*Phew*

[mad_andy]

I survived. I am knackered.

However, here's an anecdote that sums up tonight and, indeed, night shifts here in general:

It's 0615. I am gore and saliva to my eyebrows, because the cat whos tried to stop a car with his face has decided he's going to finish the job by braining himself on the walls of the incubator. Morphine has stopped working. The only thing that is working is me putting the beast in a (gentle) headlock.

So.

Cat. Blood. Saliva. Headlock.

...phone.

"My cat's bandage has fallen off."

There is a moment of silence while I try to come up with a response that does not begin with "WHAT?!!!!!WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?

They sound nervous. So they bloody should.

So I make them an appointment to come in and see the vet, and hang up very gently.

...

People. Gotta love 'em, right?

Comments

[stonefinder.livejournal.com]

I remember when Tuck lost his toe. It was like 5 am in the morning, I happened to be up (thank God!) and the vet's office was closed. I called the service, told them what happened and they had whoever was on call call me back. I figured they'd open early and have me come in, right? The cat is bleeding like a stuck pig, right? No, he told me to stop the bleeding, bandage him up and bring him in when the office opened at 7 am. Wha-? I had no gauze, no experience in holding a wriggly six month old kitten still enough to bandage his foot and how the fuck was I to know I wasn't doing it too tight if I did? The bleeding wouldn't stop no matter what I did and I ended up using Qwik Stop for which I got chided for. What else was I suppose to do? The cat wouldn't stop bleeding, and he didn't understand what the hell I was doing. I ended up using a pad and vet wrap to bandage him up. Turns out the only thing keeping his toe on was a flap of skin. To be fair, I hadn't realized that it was that bad, so I couldn't tell the vet how nasty it truly was. And when he came back? He was constantly getting his bandage off. And shoving it under my pillow. Was good about taking his pain medication though. Tuck is a smart cat.

[madandy.livejournal.com]

Had you called here you would indeed have been seen by an emergency vet - if something is bleeding, and the bleeding clearly isn't superficial, then it needs to be seen. End of story.

This, however, was a light support bandage. And I wouldn't mind but the surgery opens at nine on a saturday - she could have called then. I was up to my assfeathers in it and really didn't need the added stress.

Poor little sod didn't make it. *Sigh* (The RTA, not the bandage cat!)

[foreverhermit.livejournal.com]

Awwwww, poor kitty! Do you think he's gonna make it, Andy?

[madandy.livejournal.com]

Sadly, he didn't. Talking to the nurse who was on duty during the day, he got worse during the day - there was obviously a degree of brain injury. And as the owner works away from home a lot (thus wouldn't be home to care for him intensively) and the cat was at least 14, the decision was made to put him to sleep.

Yes, we could have kept going. We could have fixed the jaw, done reconstructive surgery on his face, supported his systems. But with brain damage...you just don't know (often for months) if the animal is going to have any quality of life at all.

Plus this cat had already had extensive surgery for a particularly nast tumour (he looked rather gruesome at the best of times, because we'd amputated his nose about three years ago!) - and on examination it looked like it was coming back. So the tumour could have already been invading his brain, causing him to misjudge where the car was....

One of those horribly difficult calls to make - but I agree with what the vet did. I'm just bloody glad I didn't have to make it.

[kraftpistole.livejournal.com]

W-what's wrong with that poor cat...? Is it trying to kill itself? Is something wrong with its brain...? :(

[hands over towels, soap, Purell hand sanitizer, and a tray-full of tea]

I think it's easy for some bandages to "fall" off cats. But only because "falling" actually occurs after the cat has licked and prodded at it and pushed it off. It's not always easy to stop them. I'm very lucky that Ghresshelle decided she had no interest in licking her stitches after she was fixed. She sniffed at 'em, but left them alone. It was Jimmy who kept licking his, to my annoyance. And if he did it near me, fine, I could stop him. But once he climbed up high into shelfs it was like, "Nya ha! Try an' stop me!"

[madandy.livejournal.com]

Yeah, there was a degree of brain injury - and possibly a brain tumour, too. Nasty business all round. He was, sadly, put to sleep this afternoon.

And for some reason, boy cats tend to be much worse than girl cats when it comes to stitches and bandages!!!

Having said that, with neutering wounds we put the stitches under the skin so there's nothing to poke at, which means most female cats just take a look and go 'OK, whatever.' Boy cats are more likely to get the sort of injuries where there are stitches on the surface and go 'whoo! Whassat, then?' *Pull*

Heh.

[kraftpistole.livejournal.com]

That poor cat. :( May it rest in peace.

[foreverhermit.livejournal.com]

Oh, man.... *mourns for kitty*

You're right that the vet made the best possible call, under the circumstances. Again, I bless ALL of you in veterinary care, for doing what you do for the animals. :-)