In Which Marvellous Martin Uses Up a Couple of His Lives

Jellicle Cats are white and black,

Jellicle Cats are of moderate size;

Jellicle Cats jump like a jumping-jack,

Jellicle Cats have moonlit eyes.

They're quitet enough in the morning hours,

They're quitet enough in the afternoon,

Reserving their terpsichorean powers

To dance by the light of the Jellicle Moon.

~T.S. Eliot~ 

In case you think my weekend was all sunshine and ponies, there was a wee bit of drama that I wasn't ready to write about. 

Martin is my Jellicle cat. He came to live with us shortly after we moved in. Right from the beginning he let it be known that he was no ordinary feline. He quickly let us know that he expected both dog rights and cat privileges. 

This bed shall do nicely, thank you

He has ruled over our little farm with a velvet paw with an easy confidence that garners respect. And if you don't respect him, well that's your problem as far as he's concerned. He often joins me on dog walks and will howl for us to wait for him. And of course we do. 

the dogs patiently waiting for Martin to finish his rest. 

All cats are smart but Martin always seemed to have an extra intelligence or perhaps he's just more people oriented. I don't know. 

This weekend he wasn't waiting at the door in the morning. I didn't think much about it- I had slept in a bit later and I figured that he got tired of waiting. But he didn't come that night or the next morning. While it's not unusual for him to disappear for a day or two at least once in the summer I was starting to get concerned. However, there was nothing I could do- we're surrounded by woods so where would I start to look. 

Yesterday Ed  found Martin waiting outside the door called for me to come and check him. He was limping badly and was quite swollen in his hack end. When I picked him up he howled. I saw some abrasions on his belly. I washed them as best I could, put on some hydrogen peroxide and polysporin and left him to sleep on my bed. Later I found him under the bed. I moved him to the laundry room and locked him in with food, a cushy bed, water and a litter box. To be honest I thought that something was broken. Fortunately, d'Arcy had an appointment booked for Tuesday (everything was closed yesterday for the holiday). I called in the morning and switched out the patient. d'Arcy's shots and annual exam could wait. 

I was worried and prepared to put him down depending on the outcome. However, this morning he seemed a bit brighter. In fact even yesterday he was bright eyed and alert. Just in pain and having trouble moving. If I thought he was going down I was prepared to have an emergency visit to put him down but fortunately that didn't happen.

Waiting for the vet and asking my why he has to endure this too

The vet examined him throroughly, and although it must have hurt he never did anything more than protest. This cat is amazing- he didn't even try to scratch me, just asked me to make it stop.

laying on the scale - see his red and swollen belly?

SaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSave

The vet found a deep puncture wound on his side but small- I wondered if it could be a BB but we found no evidence and his belly was all scratched and swollen. An ultra sound didn't show any deep damage. The vet cleaned his wounds, gave me some antibiotics and metacam and some instructions to soak his puncture wound so it doesn't close up too soon. He put a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and antibiotic directly in the wound and it must have stung. But all Martin did was howl. 

He's home now and sleeping in his infirmary. The tuna I gave him with his medication has mollified him. As to what happened we don't know. I am not sure how a fight would have given him the singular puncture. I'm wondering if he wasn't grazed by a car and hurt himself rolling in the ditch. I will never know and I can't understand Cat so I don't know what Martin is telling me. 

I am so happy that he came home. I think that many cats would have crawled away and I would never have seen him again. If it had been Chester I don't know if he would have come home and I do know that we would have had to sedate him to do what we did.  But I believe that Martin knew we could help. 

So Martin is with us for a bit longer. Thank heavens. I would have missed him dearly. 

Oh and he's also grounded.