You guys contributed close to $3000 for this beautiful little guy (more on that in a bit). As a result, he is doing much better. He still has a long way to go, but he’s making progress. Some info:
First, we now believe we know what the underlying cause is for his injury. He has had several “inexplicable” spasms of rolling, twisting, and biting his skin. He has a small but unexpectedly ugly wound on his left side that is scabbed over. I believe it goes relatively deep into his tissue. I think he has developed a sensitivity to flea bites that causes him to have those “fits.” When a flea bites him in the wrong area, or the wound begins to itch, he goes berserk. During one of those “fits,” he fell off of a five-foot shelf and injured his leg. We now have CBD oil for his anxiety (he has always been a high-anxiety cat, probably from trauma during his early years) and skin tonic that comes highly recommended from the local cat guru. We’re treating the wound with peroxide and a cat-friendly topical ointment. And I’m flea combing him twice daily. He had antibiotics and another dose of Revolution at the vet. Sum total: he is sleeping more peacefully now than he has been since he got hurt.
Second, the vet we saw is an idiot. He totally failed to notice the side wound. He almost let Calvin fall off the treatment table, jumping away when Calvin tried to leap down rather than catching him. (My wife caught him.) The vet also tried to tell us he’s a girl, based on nothing more than him being a calico. He was unable to find a spaying scar. Well, while he was rolling in catly ecstasy on his back today during the CBD oil massage, we took a good long look. Those are small, undeveloped (or neutered) testicles. No keyhole. No vagina. Calvin is a boy. The vet is an oaf.
We bought him the puppy playpen recommended by Smurf, and it is so much better than the damn kitty cage. He is much more comfortable in it. After some experimentation, we are using what used to be a broiling pan as his temporary litter box, as he doesn’t like lifting his leg enough to get into a normal litter box. We didn’t need that broiling pan anyway… The photo above was taken about half an hour ago, through the screened-in top of the pen. I didn’t want to wake him by unzipping it.
He spent an hour this afternoon out of the playpen, being combed and probed and massaged with CBD oil and generally being the center of attention. He took a few ginger steps and decided he didn’t want to put his weight on his leg just yet...but he can put weight on it, as we found out when we accidentally spooked him and he galumphed at surprising speed to a “hiding place” a few feet away. We got him back on the blanket and he resumed purring, rolling and stretching. I haven’t seen him do this in a week. We both leaked tears. Don’t tell anyone.
So, he gets a daily routine of wound care, CBD oil, skin treatment, flea combing, and lots of attention. He’s eating and drinking well. The litter box has been a bit of a challenge, but the new “box” seems to be working. We are diligently flea treating the entire house.
We don’t think (yet) he has a spinal or hip/pelvis injury. We are cautiously confident he will regain the use of his leg at some point. The vet didn’t know, but in talking with a vet tech we know, we’re told that the kind of deep tissue injury we think he suffered will be healed in 4-6 weeks.
All in all, he is progressing. You guys deserve every iota of credit for this. Thank you from me, my wife, and Calvin the male calico. :)