The $1K Cat
I picked up Ringo today but don’t expect a picture anytime soon, as she needs time to regrow hair where she was shaved for surgery to repair her lower mandible.
She is eating like crazy and gaining weight as she is getting a quarter can of Science Diet AD that is thinned with water four times a day. She has gained a pound since entering the vet’s office. Twice a day the food contains an antibiotic to help her cope with possible infection.
She is unhappy because she is confined for the moment in a cage much of the time. I only let her out when I can be with her and make sure she doesn’t try something stupid, like leaping for a high place that she isn’t strong enough to reach. I may be able to let her loose in the bathroom tomorrow. I don’t want the other cats to be able to reach her yet, as they may lick her wounds and open them. It will take time for her to heal.
13 comments
I’m glad to hear that Ringo is doing better. I can guess you and your vet’s theory about how her jaw got broken. Some sick people out there :(. I can only guess at how unhappy she is to be locked up in a cage most of the time, my own fat lazy lumps don’t like it and they’re nowhere near as active as Ringo usually is. Hopefully she will heal quickly and you’ll be able to let her out in your house full-time, I’m sure both of you will be happier at that point (her because that cage is kitty prison to her, you because I’m sure you’re tired of hearing her whine, moan, groan and complain about said fact whenever she hears you within earshot).
I’m in the planning stage of a secure outdoor run that will keep her from leaping on things, but give her room to move around, and a place out of the sun and rain.
She doesn’t like being inside, especially since she is still not fully recovered from the anesthesia and is unsure on her legs. She would be happier up on the roof, but that is a no go zone until she is full recovered.
I will go into her injury later because I’m dealing with some definite anger issues over it, and need to get those under control.
She is pretty good, but the other cats know she is in the bathroom, and they want to ‘visit’, which would be a really bad idea, so I’m getting complaints from 4 locations.
Poor Ringo. 🙁
Hope she recoups quickly…and safely.
“How come she gets to be in the bathroom and we can’t? When will she come out? Why is she getting different/ better/ interesting food than we get? What happened to her and why does she smell funny? Huh? Huh? Huh???…”
Don’t beat up the other guy too much. Maybe drop some kitty bombs in his spa…. (and watch the lawsuits fly…)
Patch quickly, Ringo. World peace is in the balance!
She is more coordinated today than she was yesterday, but she looks much worse than she apparently is. She wants to chew, and that isn’t going to happen at food time. Like every cat I’ve ever encountered, she loves AD, but the liquid mush she is lapping up may not be satisfying her hunger pangs, even though it is obviously helping her to gain weight.
take good care of yourself, ringo, and eat well!
She is definitely eating well, at nearly $2/can for AD. The biggest problem is that she wants kibble, and that isn’t going to happen until the vet OKs it. The jaw needs time to heal.
She has finally regained her motor control so she can jump accurately, without assistance, which is good and bad. I’m glad she’s coordinated again, but she wants to jump to places I don’t want her to go.
yeah, there were several days once where i was feeding the fluffy black dog 5 cans of ad per day.
i’ve recently been through the ‘cage rest’ ordeal with christoper houdini cat. the first two days he was still feeling too punk to care, the next two days he vociferously complaining 24/7 [fortunately his voice is not the loudest], but on day 5 he started trying to rip the crate to pieces. he wasn’t really supposed to be out and about and trying to jump up on the furniture, but he sure wasn’t supposed to spending his time and energy trying to dismantle a heavy-duty wire dog crate either.
he’s doing fine now, there were only a few missteps at first, and only one broken lamp, but he’s pretty much living in the bedroom full time now, away from the rest of the cats, because i have to be able to find him [he’s one of the ones that hides a lot] to give him his medicine.
Christopher has had an interesting life experience for one so relatively young.
Five cans – yikes! Well, Ringo needs the weight gain. I gave her a half can of watered down Friskies Plus for the fourth feeding because she was acting starved on a quarter can of AD four times a day. I will be substituting a half can of Friskies for two of the feedings, and give the medicine in the AD, because she definitely finishes the AD.
She goes back on Wednesday and I can ask when she can go to a ‘halfway area’ outside, because she is very unhappy in the house, and I’m really unhappy with the bathroom being without any air conditioning – it’s at the southwest corner of the house with no shade, so it is really hot in the afternoon.
If the vet agrees, I will put up a large fenced in area outside with access to a large cat carrier under the edge of the house. A 3X8 foot area should give her more freedom than the bathroom, but still protect her from other creatures until she can defend herself again.
most of the kittens, even though they were “fostered” by a dog, grew up to be cats, but christopher houdini grew up to be a dog on a cat suit he also bonded strongly with the fluffy black dog, trying to go everywhere and do everything fbd did, and along with having some underlying health issues anyway, he was completely discombobulated by the dog’s leaving him behind.
i do sometimes separate out a cat and have it living in the bathroom for whatever reason. the ones i’ve done this with have all hated it, so i’m considering making a screen door for the bathroom so they can at least see out. of course, if ringo is like some of mine, she would climb to the top of the screen door and then jump all the way down to the floor if you did that, so maybe not a workable solution in your case.
This is my gargoyle cat who spends and inordinate amount of time on the roof of my house – she wants to be at the highest point she can find. I would be happier with the outdoor arrangement, because it would limit her to a maximum of three feet in height while giving her room to move. I can use it for other cats after they have ‘the operation’ so they can feel freer without being in danger.
Even with the other cats, it took Sox a while to adjust to Dot being gone. They had been together their entire lives, so he felt her absence. I can see that happening if a kitten bonds with a dog.
she was acting starved on a quarter can of AD four times a day
healing up after a major injury or illness takes a lot of calories and nutrition. she may need 1.5 cans/day of a/d, or possibly even 2. i can’t remember the exact numbers and conditions, but a cat of christopher houdini’s size [approx 10 lbs] was supposed get 1, 2, or 3 cans of a/d per day [or maybe it was only 2.5 cans max] depending what it was they were recovering from.
This is my gargoyle cat who spends and inordinate amount of time on the roof of my house – she wants to be at the highest point she can find
obviously you need to build her a rooftop penthouse for her ‘recovery space’! 😈
kidding aside, your proposed outdoor arrangement sounds like a good one.
She weighed 4.5 lbs when she was admitted, and 5.5 when I brought her home. She should be around 7 pounds at a minimum, which is why I’m starting her on Revolution all-in-one as soon as the vet says I can because I suspect that parasites are getting the majority of her nutrition, as well as annoying the hell out of her.
I’m shifting the ‘kids’ over to this vet, and I think they are going to be surprised when they see Excise or even Property after seeing Ringo.
I have already climbed up a 40-foot tree and tried to convince her to come down, so she will get a ground-based enclosure outside, or stay in the bathroom. I have sand from the trench I dug for the flowers in the front [I filled it with real dirt], so she’ll have a custom ‘indoor’ bathroom of her own.