And here we are, several months later. I just knew I would post a couple posts and then forget all about this. Well, let's try again.
Recently I've been dealing with a sick cat. She had a lump on her abdomen and the vet said that it was probably cancer. So me, trying to do the best thing for my beloved cat, agreed to surgery to have it removed. Thus started the long saga of my recent troubles.
She had the surgery, no problem. Stayed overnight when originally they said she wouldn't have to. The lump was more extensive than they originally had anticipated. She was understandably upset when we went to get her the following day. They actually had to use a small plastic tote with lid on the bottom to "trap" my cat to bring her to the examination room. They put the box part over her and slid the lid under her, latched it, and picked the whole thing up. Once she was in the exam room, she managed to get free of the vet tech and leaped off the table onto the hard floor. "She's fine" the vet said reassuringly. Sure she is, since it happened under your watch. I'm sure a flying leap onto a hard floor a day after major abdominal surgery is just peachy. Especially considering I'm supposed to keep her calm and not let her get on furniture for a week or so. *rolls eyes* Anyway, they managed to catch her and she jumped again two more times. During one of those times I, stupidly, tried to help corral her. Yeah, I ended up getting a deep bite in my hand for my troubles. Not her fault, she was in pain and scared. I was able to get on antibiotics the next day so it thankfully didn't end up infected. They couldn't control her long enough to get the pressure bandage cut off her abdomen or the elizabethan collar (cone) on her head - so they sent us home and told us to do it. We were able to get the bandage off after a lot of difficulty, but the cone wouldn't stay on. She managed to push it right off. I managed to get it on once where she couldn't get it off but she was so upset and disoriented I took it back off. The vet didn't seem too worried about that, so we figured it was no big deal. Yeah, not so much.
So she's licking her incision area - not obsessively so, but still licking it during normal grooming. Vet says not to worry about it. Exactly a week after her surgery I though the incision smelled a bit. I called the vet and we went in. Sure enough, it was infected. They did a culture and sent us home, telling us to continue to give her the antibiotics she had been on for ten days at that point. Oh and they got the cone on her, which I hadn't been able to do correctly so that it would stay.
Friday morning it looks worse than ever. The flesh was actually dissolving with the staples in it and pulling away from her body. Back to the vet we go after getting a call from them letting us know the culture came back and it was MRSA! Oh shit. She needed a second surgery to clean it out and was put on a new antibiotic twice a day. This pill is so bitter that if they taste it they foam at the mouth and drool, so we managed to get it in capsule form.
It was hard, but we got the knack (mostly) of giving her the antibiotic, along with an anti-nausea pill. About a week after starting the medicine, her appetite was dwindling. Loss of appetite was a side effect of the medicine, so I was hand feeding her whatever she would eat - deli chicken breast, tuna. Unfortunately at one point she also bit one of the capsules and got a taste of it, so now every time we wrap her in the towel to give her the medicine she starts drooling like a fountain. We go back to the vet this past Friday and they say she's healing wonderfully. At least another week of being on the medicine and she'll get her staples out this Friday. Awesome.
Then we get home. She refuses to eat anything that night or the following day. Finally in desperation I put a can of tuna, a can of wet food, and some pureed pumpkin (helps with diarrhea and constipation) with some water in the blender and liquefied it. Then I fed it to my cat with an eyedropper, followed by some water. Yesterday I did this four times. It's like feeding a baby. Very messy. My husband jokes and calls it a tuna smoothie. I think it's helping, since she went and ate a tiny bit of dry food once I gave her my slurry mixture. However, she hasn't pooped since Friday night and it's now Monday night. I had, again, called the vet this morning and they want to see her tomorrow morning if she isn't doing any better. I'm so exhausted.
Moral of the story. Make sure your pet wears the damn cone after a surgery. This has now been three weeks of hell when it didn't have to be.
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