On Cats

[Classsix T]

2 hours ago, Captain Kernow said:

Hope you realise that we're first in the queue...

 

Is that double heading or top 'n' tailing Cap'n?

 

C6T.

 

Apologies, I've realised my error. Neither prime movers are coupled and there's no stock between...so merely marshalled line astern!

Edited March 6 by Classsix T

[Sidecar Racer]

 

[didcot]

Marble didn't come home last night. We make sure they are in at night. Couldn't find him this morning either. I'd just got back from the vets with Pepper when the better half saw Marble in the garden. He was sat looking very sorry for himself and didn't like being picked up. When we got him in we could see his back paw was bleeding, he was covered in dirt and grit. Clearly not himself. We thought he had been hit by a car, he does sit in the road. Back to the vets for a check up. Fortunately he hadn't been hit, but must have caught his paw in something. A weeks course of antibiotics and he has to stay in. Poor chap hasn't even left the cat basket.

Edited March 8 by didcot

[Michael Hodgson]

2 hours ago, didcot said:

, he was covered in dirt and grit. Clearly not himself. We thought he had been hit by a car, he does sit in the road.

 

 

Our Gnipper used to do that.  He would sit in the middle of the road at a junction defying motorists from 3 directions just wanting to drive past, as if he was saying "Come on then if you think you're hard enough!"  We worried about him but he was smart enough to move out of harms way if they did come on, and lived to the age of twenty.

[didcot]

Marble isn't that smart bless him.

He's had a tablet, but went straight back into the cat basket. His rear paw has bled some since the vet cleaned it up. He's just had some loxicom. Given he is usually always hungry he hasn't touched a thing. 

[Harlequin]

5 minutes ago, didcot said:

Marble isn't that smart bless him.

He's had a tablet, but went straight back into the cat basket. His rear paw has bled some since the vet cleaned it up. He's just had some loxicom. Given he is usually always hungry he hasn't touched a thing. 

He's probably just sulking and feeling sorry for himself.

Give him a bit of time for the wound to heal in warm, familiar surroundings and he should start to get back to normal.

 

[steve1]

steve 

 

 

[Sidecar Racer]

 

[didcot]

Having not moved overnight Marble ventured out for a pee on our beanbag and then under a nest of tables. He let our an awful sound when we tried to coax him out and flopped on the floor panting.

So back in the vets. Temperature is low and he is pale. So an overnight stay with blood tests and a scan.

[grahame]

Marley's training continues:

 

 

 

 

[Sidecar Racer]

[Sidecar Racer]

 

 

[didcot]

Marble is still at the vets and we didn't think he would see this evening. He has internal bleeding and his blood isn't clotting.

Blood tests show He has somehow ingested rat poison and that's what's causing the low platelet count and internal bleeding. He has had some food and is still purring. 

We wonder if he got caught in a rat trap that damaged his paw and then ingested the poison. We won't know! But the others are being kept in against their will for the time being.

Edited March 10 by didcot

[Harlequin]

1 hour ago, didcot said:

Marble is still at the vets and we didn't think he would see this evening. He has internal bleeding and his blood isn't clotting.

Blood tests show He has somehow ingested rat poison and that's what's causing the low platelet count and internal bleeding. He has had some food and is still purring. 

We wonder if he got caught in a rat trap that damaged his paw and then ingested the poison. We won't know! But the others are being kept in against their will for the time being.

That's a really horrible thing to happen to a cat. Poor Marble!

 

If your theory is correct, someone has been very irresponsible putting rat poison, or traps, down in a way that allows cats or any larger wildlife to come into contact with it.

 

Can the vets counter the poison in some way?

 

[Butler Henderson]

That happened to a neighbours cat back in the early 1980s; he had caught a poisoned rat. Having become his best friend he turned up at the back door a few hours before he died and instead of bounding in gave me a very sad sounding meow, which was also strange as he rarely made a noise, and walked away. Last I saw of him but it shows cats do have feelings as it was clearly him saying thanks and good bye,

Edited March 10 by Butler Henderson

[didcot]

They are pumping him full of vitamin K in order to improve his clotting. The count is supposed to be 35, he was at 30 when we took him in yesterday and 8 this morning. His paw was clearly bleeding between Friday and Saturday before he went back in.

He's not the brightest cat, but very vocal and affectionate.

[Michael Hodgson]

Vitamin K should help if he's eaten warfarin; it will depend on how much he has absorbed, and you obviously can't ask him how much he's had.

 

Like a lot of older people, I've been taking wafarin medicinally for over 30 years; the dose has to be adjusted by regular blood tests on the clotting rate, known as INR.  When I had blood in my urine at the start of the first lockdown I assumed that I had indvertently double-dosed, for which the remedy would have been skip a day and adjust the dose, but fortunately they checked and found the actual cause was kidney cancer, and the problem was caught in time.  But I'm assuming the vet can carry out similar INR tests to work out how much of the vitamin to give him as an antidote, so I think he's got a good chance of pulling through as long as he hasn't suffered too much damage by internal bleeding.  So please don't give up hope.  He's a very pretty cat and I'm sure we all send him our best wishes.

 

 

 

 

[Tim Dubya]

 

[Dava]

There are so many homeless cats, the rescue centres can’t cope & have waiting lists.

 

Mrs Dava lost her Fife farm tabby through old age, the last of 3 sisters. So not content with 3 mature cats, we had to visit the Derby cat’s rescue centre. A young cat had a litter of 6 kittens so we adopted a ginger boy & his tuxedo sister for company. They have romped about and disturbed the oldies no end since arriving 3 weeks ago!
 

[didcot]

Marble is making slow progress. He's even had a wee and is a bit more active. More blood tests to see how things are going today. Hopefully an update later.

 

I went into the vets this morning to pay the bill to date. I shall be stopping his pocket money for the foreseeable future. 

[Michael Hodgson]

Just now, didcot said:

Marble is making slow progress. He's even had a wee and is a bit more active. More blood tests to see how things are going today. Hopefully an update later.

 

I went into the vets this morning to pay the bill to date. I shall be stopping his pocket money for the foreseeable future. 

Glad to hear he's on the mend

[didcot]

What a difference 24 hour makes. Marble is home and settled himself between us on the sofa. Just got to get vitamin tablets into him twice a day.

Thanks to all of you who reacted to the posts and commented.

 

[eastglosmog]

What a relief.  Marble has a magnificent set of whiskers!

[DaveF]

While I was making a cup of tea this afternoon I saw a black cat with white feet sitting on my garden fence staring at something in my garden.  It jumped down, quietly walked round the greenhouse and hid in a clump of daffodils while still staring at something.

 

A minute or so later it pounced.  Next I saw it climbing the fence with a dead rat in its mouth.  I couldn't help wondering if it was being taken home as a gift for its owner or if it was going to be a meal.

 

A number of people near me have decking which rats like to live under and one often has meals outside and doesn't always seem to clear up too well afterwards so that is where I think the rat had come from.  There is nothing in my garden for them.

 

David

[didcot]

A neighbours cat tried to bring a dead rat through the cat flap. The cat wouldn't let go and the rat was so large it wouldn't go through. It was entertaining for a few minutes.