Finn's emergency surgery
This week has been quite unexpected. I thought this week I would try to post about some plants or my spindles (more of an inventory I suppose) Or the nice walk I took last Friday on a recently expanded trail near my house. Hopefully that'll still happen.
So, I'd like to say that I've always had cats and often quite a lot of cats. As a child these were mostly barn kitties, but they were allowed inside the house as well. For the last several years (...decades?) I've only had one kitten at a time and usually they were older strays that showed up. So, having Finn & Oliver has been a lot of fun. They're quite possibly the friendliest and most dog-like cats I've had. I've noticed that the non-cat/indifferent people seem to like them the most for this reason.
A benefit of two kittens at once is that they entertain each other. It also means they go off exploring to find mischief. :) On Monday the pair got into some yarn that I thought was out of reach. I was making myself lunch early in the afternoon when Oliver walked into the kitchen. I noticed a skein of red yarn dragging behind him. I picked him up thinking the end was snagged on a tooth, but oh no. Thankfully it was a solid piece, and maybe it's an exaggeration to say I pulled out six feet of yarn, but I most definitely slowly pulled out several feet. It was unreal. I didn't notice Finn right away, but he managed to chew and swallow several sections of yarn from the other end of the skein.
I called my emergency vet and they advised to wait and watch. So at the 24 hour mark he began vomiting clumps of yarn and experiencing some other GI distress. When I arrived there was a 3-6 hour wait, but they ended up taking Finn back after about an hour and a half for x-rays. He had surgery that night to get the rest of the yarn out of his stomach. We caught it pretty early and it hadn't turned into a linear obstruction in his small intestine.
He was so hyped up when I brought him home Wednesday evening. I fought to keep on the e-collar that the vet sent home. It was a nightmare. Around midnight I put him into a crate and he kept the e-collar on for a whole hour. And by 1:30 AM I gave up and just hoped he didn't bother his staples. He didn't. Thankfully he finally just went to sleep.
Last night I went to a local pet food & supply store and bought a soft collar e-collar and secured it with a small dog collar that wouldn't breakaway when he pulled on it. Success!
He has 10-14 days before the staples are removed. I hope it doesn't feel like a lifetime until then.
So, I'd like to say that I've always had cats and often quite a lot of cats. As a child these were mostly barn kitties, but they were allowed inside the house as well. For the last several years (...decades?) I've only had one kitten at a time and usually they were older strays that showed up. So, having Finn & Oliver has been a lot of fun. They're quite possibly the friendliest and most dog-like cats I've had. I've noticed that the non-cat/indifferent people seem to like them the most for this reason.
A benefit of two kittens at once is that they entertain each other. It also means they go off exploring to find mischief. :) On Monday the pair got into some yarn that I thought was out of reach. I was making myself lunch early in the afternoon when Oliver walked into the kitchen. I noticed a skein of red yarn dragging behind him. I picked him up thinking the end was snagged on a tooth, but oh no. Thankfully it was a solid piece, and maybe it's an exaggeration to say I pulled out six feet of yarn, but I most definitely slowly pulled out several feet. It was unreal. I didn't notice Finn right away, but he managed to chew and swallow several sections of yarn from the other end of the skein.
I called my emergency vet and they advised to wait and watch. So at the 24 hour mark he began vomiting clumps of yarn and experiencing some other GI distress. When I arrived there was a 3-6 hour wait, but they ended up taking Finn back after about an hour and a half for x-rays. He had surgery that night to get the rest of the yarn out of his stomach. We caught it pretty early and it hadn't turned into a linear obstruction in his small intestine.
He was so hyped up when I brought him home Wednesday evening. I fought to keep on the e-collar that the vet sent home. It was a nightmare. Around midnight I put him into a crate and he kept the e-collar on for a whole hour. And by 1:30 AM I gave up and just hoped he didn't bother his staples. He didn't. Thankfully he finally just went to sleep.
Last night I went to a local pet food & supply store and bought a soft collar e-collar and secured it with a small dog collar that wouldn't breakaway when he pulled on it. Success!
He has 10-14 days before the staples are removed. I hope it doesn't feel like a lifetime until then.