I was once again at the vet’s this morning. This time with Odie and Benson- both of them fighting injuries to their front legs. Odie’s turned out to be a deep bite wound probably inflicted by the feral tomcat let loose on our property and one that is allergic to traps! 🙁
Benson wasn’t so fortunate. After observing him for months alternately going lame on his front left leg, and after being dragged to the vet several times to see if he would walk for them and show them his pain- I took him in this morning with every intention of having them do films on his shoulder and get to the bottom of his lameness. The newest vet in the clinic- she saw us (I really like her) she has infinite patience with scared kitties feral and otherwise. Odie who last time he was there had to be muzzled and he still managed to bite a tech- had all sorts of warning flags on his chart. After talking to me about how he behaves, the vet decided to opt for wrapping him in a warm towel, working slowly and carefully and he was a champ. I couldn’t be more proud of him!
With Benson, it turned out not to be a fracture, or a sprain or a dislocated shoulder. This sweet year old Siamese has pillow foot which is extremely rare in cats- but he has it on three of his pads. 🙁 This disease is an auto-immune disease that causes the pads of the feet to become spongy and squishy and they will break open and bleed. It is extremely painful and they don’t know what causes it. We gave him a pain shot, a shot of depo-medrin and a shot of covinia and an anti inflammatory. Unfortunately, this disease is a precursor to stomatitis and early kidney failure. He’s only a year old!
I pray the steroid shot kicks in and he can at least have a few more years with us without suffering any other repercussions for this dreadful disease.
How did Benson manage to contract that rarity? His bad luck. His good luck, though, is being with someone who cares about him. Is he an inside cat? His life may be less painful with comfy places to lie about.
The new vet sounds pretty good. Let’s hope she maintains the good attitude.
He has been an inside kitty since arriving here although he was found outside with his mom and sister in some pretty harsh surroundings. They don’t know why this occurs- just that it does and it is never a good outcome for the cat. I was surprised when they opened his mouth and I saw those solid red gums! You don’t usually see that except in older cats. The treatment has worked- he is full weight bearing on his front paws for the first time in weeks. Maybe this will resolve on its own with a little bit of TLC and modern medicine?
Prayers being sent.