70 Your Cat November 2017T
o say my black and
white cat Molly was
accident-prone
as a kitten is an
understatement. After three
trips exploring the garden,
she managed to poke a wasp,
which then stung her. Not three
months later, she leaped from
the kitchen floor and landed on
a just-used hot plate. Molly then
panicked and landed in hot oil
in the frying pan, blistering all
her paw pads.
But these two incidents were
minor compared with what
happened when she was eight
months old.
I was watching the television,
when I heard an almighty crash
in the conservatory. The noise
scared Molly and I saw a streak
of black and white dashing
upstairs. I went to investigate,
and found my husband’s
model racing boat on the floor,
along with a clump of black
and white fur.
As I moved the boat,
I noticed that its sharp, stainless
steel rudder was smeared with
blood. Realising something
serious had happened, my heart
began pounding.
I heard a scream from my
daughter, Amy, upstairs. I will
never forget the sight that
greeted me. The skin over
Molly’s front right elbow joint
was sliced open, exposing bone
smeared with blood. She was
crying loudly, but kept running
around the house, no doubt
trying to escape the pain.
While Amy shut the doors,
restricting Molly to one room,
I phoned our vet. Unluckily, the
surgery had closed, and we
needed to contact
the emergency vet
in the next town.
Having never used
them before, I hastily
scribbled down
the directions.
By now, Molly was
very stressed and
clearly in pain, hissing
and lashing out with
her claws. Wearing
oven gloves for
protection, I lifted her
carefully into her carrier.
Loud miaows andA freak accident
Christine Miller recalls her kitten Molly’s terrifying close call.
True
cat^ tale
.
Accident-prone Molly.growling filled the car.
Eventually we reached the
surgery and were seen by a vet.
The journey had caused Molly
more distress and she was given
pain relief. Soon, she calmed
down enough to enable the vet
to examine her leg.
Luckily, she had narrowly
missed slicing open an
important artery, and her
muscles hadn’t been damaged.
However, because the skin was
sliced under her leg and overa joint, the vet explained it
would need to be stitched both
internally and externally.
That evening, I received
a call saying Molly had
recovered from the anaesthetic
and was ready to be collected.
She’d had 18 stitches externally
and numerous internally.
She was still growling and
looked quite pitiful wearing her
big buster collar. Much to her
disgust, the vet said it had to
stay on for 16 days. Her stitches
were dissolvable, but
she needed regular
check-ups to make sure
the wound was knitting
together properly. She
wasn’t allowed to run
or jump — extremely
difficult with an
eight-month-old kitten.
Molly had to stay in
a rest cage. Our other
two cats sat staring
at her, unable to
understand why she
wasn’t tormenting them
like she normally did.After 10 days, her stitches
should have dissolved, but
they hadn’t. The vet said he’d
check them again a couple
of days later, but again they
hadn’t dissolved. Molly needed
a second anaesthetic to remove
them by hand. Part of the
wound hadn’t knitted together
and needed further stitching.
Sadly for Molly, this meant
wearing the buster collar for
longer, but she was spared the
cage rest.
Eventually, it all healed up
and now you would never know.
Unfortunately, she doesn’t
seem to have forgotten the
experience. When she is put
in the carrier, she still growls,
hisses, and lashes out. The rest
of the time she is a laid-back,
friendly cat.
Needless to say, my husband
has now wrapped the sharp
rudders of the boats in foam,
just in case she decides to go
climbing on them again.
Luckily for Molly this time,
curiosity didn’t kill the cat. —Molly need both internal
and external stitches.CURL UP & READ
“I HEARD
A SCREAM FROM
MY DAUGHTER, AMY,
UPSTAIRS. I WILL
NEVER FORGET
THE SIGHT THAT
GREETED ME...”70 YC TCT2 CSCCAM.indd 70 29/09/2017 10:02