I made a start with the rehoming. I sat down and wrote about three pages of the criteria required for the rehoming of Josephine, Ginger Meg and Angel…the ‘girls’.
It was very strict and I wondered if anybody would actually ever fit the criteria and pass the test. I felt very upset and worried afterwards about the applicants until I reminded myself that I hadn’t actually released it as yet and so there weren’t any at that point.
I planned to have it put up at the Petbarn and the local veterinary surgeries to start with because that is where animal lovers are most likely to go.
I spoke to the person who gave me such helpful advice over the flea problem at the Petbarn and voiced my sheer terror at who I would get for them because I felt so distrustful of people and she nodded her head in full agreement and said she knew ‘because we get them in here’.
‘In here?’
’Yes, they come in with their big tough dogs and they have a problem’
’Well,’ I countered ‘I truly think that people like that have a problem with their self esteem because why would you need to get your esteem through your dog?’
‘I don’t care about THEIR problems’, she said, ‘I only care about the animal!!’
To which I fully agreed.
Larrikin finally did go for his checkup. I have used the neck bandage for some weeks, worrying only that it increased his chance of infection since it was covered, but we seemed to get by without that happening. In fact, the position of the wound means that it is not really fully covered and he has scratched it a few times. The neck bandage does seem to intervene though, so that he often only scratches the cloth.
His head refused to heal. I researched FIV treatments and found a helpful site in which a sixteen year old cat which was quite near death was brought back from the brink by a combination of supplements, the basic one being ‘Ensure’.
I did not know what this was and neither did the girl at the health store but I found it at the chemist and the checkout person asked if I knew how to use it and had I used it before to which I had to reveal that it was for a cat. When I went on to explain she looked so upset at what the poor cat’s outlook was that I wondered if she knew something I didn’t. I think I must have ruined her day.
On another site Coenzyme Q10 is recommended. So we used a combination of several things plus the Q10.
It was plain to see the difference almost immediately. The hair around the wound had started to grow on the neck to begin with and it looked smaller.
So last Saturday we gathered our courage and took him back to the vet. He was quite shocked that the top of his head had opened up again and on examining the other wound he expressed a deal of exasperation declaring that there had to be an underlying condition to retard the healing so much. I indicated that this was much better than it had been, but he said he had seen cats in the wild (assume feral?) heal much faster.
The vet looked frustrated and paced the floor. I felt bad, as though I had failed something I should have succeeded in. We discussed the use of the Colloidal Silver, but I had run out and since he did not think it was suitable for an open wound I had not got any more of the ointment in. He asked if I had used honey and I said I had thought of it but that I considered it might be a bit messy. He said to try it but it had to be Manuka Honey which was positive and that it should not be pasteurised. I found some at Woolworths and kept it in the fridge but wow! did Larrikin perform when I put this cold honey on him. So I now warm it up and put it on in a thinner state and he seems to accept that.
I did show the vet what I was giving him as supplements and he agreed with that and when I mentioned the Coenzymeq10 he said ‘yes, definately’ so that was encouraging.
Our tragedy is that this talented vet is going away for four years to do a PHD on wild birds in New Guinnea, mostly on the viral illnesses which affect them. We know he is going to be an asset to vet science wherever he goes and wished him well, though we could not hide our disappointment for Larrikin (and us.)
The thing with this cat is though, that after beginning the supplements I considered taking them myself. He began running around, chasing his ball, climbing on furniture, talking, getting in to mischief and giving cheek. He really is a cat with a lot of character.
Melinda is the factory cat we kept to tame. She stays in the hallway at night. One morning I heard the ball tingling in the hallway when we were having coffee in the bedroom. I said it looked like Melinda was coming out of her shell, she was playing with the ball. Then when I heard the big ball being played with I got suspicious. I went out to find Larrikin in there running around like a big kid and Melinda up on a high safety perch watching. Melinda was flea treated a few weeks back but for safety sake we keep him out of the hallway just in case. He often pushes his way in but when he sees us coming he runs back in to the loungeroom with a bit of a squark. He sweet talks her and the other ‘girls’ through it. He doesn’t know he has been desexed and we don’t have the heart to tell him. If he gets the opportunity he checks them out. He is not subtle about this at all so they usually run off.
Meanwhile we are looking to improve the quality of the runs and to increase the availability of the outdoors to the inside cats, even if it is just a small platform enclosed in wire outside a window for a start. We are going to look at some secondhand materials and have a man coming on Monday to put a roof on half of the big run so that we can take the tarp away. As you can see there is always something happening at ‘our place’.
This article was by margaret dalziel - add a comment below!
