Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Poor Sierpinski

The last few days have been a bit of a roller-coaster. On Friday morning one of our two cats failed to show up for her usual snuggle time with Sam. This is uncommon, but not unheard of. Around 9:00 am Sam started looking for Sierpinski (the black and white one) only to find her hiding under my dresser. Over the course of the morning it became clear that something was wrong. Eventually she came out from under the dresser and Sam was able to see that she had a hard time moving her hind legs. By some confluence of luck Sam went outside and found the cat's collar in the street smashed; it had clearly been run over by a car. This led to the conclusion that the cat had also been hit.

As I am sure you can imagine, Sam and I were expecting dire news from the veterinarian once it was clear what had happened. Luckily most vets (and ours is no exception) are good at making time in situations like this. The initial report was shockingly good. It seemed as though Sierpi had dislocated her hip, but there didn't seem to be any broken bones or internal damage. Fantastic news!

With that good news in hand and a sore kitty at home Sam and I went out to see Watchmen and relax. Then Saturday we headed down to Rockaway to help my folks with a little project on their beach house (soon to just be their house...). When we got back there was very unpleasant news in the form of blood spots on the bedroom carpet. Not being able to tell where they came from we quickly isolated Sierpi in the bathroom. Paying attention to her, it seemed that the blood was coming from a small wound near her butt. We decided to leave her in the bathroom so she couldn't run or jump and let the wound heal.

Come the next morning it looked like the plan had worked well. There were fewer blood spots on the bath mat then there had been on the bedroom rug the night before. So I scratched her on the head and got into the shower. When I got out there appeared to be a gout of blood on the floor. I was understandably concerned. Upon closer inspection it wasn't entirely blood. It had the unmistakable odor of cat urine. I was still (understandably) concerned. But it was Sunday morning and the veterinarian was closed. There was little we could do but watch and wait.

I left for Rockaway again and left Sam behind to monitor Sierpi. But I was not hopeful. Around 3:30 that afternoon she again urinated and it was quite bloody. Yet, she didn't seem much worse for the wear. She was walking around, she wanted out of the bathroom. She ate a little and drank plenty of water. I was confused.

Come Monday morning there was no new blood on the rug. We decided to wait until she evacuated her bladder to see if she still needed to go to the vet. Despite drinking water she didn't seem to want to go. Finally after lunch, when her stomach appeared full and tender we decided she need to go in to the veterinarian again. I was expecting the worst. I had even prepared Sam for the worst.

This time we saw the cat specialist. After a brief examination she was ready with the verdict, but it wasn't as dire as I expected. Sierpinski's tail had been severed internally from the rest of her body. It was, for all intents and purposes dead. When the car hit her and (for lack of a better term) broke her tail, it also caused a problem with the nerves that control urine function. It won't be clear for 7-14 days whether normal bladder function will resume.

To conclude, for at least a week either Sam or I (mostly Sam) has to juice one of our kitties. She also has a bald butt and no tail. I know, deep down inside, that this isn't funny. But given that I was prepared for the worst, it is not not funny either. Observe:

 

3 comments:

Sydney said...

I think it's okay for it to be funny if the cat is okay. If sweet little Buzz Cut Butt were in drooly yowling pain, then it would be mean. Plus, it's always good to remember that a couple drops of blood in your pee can look like you're bleeding out. (Oh the things I have learned working with urogynecologists!) On a related note, Pete has started calling our cat Flakes due to her dandruff problem. It's not as scary as having to juice a kitty, but there's no kitty Head and Shoulders that you can use without having to actually wash your cat.

Joe Streckert said...

The term "juice the kitty" has to be a euphemism for something... If it's not, then it should be.

That isn't funny at all, except that it is. Buzz Cut Butt is also an adorable name for your little kitty juicer. Glad she's okay.

Unknown said...

It wouldn't be so obnoxious if I could "juice" more than three, itty bitty drops out of her at a time... only to have her clean herself and have the rest of it come flooding out. -_-;;;

At least she's mostly feeling better and at least the urine IS coming out.