Tabby's Second Emergency Trip to the Vet

by Courtney Mroch | More from this Blogger

21 Mar 2007 11:57 AM

Okay, this little cat is causing my heart a lot of trauma. First there was the way I found her, then there was her spay surgery, where I not only learned she had been pregnant but which led to complications. Then yesterday there was "the rupture."

The Red Spot: Tuesday 9:45 a.m.

After her bout with mastitis last week, Tabby rebounded beautifully over the weekend. By Monday she was almost completely back to normal.

Tuesday morning a tech from Dr. Singleton's office called to check on Tabby. I told them she was doing fine, then reached down to pet her because she was laying right next to me. That's when I noticed the red spot near her stitches.

I touched it to see what it was, but it appeared to be nothing. Just a little red mark on her belly. I mentioned it to them anyway, and they said it could have been from her licking a little too aggressively and to just keep an eye on it.

The Rupture

Not even two hours later I noticed Tabby licking her belly again like crazy. She couldn't lick fast enough! I went to pull her away, worried she might be trying to work her stitches loose. That's when I saw the red spot had now turned into a cavernous hole with a river of pus flowing forth.

I'm not talking a trickle, nor am I exaggerating when I say it was a full on Kilimanjaro eruption of goo. And nothing was stopping it. It just kept pouring out, saturating every towel I tried to mop it up with.

Panicked, I called the vet's office again. They assured me it was probably from the infection and normal but that I could of course bring her in for a check.

Bodies Really Are Amazing Inventions

So I did. Dr. Singleton verified what the front desk had said. The pus was normal.

According to Dr. Singleton, bodies, be they human or animal, have amazing capabilities. They make concessions all the time. In this case, Tabby's body had to release the infection somehow and the manifestation of the lesion was it. All that gunk flowing out of her belly was her body ridding itself of what had ailed it.

Phew!

Now I just have to keep an eye on the hole to make sure it doesn't get infected. Dr. Singleton refilled Tabby's antibiotics while I was there, so I'm hoping that will aid in the process.

Learn more about Courtney Mroch

Courtney Mroch is a wife, a proud pet parent, and a writer. She's been with her husband, high school sweetheart Wayne Pryor, over 20 years, married 11 of those. She's "mom" to Mr. Meow, a.k.

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