Cone Head

It was back to the Vet's office this week. On Monday night (July 4th), Dave noticed that Lucian had a cut on his right front leg. On closer examination, it was a deep cut. It went through the skin and down into the muscle tissue below. We were both a bit queasy as neither one of us does well with wounds.

It didn't seem to bother him at all. He was walking fine, it wasn't bleeding, and it didn't hurt him when we handled the leg. I pulled out my cat medical books and looked at how to handle wounds and also to see if was urgent enough to warrant an emergency visit to the clinic of death. We decided to clean the wound according to the directions in the book and to try to bandage it. The cleaning went fine, Lucian is a very tolerant and sweet cat. He did not like the bandage at all and had it off in a few seconds. He then spent the next half hour "cleaning" the now disinfected wound.

I called Bonnie at Dr. Bass's office as soon as they opened on Tuesday. We had an appointment that afternoon. Lucian went into the carrier well. We have the dual door type carriers, which are great. You can put the cat in the top. This scares them a lot less than trying to push them in the front opening. He cried as soon as we were in the garage, knowing a vet visit was in order.

Dr. Bass examined him thoroughly before he moved on to the foot. He said it was a tear, likely from furniture with a sharp point from a staple or bedspring. The only upholstered furniture we have are the ottomans downstairs. He does like to bat things under them and pull them back out, so that made sense. I checked later when I got home and one of them did have a broken staple. I removed the staple and placed packing tape over all the staples to avoid future mishaps.

Dr. Bass was able to suture the wound without putting Lucian under. Lucian is a very calm cat and he was able to numb the wound locally. He had to reopen the edges of the wound as they were already healing open. He took Lucian in the back and came back 15 minutes later with his leg wrapped in a bright red bandage. He hated the bandage and wouldn't walk on that leg. He constantly tried to bite the bandage off and managed to get it pulled halfway off his leg by the next morning. I stayed home with him and called Dr. Bass in the morning to see about getting a smaller bandage and maybe a cone so he wouldn't bite the bandage anymore.

By the time we were in the waiting room, he had pulled the bandage completely off. He was quite pleased with himself and had calmed down quite a bit. Bonnie took him back to see Dr. Bass and who said the wound looked great and was healing well. She put a clear plastic cone on his head, which he didn't like but was so much better than the bandage. We go back on the 15th to get the sutures removed. He wears the cone until then.

He has done very well with the cone. He bumps into things all the time but he seems to be getting the hang of it. We kept him in our room last night since there is only the bed and the two dressers. The bed is high so he can easily walk underneath it. He slept most of the night cuddled up close, but did wake us up every few hours. Liv also woke us up by sitting and crying outside the door. She's his sister and doesn't understand why we put that thing on his head or why she can't sleep with us. We tried letting her in, but she just hissed at him. I think the combination of the strange vet smells and the cone are freaking her out. We let him roam about this morning and he is starting to get the hang of it. I think we'll keep him closed up in our room when we're not home but let him roam the house when we can supervise.

Things I've Learned

1. Always check under the furniture for sharp objects that can hurt the kitties.
2. Opt for the cone instead of the bandage.
3. Liquid medicine is so much easier to give. He's on antibiotics to avoid infection.
   
4. Cats walk very close to walls, navigating with their whiskers. The cone makes this harder and the cat has to relearn how to navigate.