We LOVE cat poo ;)

Earlier this week, our cat Sophie had been missing for 2 days....my mind was wondering to the last time she was missing.  When we were living in our unit she hadn't come home for a whole week, she finally showed up at the back door...beaten and bloody and rake thin 8(  She must have been too sore to climb the fene back into the yard til then, she was so frail.  It broke my heart.  It was assumed she had been attacked by another cat.  Luckily she recovered well and has been a happy little kitty ever since, bar the operation she had to have to remove a cyst(in which she also had to loose her reproductive parts, with babies on board that we didn't know about :( )

Unfortunately, my fears had been confirmed , after 2 days she showed up in bad shape.

I went out the backyard to call her name and rattle her pellets, for a while there was nothing, then I noticed a cardboard box moving slightly on the deck.  She was inside the box(a big box, from my slow cooker).  Gosh knows how she got in it, coz she could barely move, let alone get out of it(Tyler suspects our neighbour placed her there, but seems weird to me that they would go into our backyard).

She had no visible injuries, but was tucking her left hind leg up when she walked, and was full of awful hauntingly painful moans.  We rang the vet and they slotted her in straight away, suspecting a broken leg.  The first thing the vet did was shave her leg, to check for wounds, but nothing came up, so she wanted to do an x-ray and asked me to leave her there to come back later, as they had a busy day.

In the time that we waited to hear the verdict, there was a lot of sadness in the air at our house.  Polly, our dog, pounced around and sniffed at us as soon as we walked in....wondering where her buddy was, and Jack was walking around the house calling "Ooopheeee".  It made me realise what a hole she would leave in our lives had she not made it home, she's a shadow to Jack and I, always near by and wanting in on the action...even at bath times, she loves to sit in the corner and get a crown of bubbles placed on her head and a jug of water trickled down her back!

In the afternoon the vet rang and gave me the news....it was hard to hear...she has a dislocated pelvis and nerve damage in her leg.  They could see in the x-ray that her bowel and bladder were full up, so they had to extract her urine and give her an enima to try and get her bowel working.  The vet explained that the next 24hrs I had to monitor her output, making sure there is output, as the nerve damage may be restricting her bodily functions.

She also needs to be confined in a small space for atleast 6wks, to minumise her movement, to promote healing of her pelvis....not really anything else that can be done for it, no plaster or such.

So here's where Tyler's laziness actually worked to my advantage!  We still had the pet carrier that he borrowed from his mum over a year ago....grumble grumble(if we have anything of yours that we should have returned by now, chances are I thought you had it already because I asked Tyler to return it to you....it's either floating around in his car or hidden in a spare room....yes this is becoming a bad pattern!)

We had a few hours before we were due to pick Sophie up, so I set the box up in the lounge with one of Jack's fluffiest blankets inside for her to get nice and cozy.

JackJack decided it looked pretty cozy in there and climbed in for a rest!

Squishy little piggy face!

And of course some cars went in with him!

He reached up for the flap and pulled it down behind himself, thinking it was his own little cubby house ;)

Everyone's mood picked up once our little kitty was home!

She seemed really dopped, which is probably from the pain relief they injected her with.

I fashioned a little cardboard box litter tray to go in with her, and put in a small cup of pellets and water.  She was still full of sad moans, but curled up for a long sleep(at first in the litter instead of the cozy blanket!)

From the next morning, we've had to administer medicine, which of course is a barrel of fun.

Trying to force a tablet antibiotic down her throat....this one is given twice a day

Still trying to get that tablet down!  She's pretty good at moving it with her tongue to the side of her mouth til she can spit it out, so I have to pry her jaw open, throw it deep, close her mouth and rub her throat to force her to swallow.  Ugh....it's awful!  I wouldn't do that to my son, I'm having trouble putting Sophie through it too 8(

Then she also needed one dose of laxative for that first morning, and a dose of anti-inflamitaries, which is once a day....both of these are in paste form and she loves them, yay!

The vet had booked us in at the end of this first day, if she hadn't managed to use her bowel or bladder yet....they would need to look at further treatment if this was the case.  So, when I checked her litter tray mid morning, my golly I've never been so excited to see poo!!!!!

It was a great sign!!!!

JackJack has been such a great pet brother, helping Muma change her water and food and supervising the medicine.  Sophie is not liking being confined in the box, she will be in there for atleast 6 weeks.  Tyler says she's crying when he comes home from work at night, must feel so starved of affection in there.  We give her lots of pats and gentle cuddles during medication time, but then back in the box our little patient goes......

Get well soon pretty kitty xxx