dancing horses

dancing horses

Monday, July 3, 2017

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. 

29 comments:

  1. It's a good thing they have nine lives...I'm glad Martin is home and safe.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Glad Martin is holding his own - it's amazing the things they can get up to. My black and white cat Simon sends his regards.

    ReplyDelete
  3. These fur babies sure can keep us on our toes. They hurt, we hurt. Nice to know he should get along fine, with some effort on your part. As to what happened, I am going to wager a guess here. Do you have any eagles soaring above? It is not unusual for them to grab on to a cat.. could be Martin was more than the eagle bargained for, so let him drop. They leave behind nasty puncture wounds. Main thing is he is going to re cover. Hugs to you and Martin.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. we do have eagles around here. I hadn't thought of that.

      Delete
  4. I'm really glad this story has a happy ending. I have one extra special cat like this (but a striped one), and I know how important cats can be in a person's life. Nowadays, I just let my cats out for about one hour or so in the morning, and then they have to stay in for the rest of the day. They seem fine with this, and it is much less worry for me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I would love to limit him but it's almost impossible. interestingly enough he doesn't spend a lot of time outside now

      Delete
  5. Oh what a sweet looking guy! What a relief the vet didn't uncover anything too scary. It's so terrible when they're in pain tho! We have had a couple instances of cats sleeping inside vehicles only to become injured when someone gets in the car and turns it on. Regardless I'm glad Martin looks like he will recover!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Poor guy! Makes me wonder if he tried to climb a tree?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He climbs pretty regularly. We'll probably never know.

      Delete
  7. I'm glad he came back and let you help him. Passage is much the same -- can't keep her in and she has survived as a barn cat for 13 or 14 years. She tangled with a wild animal a few months ago (I heard her scream) and I feared the worst. Luckily she escaped with a deep scratch on her hind leg that had her limping for awhile. Even savvy barn cats get hurt once.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hopeful that he won't wander so far afield

      Delete
  8. Wow that would sure cause a scare. Glad he is on the road to recovery. Sure would be handy of we could speak animal sometimes

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. it would be although perhaps they would have too many things to tell on us!

      Delete
  9. Poor kitty! ): I hope he continues to improve!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I'm glad he came home to let you heal his wounds. Black and white cats hold a special place in my heart.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Poor guy. He sounds like such a sweet soul. I'm glad he managed to come home and seek help, and that his injuries aren't any more severe than they are. I'm wishing him a speedy and complete recovery.

    ReplyDelete
  12. So glad he's going to be okay!! It's so nerve-racking when our pets gets hurt or sick.
    Our Harley has been attacked once by a bird of prey (we have bald eagles, owls, hawks of all manner, so who know what kind got him) which left him with 2 punctures behind one ear and an eye on the sky for months afterwards.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you. We'll probably never know what it was.

      Delete
  13. Cats...

    I'm not a dog person. I'm not a cat person. I'm a horse person. But damn if a few very intelligent cats (black and white ones too!!) in my lifetime didn't strike a chord with me. I'm really glad he came home for help and didn't run and hide as many are want to do.
    I like how the smart cats know we're helping them. Martin is a very smart cat. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Martin is very intelligent and sweet. I'm glad he cam home too.

      Delete
  14. Oh no! So glad he came home and is being a good patient to date. Tuna is a miracle helper haha

    ReplyDelete
  15. What a horrible wound. I hope he heals up quickly.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for leaving a comment. I love the feedback.