Franken-kitty

Halloween 2008. We only had five trick-or-treaters. So disappointing. The first set was a trio of teenaged “dice.” The three girls were dressed all in black and each was sporting a big white box with black dots – very clever. Randy was so excited that someone had finally rung our doorbell, that he threw a huge handful of candy in each of their bags. As they walked away, I heard on of the girls exclaim, “That was awesome!”

We went back to our reading. Rusty was curled up in my lap and I was scratching his head when I discovered that he had a HUGE abscess behind his left ear. So, first thing Saturday morning, we took him to the vet. Dr. Chan said it looked like he had been bitten all the way through the cartilage of his ear, and as she flicked off the scab we could see that it was, indeed, filled with pus. Totally gross and disgusting. Sorry. We left him to her ministrations and wandered through the farmer’s market just down the street and relaxed with our purchases at Tully’s Coffee.

When we picked him up an hour later, he had been transformed into Franken-kitty, just one day too late for Halloween. She had put two drains through his ear. We were instructed to wiggle them three times a day, to keep them from scabbing over. We were to apply a hot wet compress to his ear for five minutes three times a day. Right . . . about that – Rusty doesn’t like water any more than the average cat. We also had the joy of shooting pink Amoxicillin down his throat twice a day. Thanks to my friend Peg, I know the secret to giving a cat medicine. Grab him by the scruff of his neck and lift him up so his front paws are off the ground and he can’t resist. It’s a miracle!

Anyway, you’re probably wondering why I am sharing this. It’s because of a comment Randy made while trying to hold yet another hot, wet compress to the cat while holding him in a hammer lock. He said it’s like hurts and unforgiveness in our life. If we don’t take off the scab, so the poison can drain out, it just continues to fester and grow until it threatens to explode, or it spreads into our blood and sickens the rest of our body, soul and spirit – as the infection had caused Rusty to become feverish and lethargic. The cleansing process was not pleasant for Rusty. He hated it, and fought it to the best of his ability. But as of Thursday, the drains have been removed and he is back to his normal bouncy self, with just a little missing hair and a few scabs to show for his ordeal.

You can see from these photos that Rusty spent much of his “convalescence” supervising my work in my studio. Now, in addition to pushing my mess out of my way as I continue to work, I have to periodically remove the cat from what I’m working on as well. And I’ve learned in a hurry to never leave open bottles of any kind of liquid unattended.