August's Second Butt-Adventure
Aug. 14th, 2020 03:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
juushikaAugust is okay but first there is a saga: Two days ago, Wednesday, I noticed August was struggling with the litterbox and that her anal area was swollen on the same side as her first anal gland impaction. I told Devon, he called the vet, they had an appointment in an hour, we went in, they cleaned emptied out both sides and got significant matter out of the swollen side. It was immediate, painless, super cheap, and I got that feel-good feedback of "there's nothing you can do to 100% prevent this, but pumpkin probably does help* and you caught it before it became a problem, good job!"
And then she had a day of minor diarrhea, which made sense after having people poke at her butt. And then the vomiting in the evening, and more diarrhea, and then it was 2am today, Friday, and I was manhandling an obviously suffering cat to see that her behind was swollen again, and then after another trip to the litterbox was leaking pale fluid and blood!
If you're thinking that that sounds a lot like a ruptured abscess, then congrats, that is just what it looked like and indeed what it was. They didn't have an appointment slot today, but they had us bring her in so they could get to her at the next available moment, and they flushed out an anus-neighboring ruptured abscess cause by a cat bite, aka:
Toby bit August's butt when chasing her. The infection presented like an impacted anal gland, and since she is prone to those there was matter in the anal gland. But, despite vet techs digging around in her behind, no one noticed the actual abscess, which then ruptured. !!!?! Most abscess pain comes from pressure/infection, so dissipates once ruptured—she's obviously feeling way better now. They put her on antibiotics, and she should be fine. But coming so close from saving her pain and a more expensive vet visit and then end up there anyway is like ... but why tho.... and how ... they had hands ON HER BUTTOCKS in a veterinary environment and ....yet???
* And it's so convenient to be able to feed a low/no calorie bonus meal that's easy to doctor with supplements and extra hydration that I'd continue to feed it even if it didn't/doesn't help with the anal glands in particular.
But, as I told Devon, it could have been terminal butt cancer and I would at this point not be the least bit surprised, so all of this ultimately ends well. It was stupid and stressful, and it breaks my heart whenever she's in pain. But it resolved to have an obvious, finite explanation, and I'll take that over another tragedy any day.
And then she had a day of minor diarrhea, which made sense after having people poke at her butt. And then the vomiting in the evening, and more diarrhea, and then it was 2am today, Friday, and I was manhandling an obviously suffering cat to see that her behind was swollen again, and then after another trip to the litterbox was leaking pale fluid and blood!
If you're thinking that that sounds a lot like a ruptured abscess, then congrats, that is just what it looked like and indeed what it was. They didn't have an appointment slot today, but they had us bring her in so they could get to her at the next available moment, and they flushed out an anus-neighboring ruptured abscess cause by a cat bite, aka:
Toby bit August's butt when chasing her. The infection presented like an impacted anal gland, and since she is prone to those there was matter in the anal gland. But, despite vet techs digging around in her behind, no one noticed the actual abscess, which then ruptured. !!!?! Most abscess pain comes from pressure/infection, so dissipates once ruptured—she's obviously feeling way better now. They put her on antibiotics, and she should be fine. But coming so close from saving her pain and a more expensive vet visit and then end up there anyway is like ... but why tho.... and how ... they had hands ON HER BUTTOCKS in a veterinary environment and ....yet???
* And it's so convenient to be able to feed a low/no calorie bonus meal that's easy to doctor with supplements and extra hydration that I'd continue to feed it even if it didn't/doesn't help with the anal glands in particular.
But, as I told Devon, it could have been terminal butt cancer and I would at this point not be the least bit surprised, so all of this ultimately ends well. It was stupid and stressful, and it breaks my heart whenever she's in pain. But it resolved to have an obvious, finite explanation, and I'll take that over another tragedy any day.
