What’s Up With These Cats
Eli’s belly is healing up nicely. Within 2 days of getting a shot of antibiotics from the vet, the infection was greatly reduced and he was feeling playful; I am so happy.
Prissy’s eyelid took a while to heal, but most of the hair has grown back and you can hardly tell that anything was wrong with it.
Yesterday, I noticed one of Bart’s hind feet looking abnormal. It was red between a couple of toes on his left hindfoot. Of course, he didn’t like me trying to look at it so I didn’t persist. This morning he is limping. Dang.
My husband and I are resolved to get ahold of him and check it out thoroughly. We should be able to doctor it ourselves if it’s not too infected already. The problem is that he (and all the other cats) lives outside. They are not always at hand when we have the time to check them over.
I will keep you informed on his progress. On a positive note, I finally got my fish pond put together. All the plants have come in the mail and are now in planted in the fish pond. I am super excited about the new water lilies. One is a very dark red flowering plant, and the other blooms yellow. I can’t wait to have them bloom.
It has been one week since I put the new liner in the fish pond and filled it up. I treated it right away with pond starter. The recommendation is to treat a new pond for two weeks to get the beneficial bacteria going. Sunday is the beginning of week 2.
I am going to be very careful to test the water before putting fish in it. I have a decent test kit, so hopefully I will judge the condition of the water correctly before I buying any fish. I will begin testing the water at the end of next week. I expect it will take about a month before conditions will be right.
I put my new water lilies in the water Thursday and they are visibly growing! I am always amazed at how fast they grow. In the fall, as the water cools, water lilies die back to the roots. In the springtime, once the water starts to warm it takes very little time for the new leaves to come up; before you know it, they are blooming.
Update on Bart: Early this morning I was worried about the cut between his toes on his hind foot. This afternoon he has come into the house with his left front leg swollen from his toes to his shoulder. There is a small wound on his forearm.
He looks like it is bothering him and he is cranky about being handled. Of course, the veterinarian offices are all closed for the weekend. After some research on the internet, I have come to the conclusion that he probably got bitten by a snake yesterday afternoon.
Thinking back, I recall seeing Bart sitting on the grass when we got home from work Friday. Instead of coming to see us he actually started to vomit. Since we were carrying groceries into the house, I didn’t bother to go over to him.
Later that evening he was not around for me to check him out; I just assumed he was out hunting and playing with his brothers. It took a while for him to show back up this morning. He came in the house as we were leaving to run some errands in town.
It’s when we got home that I got a good look at him and discovered his front leg swollen and his expression of discomfort. I spent the afternoon sitting on the bed writing this blog while he snoozed next to me. Bart is very much a Momma’s boy and wants to be coddled when he doesn’t feel good. Alas, the housework will wait until the morning.
The good news is that it appears that the critical time for a cat following a snake bite is the first few hours (which has passed). As I recall from his last snake bite, it will take a couple of days for the swelling to go down. At least we will have the weekend to watch him closely for any complications.
May your weekend be relaxing and restorative. May next week sail by effortlessly.
Psalms 31:7 I will be glad and rejoice in your unfailing love, for you have seen my troubles, and you care about the anguish of my soul.
