, as Angels regular Vet was still on holidays. To make things more complicated, her regular Vet is a large animal doctor and only sees small animals on Saturdays.

Things were not going well for Angel, she was discharging puss and blood and was just looking at me with those big beautiful eyes begging me to help her. As she was isolated again with us in our bedroom, my washing machine never stopped, I needed to keep everythings as sterile as possible to avoid futhter problems with such an open wound.

Finally, after almost a week of no improvement I had had enough. On Wednesday morning after a very, very difficult and long night I called the Vet's office. Angel must have visited her litter box every 5 minutes trying to have a bowel movement, with no results. She was straining so hard, and was in a great deal of pain.

Here is where Kismet, the Power of the Universe, Luck, Prayer, call it what you may, was on our side. The attending Vet to this point was on vacation and Angel's regular Vet was covering. As soon as he heard what was happening he told me to get her to the hospital and he saw her immediately.

It did not take him long to assess that Angel was in real trouble. She needed immediate surgery and he wasn't sure that the results were going to be positive. As the wound was so close to the anal opening, it was continually filling up with feces and she did not have the muscle strenght to eliminate on her own. She was so badly infected, the wound was so close to her anal opening and because it had gone on so long, he had no way of knowing if her tissues had been damaged. He prepared me for the fact that she might not survive the surgery or that if he did not find enough tissue to rebuild her entire anal opening that I would have to make a decision to let her go on the operating table. The only other option that we had was for him to rebuild a whole new opening, but Angel's quality of life would have been totally unfair, as she would have no control over her elimination functions.

Cue panic and tears, I don't even know how I drove myself home. I called my husband to rush home from work as we may have to make the decision to let her go. I can tell you that I cried a bucket of tears, I paced relentlessly and I bargained with the higher powers of the universe to get Angel thru this. I remember vividly, the sound of the phone when it rang a couple of hours later, bracing myself. I cried even more tears as I listened to the results....please bookmark ....to be continued....

Angels Mommy