I’ve got a developing case of kitty anxiety. I noticed while I was brushing Dr. Amy Jones the other day that she had a hard little bump under the fur near her right shoulder My first thought was that it was her microchip so I took care not to touch it. Today I noticed that I could actually see the place where it was without touching her, because it displaced her fur a bit. I held her under the desk lamp and checked it out. It’s sorta hard and dry and yellowish, about the size of maybe half my pinky nail. It didn’t seem to hurt her but she didn’t like me touching it too much. (I also think she’s been more vocal with the meowing lately, but maybe I’m just being paranoid.) Anyway, I was pretty sure it’s just a scab, but I thought maybe I’d call the vet just to make sure. Well, that woman freaked me out. She was like, “It’s not the microchip. Those are, like, granular. You should definitely bring her in. Can you bring her in tonight? Ooh, maybe the weekend would be better in case we have to operate.” I’m like, “WHAT? OPERATE?! I think it’s just a scab!” And she was like, “Cats are very prone to abscesses. They can fill up with pus. You should bring her in so we can check her and put her on antibiotics.” So we’re booked in for tomorrow night. The rational part of my brain (and the Snook) insists that she just poked herself climbing around under the dining room table or something, and it’s just a harmless little scab, but the manic little paranoid bit keeps screaming that it’s probably some kitty tumor and she’ll have to have surgery and get shaved and eat weird food and be in all sorts of pain. Which is totally irrational, right?
Jenny
June 22, 2004 — 2:17 am
Tipsy got the occasional pimple. Usually around her mouth, damn the big pores. Most cats are very tough, though. Don’t worry!
Lindsey
June 22, 2004 — 2:19 am
Doesn’t that just piss you off? Olivia – sorry, my chi/peki mix (don’t you hate it when people use double abbreviations?) – hurt herself when she decided to be a daredevil and run down the stairs. She ended up somersaulting to the bottom of the stairwell and clunked her head. I took her to the vet because of the goose-egg on her head and a limp she must have gotten because of the fall. Just to make sure she was ok, we took her to the vet. The vet tech/nursey person just couldn’t WAIT to crack Olivia open. You could see her practically salivating. “You don’t want her to die because of internal bleeding, do you?” Well of course bloody not! I think those vet techy people are trained to make the sale, no matter what – animals and people be damned.
robert
June 22, 2004 — 10:33 am
i wouldn’t worry yet either. mina once had blood in her stool and when i rang the vets the receptionist convinced me she had bowel cancer and she had to come down immediately. on a sunday. of course, i complied – she’s my baby. but thirty minutes later and an examination by the vet and it was concluded that like us humans, she just had one of those strainful bowel movements. all was fine.
they have to be cautious. but they do need to teach the nurses some restraint!
hope all is well – i am sure it would be. mina has had those before and she is still running around waking me at six ten for a feed!
Kris
June 22, 2004 — 11:10 am
Thanks, everybody. Snookums convinced me this morning that we should cancel the appointment and just watch her for a few days. Most of the other cat owners I’ve talked to at work have confirmed that it’s just a scab or a bit of dry skin, and as long as it’s not gooey there’s probably no need to worry.
eileen
June 22, 2004 — 12:17 pm
ummm…microchip? Is this the Cat From Outer Space?
Kris
June 22, 2004 — 12:44 pm
Heh. It’s a legal requirement here in Australia because they have so many feral cats. (They’ve got no competition here and they just decimate the native animals. It’s a huge problem.) They inject them between the shoulders with a tiny little microchip that’s programmed with a number, and when you adopt a cat the number gets registered to you. Then vets and pet stores can actually just scan them with a wand and find out who they belong to. It was really weird watching them scan her when we first got her. Little bionic kitty! But the chip doesn’t hurt them at all. It’s like having a bar code tattoo, I guess. 🙂
Kris
June 22, 2004 — 5:12 pm
UPDATE: We cancelled the appointment. We’re just going to monitor it for a few days and see how we go.
Andrew
June 22, 2004 — 10:28 pm
Don’t be worried – cats look hilarious when they’re shaved. And they get this angry look on their face when you laugh at them. Cats hate being laughed at.
Anonymous
July 9, 2004 — 9:38 am
My cat had a abscess on her tail. I took her to the Vet and they drained it and stitched her up. She has had a cone on for the past week, but she mights have gotten past the cone and licked it a few times, i’m not sure though. Yesterday I noticed a small scab looking thing next to the incision. Does anyone know what that is? It is small and a redish color. any help would be great! Thanks!