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Kitten Injuries
Sep. 15th, 2007 11:08 pmEarlier this week, our newish kitten, Milkshake, the energetic white little shorthair injured herself in a bizarre fashion.
Actually, it was quite stressful.
Some background. We have a scratching post, which is very popular with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
schnitzelrug, which was made by my mother of all people. From a pole and some, er, I think it's rope. Hard wearing, an excellent choice. Anyway, she added a hook on the top so one could dangle a toy from it.
Anyway, I was sitting around the flat Monday night, and Milkshake was running around like a mad thing - as usual. Then I heard her making a really frightening noise and struggling. I turned around, and she was wrapped around the top of the scratching post, and making a sound like someone was trying to kill her. I've heard a cat make this noise maybe twice before in my entire life. She was struggling, as I said. Somehow, I have no idea how, she had managed to get her mouth around the hook on top of the scratching post, and got it stuck there! I rushed over and grabbed her and tried to pry her loose - getting a few deep scratches in the process. In a few seconds she worked herself loose - I'm not sure that anything I did made a difference - and darted under the bed.
I had nightmare visions that she'd impaled herself on the hook, or broken teeth or her jaw. The first thing I did was remove it from the post and chuck it out, then I went looking for Milkshake.
She was cowering under the bed. I don't think she had any more idea what had happened than we did. We tried to coax her out, and eventually she came out for one of her favourite crunchy treats - which she couldn't eat. She picked it up, but then dropped it again, and looked at it. Shit, we thought, she's really hurt.
We managed to grab her and get her mouth open. She didn't object to this, so obviously she wasn't in serious pain. And, thankfully, there was no blood or broken teeth, or other obvious damage. We breathed a sigh of relief. But she still couldn't chew or even drink water.
She spent the night under the bed - which is kind her "safe place" - purring to herself. Cats will do this when they're in pain or in shock to comfort themselves.
evildoom_bunny took her to the vet the next morning, just to be on the safe side - if she was a kid, I'd have taken her to the emergency room, but vet's don't work like that. He said she had a cut on the roof of her mouth, but otherwise seemed to be OK. He gave her a couple of injections (Antibiotics I think) just to be on the safe side.
And by Tuesday afternoon, she was back to her kitteny self. Which was basically her downfall in the first day - kitten exuberance.
The whole episode was a bit distressing. The sound she made when it happened scared the heck out of me. And scaredschnitzelrug too, she arched her back and fluffed her tail and raced around the place trying to find who was attacking Milkshake. And just worrying that she was really hurt... Anyway, now all is well.
Actually, it was quite stressful.
Some background. We have a scratching post, which is very popular with
schnitzelrug, which was made by my mother of all people. From a pole and some, er, I think it's rope. Hard wearing, an excellent choice. Anyway, she added a hook on the top so one could dangle a toy from it.Anyway, I was sitting around the flat Monday night, and Milkshake was running around like a mad thing - as usual. Then I heard her making a really frightening noise and struggling. I turned around, and she was wrapped around the top of the scratching post, and making a sound like someone was trying to kill her. I've heard a cat make this noise maybe twice before in my entire life. She was struggling, as I said. Somehow, I have no idea how, she had managed to get her mouth around the hook on top of the scratching post, and got it stuck there! I rushed over and grabbed her and tried to pry her loose - getting a few deep scratches in the process. In a few seconds she worked herself loose - I'm not sure that anything I did made a difference - and darted under the bed.
I had nightmare visions that she'd impaled herself on the hook, or broken teeth or her jaw. The first thing I did was remove it from the post and chuck it out, then I went looking for Milkshake.
She was cowering under the bed. I don't think she had any more idea what had happened than we did. We tried to coax her out, and eventually she came out for one of her favourite crunchy treats - which she couldn't eat. She picked it up, but then dropped it again, and looked at it. Shit, we thought, she's really hurt.
We managed to grab her and get her mouth open. She didn't object to this, so obviously she wasn't in serious pain. And, thankfully, there was no blood or broken teeth, or other obvious damage. We breathed a sigh of relief. But she still couldn't chew or even drink water.
She spent the night under the bed - which is kind her "safe place" - purring to herself. Cats will do this when they're in pain or in shock to comfort themselves.
evildoom_bunny took her to the vet the next morning, just to be on the safe side - if she was a kid, I'd have taken her to the emergency room, but vet's don't work like that. He said she had a cut on the roof of her mouth, but otherwise seemed to be OK. He gave her a couple of injections (Antibiotics I think) just to be on the safe side.And by Tuesday afternoon, she was back to her kitteny self. Which was basically her downfall in the first day - kitten exuberance.
The whole episode was a bit distressing. The sound she made when it happened scared the heck out of me. And scared
schnitzelrug too, she arched her back and fluffed her tail and raced around the place trying to find who was attacking Milkshake. And just worrying that she was really hurt... Anyway, now all is well.