When we took our cats for their yearly checkup, Horizon's nose was of some concern to the vet.
"How long has his nose looked like this?" Dr. P asked, and i honestly told her he has always had the profile of a boxer who broke his nose, but the last few weeks it is becoming more of a lump, and getting bigger.
At the time, she gave him a long acting cortisone shot, and told me to keep an eye on it.
It has gotten obviously bigger, although not huge, so i set up an appointment for the day after payday. These things have to be timed, of course.
Also to be timed is catching Horizon. He's the cat who was 3 months old and from a feral mom when #1 Son's then girlfriend snatched him off the street. When her mom told her she couldn't keep yet another kitten, she solved the problem by giving it to #1 Son as a birthday gift. Horizon has stayed half wild and shy, always on the verge of running for cover from everything. Horizon also only likes two people in this world, #1 Son and Sweetie. As for me, i'm intolerable because i'm the dispenser of meds.
When we took him to the vet the first time, i tied him in a pillowcase, on the advice of our vet who says that tends to calm them. He ripped his way out and almost got away. So this time i wanted to put him in the hard carrier. Unfortunately, Bigger Girl forgot to bring the hard carrier home from adoption day, because all the kittens got adopted so she had no one to bring home. She and Sweetie both simply didn't realize we would need our carrier at some point in the future anyway.
So i walked into my bedroom and Horizon took off to hide. How do they always know? I'm not sure, but they do. I cornered him in Bigger Girl's room, under the bed. Scruff and stuff into a box carrier, get him downstairs, and he ripped his way out of the box!
By this time, i'm sweating from running around the house, trying to figure out where he is. Calling for reinforcements, i got #1 Son to help. We had to finally lift my bed and chase him out, and we got him into the bathroom. Bingo. Another, sturdier (i hoped) box, and only one scratch, on #1 Son.
Total amount of time to catch him, 20 minutes.
Finally i was on my way to the vet, and called to let them know i was going to be about 3 minutes late. Knowing Horizon, they not only understood, but offered me a loaner hard carrier to take him home in!
Dr. P said it is probably one of two things. Either he has an infection right under the skin on the top of his nose, or a cyst or tumor. For now she opts for conservative treatment, and he got a long acting antibiotic, since there's no point in oral antibiotics as we will be out of town in a couple of days and no cat sitter would be able to dose him.
If the antibiotic seems to make it better, when we get back in town he will get more antibiotics until it is under control. If that does no good, we schedule surgery to have it excised so we can find out if it is a benign cyst or a tumor of some sort.
Where is Horizon now? Danged if i know. The moment i got in the house and opened the carrier, he was off like a shot, and he's not going to allow himself to get into my line of vision for a while.
Today is:
Feast of 'Ala (Loftiness) -- Baha'i (first day of the 19 day fast)
March Nymph's Parade -- Fairy Calendar
Namesake Day -- a day to think about how you got your name
National Banana Cream Pie Day
NEA's Read Across America Day
Old Stuff Day -- if you are doing the same old stuff, think about how you can change that
Omizu-okuri -- Jingu Temple, Obama, Fukui Prefecture, Japan (water drawing ceremony)
Peasants' Day -- Burma
St. Chad of Mead's Day (patron of St. Chad's College of the University of Durham in England)
Texas Independence Day
Birthdays Today:
Bryce Dallas Howard, 1981
Chris Martin, 1977
Daniel Craig, 1968
Jon Bon Jovi, 1962
Laraine Newman, 1952
Karen Carpenter, 1950
Lou Reed, 1944
Mikhail Gorbachev, 1931
Jennifer Jones, 1919
Desi Arnaz, 1917
Mel Ott, 1909
Theodore Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss), 1904
Bedrich Smetana, 1864
Juvenal, 54
Today in History:
The Loves of Mars and Venus becomes the first ballet performed in England, 1717
A semaphore machine that will speed communication is introduced in Paris, 1791
The US Congress outlaws the import of slaves, 1897
The Republic of Texas declares its independence from Mexico, 1836
Aleksandr Romanov becomes the tsar of Russia, 1855
Tsar Aleksandr outlaws serfdom in Russia, 1861
The Convention of Constantinople is signed, guaranteeing free maritime passage through the Suez Canal during war and peace, 1888
In New York City the Martha Washington Hotel opens, becoming the first hotel exclusively for women, 1903
The original film version of King Kong premiers, 1933
Captain James Gallagher lands his B-50 Superfortress Lucky Lady II in Fort Worth, Texas after completing the first non-stop around-the-world airplane flight in 94 hours and one minute, 1949
The first automatic street light is installed in New Milford, Connecticut, 1949
In Toulouse, France the first test flight of the Anglo-French Concorde is conducted, 1969
Rhodesia declares itself a republic, breaking its last links with the British crown, 1970
The Pioneer 10 space probe is launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida with a mission to explore the outer planets, 1972
Czech Vladimír Remek becomes the first non-Russian or non-American to go into space, when he is launched aboard Soyuz 28, 1978
CD players and discs are released for sale for the first time outside of Japan, 1983
Twelve European Community nations agree to ban the production of all chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) by the end of the century, 1989
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, San Marino, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan join the United Nations, 1992
Data sent from the Galileo spacecraft indicates that Jupiter's moon Europa has a liquid ocean under a thick crust of ice, 1998
Caturday Saturday
2 hours ago
Poor Horizon! I hope all goes well with his nose. It's too bad that they can't understand that we do the scary and unpleasant things to them for their own greater good.
ReplyDeleteI am sure that you are really looking forward to getting away for a while. I will miss reading about your adventures, but I look forward to hearing about your trip when you return.
Those of us with cats can surely relate to this tale! I'm still smiling. Hope Horizon has the lesser of all the evils.
ReplyDeleteI so know what that's like. The first trick is locating them. The second.. catching them. The third is to get them into the carrier without losing the skin of your arm in the process. The turn into strong, broad, powerhouses of resistance and somehow make themselves three times larger than the entrance of the carrier. It took me years of this before I learned to tip the carrier on its end and make use of gravity to help drop them in.
ReplyDeleteI hope Horizon will be OK.
Thank you, Jokamo, PonyGirl, and Hilary.
ReplyDeleteYes, they tend to use their cloak of invisibility when they know something is up. Makes the whole thing an adventure.
Had one like that, and we had a box that we found finally sturdy enough to keep him, the vets all called him Banana... It was a Chiquita box. Yeep. Good thoughts for the kitty nose.
ReplyDeleteMarch Nymph's Parade, heavily watched by satyrs.
My (real) name is from a foreign queen. So, lots to think about there!
Cat