Not My Cat: Update

Bath Cat This cat (we can call him NyC for short, but Euphrates, Oogie, and Lippy have also been suggested) had a rough weekend, though he didn’t seem to notice. Last week my regualr vet stitched through the underside of his jaw, up through the floor of his mouth, with stainless steel wire (and anesthesia, to answer Alex’s question). It seemed to work for a few days, as seen in picture, above, which was taken later that evening; note that his face doesn’t look horrible.

By Saturday, I noticed that maybe his face wasn’t healing as well as it should. By that night (no vets open), the skin and fur had peeled down and back, and were hanging from the raw open flesh of his distinctly un-skin-covered lowere jaw like a flip-flop on a beach bum’s foot. Only the sutures seemed to be holding things together, and they were turning black and, um, oogie. Plus, the raw, nasty flesh that had been de-skinned was turning dry and black in some spots. BAD! So I freaked out a lot, worried a lot (I’m discovering that I’m a bit of a worrywart), tried to keep him isolated in the back room (except for mandatory snuggling) to keep him from further irritating his evil wound, and ultimately waited until this morning to do anything, except applying peroxide and antibiotic ointment, which NyC didn’t even seem to notice. On his raw, open wound. ::shudder:: Nerve damage, maybe.

This morning, I went to see Dr. Cerelli, who specializes in animal oral/maxillofacial surgery or something. I heard he was expensive, which was why I didn’t go in the first place (in retrospect, this may have been a been a bad choice). Four Paws is a swanky place. It smells clean and perfumed and new and expensive. They have sparkling consultation rooms with scrubs-clad technicians. They have lots of forms to sign. It feels (I’m sure intentionally) like an MD’s office.

NyC had a great fun time. He was angry from no breakfast, but he explored and meowed and played and came back to snuggle in my lap every few minutes. Normal cat stuff. Dr. Cerelli didn’t seem overly worried about his chances for survival, but he did express wonder and disbelief that my other vets had chosen to suture his mouth the way they did. Cerelli will remove the wire sutures, then cut along the gum line and re-attach the mouth in sort of a u-shape all along the lower jaw, with dissolvable sutures. It will cost much more than the first procedure.

One vet I talked to last week said something I already knew: for the price of making this kitten healthy, I could have several spayed or neutered. The implication (not very subtle) was that it would be more responsible to let this cat go (or having him put down) and then donate the vet money to other causes.

I can’t fault the guy’s logic. It’s logic I use all the time. But now I have a personal relationship with this cat. It’s not that I have to keep him; it’s just that I can’t stand to think of him suffering. Nonrational but very compelling.

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