cat tales
What an eventful week it has been regarding my cat Jambo. Firstly he was limping and he had cut his left paw which then got infected and was full of puss. As a result big rocks of mud were stuck in between his claws. J and I spent ages wrestling with him trying to get the mud rocks off. Eventually we won and were able to bathe the paw in salty water – much to Jambo’s disgust! He was put under house arrest for the day which he really hated!
A few days later he was on the bed cuddling in to me, giving his usual affection. All was well until I noticed a bug on my arm, nothing uncommon here as the house is full of them. I tried to brush it away but it remained stuck to my arm. It was one of Jambo’s resident ticks! Its head was well and truly stuck in my arm and its little legs were kicking away in delight! I am used to removing them from the cat with tweezers but it is a bit of a different matter when it is your own arm. Thankfully it was buried into the left arm so I could use the right arm to manuvour the bloody thing out!
Lastly just the yesterday Jambo can in through the window in the bedroom in the middle of the night (only because the window doesn’t close as the lock is broken) as he usually does. In the morning he was really limping and there was a problem with his right paw this time! (It was quite funny seeing him hobble about!!) His paw was twice the size that is normally is and had a little blood on the side. We reckon he bit off more than he could chew with either a snake or one of my monitor lizards that live in the garden! We had to go on a wild goose chase around Rumphi to try and locate the ‘vet’. After failing we gave up and went to Mzuzu for a few errands. Luckily upon return Jambo was still alive and hobbling (again he was put under house arrest!) and we managed to locate the vet, who came and gave Jambo a shot of antibiotics.
All seems to be well with the cat now but he is still a little off colour! It was amazing to see the difference in the swollen paw after the injection. It had reduced within 20 minutes.
I am sure that Jambo is playing up as he can sense that something is happening in the house! I am in the middle of packing up and moving into Jonathan’s house (or maybe Lucie’s house if the builders and plumbers and electricians and painters etc are not through with J’s house!!) There are new volunteers coming in one week and they move into my house so I have to relocate, which means that Jambo also has to relocate. J has a dog so his house is no good. Jambo is moving to the big city for a new life in Mzuzu……….
A few days later he was on the bed cuddling in to me, giving his usual affection. All was well until I noticed a bug on my arm, nothing uncommon here as the house is full of them. I tried to brush it away but it remained stuck to my arm. It was one of Jambo’s resident ticks! Its head was well and truly stuck in my arm and its little legs were kicking away in delight! I am used to removing them from the cat with tweezers but it is a bit of a different matter when it is your own arm. Thankfully it was buried into the left arm so I could use the right arm to manuvour the bloody thing out!
Lastly just the yesterday Jambo can in through the window in the bedroom in the middle of the night (only because the window doesn’t close as the lock is broken) as he usually does. In the morning he was really limping and there was a problem with his right paw this time! (It was quite funny seeing him hobble about!!) His paw was twice the size that is normally is and had a little blood on the side. We reckon he bit off more than he could chew with either a snake or one of my monitor lizards that live in the garden! We had to go on a wild goose chase around Rumphi to try and locate the ‘vet’. After failing we gave up and went to Mzuzu for a few errands. Luckily upon return Jambo was still alive and hobbling (again he was put under house arrest!) and we managed to locate the vet, who came and gave Jambo a shot of antibiotics.
All seems to be well with the cat now but he is still a little off colour! It was amazing to see the difference in the swollen paw after the injection. It had reduced within 20 minutes.
I am sure that Jambo is playing up as he can sense that something is happening in the house! I am in the middle of packing up and moving into Jonathan’s house (or maybe Lucie’s house if the builders and plumbers and electricians and painters etc are not through with J’s house!!) There are new volunteers coming in one week and they move into my house so I have to relocate, which means that Jambo also has to relocate. J has a dog so his house is no good. Jambo is moving to the big city for a new life in Mzuzu……….
posted by Caroline Pitcairn at
4:20 pm
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home