28 October 2009

A Pissed-Off Pussy

Poor little Bertie!  On Saturday morning I noticed that his right ear was all swollen like a balloon.  Of course I couldn't get to the vet until Monday, so I took him in and the diagnosis was hematoma caused by ear mites.  Somehow the mites made his ear fill up with blood.

I had to leave him to have an operation the next day to drain the pocket and quilt his ear back together.  That's right.  Quilt his ear back together.  He ended up staying two nights and I just went and got him.  He is having quite a problem navigating.  He wants to travel close to the walls and objects instead of just going down the middle and keeps bumping into things.  I think they fastened the cone too narrow and want to widen it out a bit so he can eat and see and not be all squished in there, but he won't let me do it right now.  It's held together with duct tape, so will be quite the project.

I have a couple kitties traumatized under the bed right now because they saw this monster in their kitchen.  Sibley is acting quite courageous and stalking Bertie to get a good sniff.  Three of the kitties have not seen him yet, so there will be more drama later.  I took the hood off one of the litter boxes so he can use it, but that may prove to be the most attractive box in the house.  (Not in the pretty sense.)

I have to take him back in two weeks to get the stitches out and he has to wear the collar the whole time.  We'll see.  His poor little ear is covered by pink sutures.

3 comments:

Karen Anne said...

Poor guy...

That's the narrowest cone I've ever seen. I wonder if a vet tech did it and just didn't do it right?

It's been awhile since I've seen one, but I don't recall duct tape. Snaps, maybe.

Sometimes my vet would put cones on angled in the other direction if it would still protect the area. Those are easier for the cat to eat with.

Karen Anne said...

Come to think of it, if it were backwards Bertie could probably rub the ear against stuff, so that's a bad idea on my part.

Karen Anne said...

Yeah another thought, I wonder if the ear having been mucked up is temporarily affecting his balance.