Vet: "He likely won't eat much. Give him half his normal amount of food tonight"
Cat: Came home, gobbled a quarter of the usual amount, went looking for more. Fed more in an hour, he went looking for even more and knocked over a three-quarters full container of unpopped popcorn, possibly on the theory that it was making the right kind of sound when bumped. Ran like mad when it hit the floor and kernels went everywhere. Later, I hand-fed him dry cat food, which went okay except for his intense need to pursue any dropped kibbles. Over about six hours, he had about two-thirds of his normal amount and decided he probably wasn't going to starve.
Vet: "He may just go hide until he feels better."
Cat: Bounced around the house like A. A. Milne's Tigger, only more so. Attacked his scratching post (and the Feathered Thing atop it) and various mouse-shaped toys. When I went to bed, he had a toy Rannie discarded as too big, a kind of fat, furry rat that seems to contain a tennis ball and has a long, furry tail. He'd chased it behind the washroom door and was laying on the other side, energetically slapping the tail sticking out from under the door while working it around with his other paw, a combination of target practice and puppetry.
Vet: "He will probably be drowsy, especially after he gets his pain medicine."*
Cat: Behaves as though it is an energy drink. He finally climbed on my bed about 2:30 in the morning. He did manage to flop down next to Rannie (look, I'm mildly cat-magnetic; I didn't set out to suborn Tam's cat) without irking her too much and even restrained the urge to attack her tail. That's about the only change in his behavior so far.
("See this?" Rannie says, "This is my annoyed tail. It means Don't Touch." Huck: "Neato!" And makes a wild swipe at it.)
Vet: "No baths for the next two weeks."
Cat: No baths ever!
He's a house-tiger!
_________________________________
* Yes, they have pain meds for cats now. Kinda neat.
Hope he heals up just fine, with all that extra movement!
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear everything came out (or is that, "off"?) okay.
ReplyDeleteSheesh, if that's what he's like after surgery, what's he gonna be like when he's fully recovered?
Glad he took it well. Course from now on we need a gender nuetral term to address it.
ReplyDeleteWe still get some of that behavior from our cat, who is about 16 now, hust with less frequency.
Huck will make a good mouser.
And after Rocket Baby's remodeling, the vet said to try to discourage her from jumping. Well, you know, they have to say that sort of stuff. Doesn't mean they believe either.
ReplyDeleteAw. Glad to hear he's doing so well. Silly boy.
ReplyDeletePaul: nope. Still a tomcat, just retired from active service.
ReplyDeleteOther than the males not turning aggressive and the females not going paranoid, I have not seen a lot of change in the personalities of spayed/neutered cats. Unfixed, they're not especially good housepets; the toms spray and fight and the females pine heartbreakingly for gentleman callers.
I hope he isn't being too active. He seemed to be healing okay when inspected, which the vet said to do once or twice a day. He finds it embarrassing to be looked at.
Huck is going to be one of those cats that gives you a good laugh multiple times a day!
ReplyDeleteSo, how effective are those kitty-oxycontin on humans?
ReplyDeleteYa think he's feeling right at home?
ReplyDeleteI think the vet "treated" the wrong cat.
ReplyDeleteWhether cat or do, I've always had more trouble keeping freshly neutered patients quiet enough not to risk the suture than getting food into them.
ReplyDeleteSpays are another matter... fair bit more plumbing gets removed.
Awwwww.
ReplyDeleteI've got three and when one needs anaesthesia, it goes to the vet the night before. I didn't do that once; got the vet-bound cat into a carrier and fed the other two.
The vet-bound cant went nuts and began rolling the carrier back and forth across the floor like it was a hamster ball, until the door on the top sprang open. Then he made for the food bowl.