Anne&Muffin (GA)
Member Since 2010
Yesterday
Good Caturday Morning LL! Kibby is resting comfortably this morning, finally. I tried to update last night after he got home, but he was going totally insane. I have never seen a cat react like that coming out of anesthesia. More on that in a minute. His surgery went very well. He has probably a 5-6" incision down his side now. He looks a little like Frankenstein. :lol: Too bad it's Christmas and not Halloween. ;-) Dr said Kibby was very lucky - the peritoneum is about the thickness of a plastic grocery bag between the abscess and the abdomen. He's extremely lucky he didn't end up with peritonitis. He cleaned up the necrotic tissue and he's got 2 layers of stitches inside. A few hours after surgery, Dr checked his work. He says there's still a small pocket like area down toward Kibby's stomach. He wants to wait 2-3 weeks and see if scar tissue will form there. If it does not, it will require major abdominal surgery to get stitches there. But he doesn't sound as if he's expecting this to be necessary, like he expected to have to do this surgery. He thinks Kibby will be fine now. Now for his arrival home:
I knew that as soon as I let him out of the carrier, he would dash and try to jump on the desk for food. So I got his food ready and his zeniquin before I let him out. I plopped it down in front of him in the bathroom as soon as he came out of the carrier. He, of course, went at it like he hadn't had a meal in weeks. With his cone on, I tried to assist by holding the dish up and turning it so he could easily get the food. After he ate that, I locked him in the bathroom, just like last time he came home. So far, all is normal and what I expected. Within 2 minutes, I hear crashing sounds in there, so I go to see what's happening. He's up on the counter, knocking things over, down on the floor, rolling around, growling, hissing...just totally freaking out. So I go get the dog crate that I use to transport Shnookie to the vet, thinking that more confinement will calm him down, and I have to keep him from jumping on the counters. Dr was very adamant about no abdominal stress. I get him in the crate, and he's just like a caged wild animal. :shock: He's clawing at the crate sides, flopping from side to side, growling and hissing and then jumping up and trying to get to the stitches. I sat with him and talked quietly to him, which calmed him for about 30 seconds at a time, and then he was back at it.
I called the vet, who, fortunately for me, was still in the office 45 mins after closing. He told me to take the cone off, put a shirt on him, and give him tramadol. If he's not calm in 30 mins, call him back on his cell. I waited 45 minutes, and during that time, he was almost worse than before. For the first 10 mins, I left the bathroom and the bedroom, hoping some peace and quiet would help him calm down. When I returned, he was sitting calmly, but had no shirt on!
After a few minutes, he was at it again, acting like a caged wild animal, so I let him out into the bathroom so I could put his shirt back on. He just became this cat I did not know. Hissing and growling and swinging at me, even after he got away from me. I was standing next to him, and he was just trying to attack me, it was like we wanted to scratch my eyes out. It was very scary. He carried on like this, with short breaks of resting, for the next 20 minutes. I was terrified he was really going to hurt himself. So I called the doc back. He said to give him acepromazine and wait 45 mins, then call him back if that didn't work and he'd come over and give him a sedative injection. Acepromazine usually only takes about 20 minutes to have an effect on Kibby, so I closed the bathroom door. He immediately started pawing at it, and got it open (it's a pocket door) and ran under the bed, leaving his shirt on the floor in his trail. He went after his stitches a few times, but would stop when I told him to. Eventually, he calmed down. Dr called back to check on him, and I said he's calmer now, but has no cone or no shirt on. He said to leave him like that, and that even if he chewed 1 or 2 stitches out, there's another layer right underneath so he would be fine until morning when I could bring him in and he would staple those shut.
Fortunately, the rest of the night was calm and peaceful. I checked on him a few times with a flashlight, and he was not bothering the area. I'm pretty sure he still has all his stitches, but he's still under the bed, so I'm looking from a distance with a flashlight. I gave him his AB and another dose of tramadol with his breffis this morning, and he seems to be fine. He even ventured out for a moment last night to apologize to me, purring and rubbing his face on my hand. No worries, sweet Kibby, I know it wasn't personal. cat_pet_icon
So we go back on Friday to see if the stitches can come out. Sooner if there's anything wrong, of course.
Good Caturday Morning LL! Kibby is resting comfortably this morning, finally. I tried to update last night after he got home, but he was going totally insane. I have never seen a cat react like that coming out of anesthesia. More on that in a minute. His surgery went very well. He has probably a 5-6" incision down his side now. He looks a little like Frankenstein. :lol: Too bad it's Christmas and not Halloween. ;-) Dr said Kibby was very lucky - the peritoneum is about the thickness of a plastic grocery bag between the abscess and the abdomen. He's extremely lucky he didn't end up with peritonitis. He cleaned up the necrotic tissue and he's got 2 layers of stitches inside. A few hours after surgery, Dr checked his work. He says there's still a small pocket like area down toward Kibby's stomach. He wants to wait 2-3 weeks and see if scar tissue will form there. If it does not, it will require major abdominal surgery to get stitches there. But he doesn't sound as if he's expecting this to be necessary, like he expected to have to do this surgery. He thinks Kibby will be fine now. Now for his arrival home:
I knew that as soon as I let him out of the carrier, he would dash and try to jump on the desk for food. So I got his food ready and his zeniquin before I let him out. I plopped it down in front of him in the bathroom as soon as he came out of the carrier. He, of course, went at it like he hadn't had a meal in weeks. With his cone on, I tried to assist by holding the dish up and turning it so he could easily get the food. After he ate that, I locked him in the bathroom, just like last time he came home. So far, all is normal and what I expected. Within 2 minutes, I hear crashing sounds in there, so I go to see what's happening. He's up on the counter, knocking things over, down on the floor, rolling around, growling, hissing...just totally freaking out. So I go get the dog crate that I use to transport Shnookie to the vet, thinking that more confinement will calm him down, and I have to keep him from jumping on the counters. Dr was very adamant about no abdominal stress. I get him in the crate, and he's just like a caged wild animal. :shock: He's clawing at the crate sides, flopping from side to side, growling and hissing and then jumping up and trying to get to the stitches. I sat with him and talked quietly to him, which calmed him for about 30 seconds at a time, and then he was back at it.
I called the vet, who, fortunately for me, was still in the office 45 mins after closing. He told me to take the cone off, put a shirt on him, and give him tramadol. If he's not calm in 30 mins, call him back on his cell. I waited 45 minutes, and during that time, he was almost worse than before. For the first 10 mins, I left the bathroom and the bedroom, hoping some peace and quiet would help him calm down. When I returned, he was sitting calmly, but had no shirt on!
After a few minutes, he was at it again, acting like a caged wild animal, so I let him out into the bathroom so I could put his shirt back on. He just became this cat I did not know. Hissing and growling and swinging at me, even after he got away from me. I was standing next to him, and he was just trying to attack me, it was like we wanted to scratch my eyes out. It was very scary. He carried on like this, with short breaks of resting, for the next 20 minutes. I was terrified he was really going to hurt himself. So I called the doc back. He said to give him acepromazine and wait 45 mins, then call him back if that didn't work and he'd come over and give him a sedative injection. Acepromazine usually only takes about 20 minutes to have an effect on Kibby, so I closed the bathroom door. He immediately started pawing at it, and got it open (it's a pocket door) and ran under the bed, leaving his shirt on the floor in his trail. He went after his stitches a few times, but would stop when I told him to. Eventually, he calmed down. Dr called back to check on him, and I said he's calmer now, but has no cone or no shirt on. He said to leave him like that, and that even if he chewed 1 or 2 stitches out, there's another layer right underneath so he would be fine until morning when I could bring him in and he would staple those shut. Fortunately, the rest of the night was calm and peaceful. I checked on him a few times with a flashlight, and he was not bothering the area. I'm pretty sure he still has all his stitches, but he's still under the bed, so I'm looking from a distance with a flashlight. I gave him his AB and another dose of tramadol with his breffis this morning, and he seems to be fine. He even ventured out for a moment last night to apologize to me, purring and rubbing his face on my hand. No worries, sweet Kibby, I know it wasn't personal. cat_pet_icon
So we go back on Friday to see if the stitches can come out. Sooner if there's anything wrong, of course.
