Fangs A Lot!
That's what my cat Jake is probably going to say when I pick him up from the vet in a couple of hours. Poor guy.At 10 PM Wednesday night, the night before Thanksgiving (of course), I went to pet his head as he lay on the back of the couch.
He snarled, hissed viciously, and nearly took my arm off.
Jake's not the most personable cat, but even for him this was extreme. When he turned to look at me, I freaked a little. The right side of his face below his eye was puffed up and it looked like his nose wasn't on straight.
I thought OMG OMG OMG WHAT IS WRONG WITH MY CAT?!?!?
Wouldn't let me get near him. Best I could ascertain was that there was no discharge of any kind, and everything else looked "normal", so... maybe he got bonked? He looked like a prizefighter. I thought maybe his jaw was broken or something. Except, he ate just fine.
I called the vet at home, described it all. He said, probably an infection or allergic reaction. Keep an eye on him overnight, if it's worse by 8 AM, come on in.
At 8 AM Turkey Day, I called to let him know the cat looked better, the swelling had gone down, and he was allowing me to touch him now. We determined he could hold off a bit before coming in.
So we went today. I took Zander along too, because he's been losing weight. My vet will give a kind of 2-fer deal. Bring in one cat for the $35 visit fee, and the second one gets a physical for $20.
My formerly corpulent Zander, who topped out at 23 pounds, is down to 16 pounds. The funny thing is, he's now at a healthy weight. (He's a behemoth.) He got a clean bill of health, and as long as he maintains this weight, he's fine. He's just not an obese pig anymore. So, Zander got to ride home.
Jake, on the other hand, is healthy except for the issue. His right upper fang has abscessed. Not fun. He's having it removed, under sedation, and I'll be picking him up at 5:30. The vet said this is one of those things that'll happen as they age (he is 8, after all; Zander is 10; the "kittens" of blue are 4; and Ophelia, my eldest is 14!) and brushing isn't going to do that much to change things. He'll get along fine without the fang. (Ophelia doesn't have any of hers anymore and she's fine.) And I'm thankful that it's just a dental mishap that is easily and for the most part inexpensively handled. But I'll miss the fang. Poor guy.
Happy Fangsgiving...
posted by Jeanne @ 4:10 PM
3 Comments:
Poor guy! I guess I've been lucky with the kitty teeth. I've never had that happen to one of mine, but I guess I'll be more careful about checking everyone's choppers. I'll probably get bitten a lot...
RIP Fang. You did your job well and it is a noble rest to which you go.
Oh, My Hogan was a true redneck girl. She was missing a few teeth here and there. She never knew the difference.
Aw, poor Jake. Never fun but at least it was dental problems and not some run in.
And gosh!! I missed the whole saga of the pipes being stolen out of the house! Did you manage to sell it?
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