I know I don’t write a lot about Dixie Chickey… mostly because she is very shy and hides out most of the time in the girl’s room. She’s entirely a one-gal cat and she and Jessy have the lovely kitty-girl bond that people adore. Dixie lives for the time she spends with Jessy. And when Jessy is gone for a day or two, Dixie just waits patiently for her return, sitting on her bed and watching out the window. Dixie does not like to play with Luna or Jack, and for the most part, she stays to her own.
Well, when Jessy came home yesterday, of course, the first thing she does is go and hang out with her cat. And she thought that Dixie was acting, well, a little odd, but still nothing really bad. But first thing this morning, she knew something was up. Poor Dixie’s right ear was all swollen big and red. Not inside, but the other part. It looked so swollen and painful, I knew that it had to be seen right away. Cats are so good at getting bad infections and I suspected that the poor little gal had gotten scratched in a tussle with Luna. Of course, it’s easy to blame rough and tumble queen of the moby, Luna, as Luna is good at trying hard to roughhouse with poor quiet, simple Dixie. But unfortunately, it could have been Dixie herself, who might have scratched her ear with one of her 7 toes! Yes, she’s a polydactyl cat and his 6 toes on one foot and 7 on the other! Crazy!
We knew about this vet around the corner that is only a cat vet, so I called right away and they could get us in very quickly. So we dug around for our carrier, and could not find it. We believe it’s buried in the shed. Well, in a pinch, we grabbed a little plastic tote that doesn’t seal tightly and got it ready to go. Of course, Luna decided it was for her.
Anything we humans do in the moby, Luna thinks is for her, concerning her, or about her in some manner. So of course, she got right in. And we pretty quickly ignored her and found our patient, instead. Dixie is pretty calm as long as Jessy is around her, so that was a good thing. She was fairly calm in the car, even though she’s not fond of it. But with Jessy holding her and talking with the cat, and just being there for her, Dixie was ready for just about anything.
Got to Cat Tails… the name of the clinic and got started on our forms and all that registration stuff. The place was so nice and the staff very friendly. I loved all the cute cat figurines and pictures on the walls… it was apparent that they really liked cats.
While we were waiting, all the sudden, this lovely little cat comes sauntering out from the back and I immediately thought… “Escapee!” and asked the receptionist if she was missing a patient. She laughed and we were introduced to Mama Cat. The Resident Kitty. Apparently Mama Cat came to live there after being brought in and she just found a home after her kittens were homed. She just took well to be the resident kitty inspector and has a lovely calm personality. The lady told me that often she just has a nice way about her when someone is sad and grieving or when a kitty has to go over the Rainbow Bridge, that Mama Cat will respond and help to ease that sadness in the owners. That’s sweet. Makes me love the place even more.
Mama Cat surely rules the roost and she walked us through the whole process. Dixie was not pleased however and growled at Mama Cat to which M.C. just shrugged and walked off. Obviously, very comfortable in her position as the queen of the place. Within a few minutes of finishing our forms, they called Dixie back for her exam.
Well, yep… a bad infection in her ear and some other little issues that we could take care of. She has very bad dermatitis after a bout with fleas over the summer. She went and licked off a lot of her hair and then scratched a lot of hot spots. Funny thing, is that we took care of the fleas long ago and are very agressive about maintaining no flea situations, but Dixie still itches and licks, partially we believe, out of habit and neurosis. But this vet seemed to think that he had an idea that would help both the ear issue and the itching as well as calm down the hot spots. Sounds good to us. They had to lance her ear, which was probably one of those hurts now, but feels a ton better after, sorts of procedures for Dixie. She was not happy to be taken in the back, but as soon as they were done, and they were very quick, Dixie was very relieved to go back in the box.
Even looking at the cat medical charts did nothing to change her mind.
Well, we got our instructions, as well as some oral meds and our bill and we were done. I was so pleased. It wasn’t dirt cheap, but it was $80 and I really expected more. A procedure, shots, exam and meds? I am sure that we have found our kitty vet! And they were so nice. She has to go back in 2 weeks to check the infection and also to see if her dermatitis has calmed down. He said he had one other idea if this shot didn’t help to get her back on track. How nice.
Well Mama Cat said farewell and off we went. Dixie was very content to get out of that place. She spoke nary a word the whole way home. Once we got home, she hid for a hour or so and then decided to take Jessy up on her offer to snuggle in bed and read with her. This evening, her ear looks much better, the swelling is down and the whole ear is not quite so red. It is sure tender still, and red, and we have to see how the meds go down in the morning! They told us to wrapped her in a towel in a manuever they call Kitty Burrito. HAHAHA… yep, that should help. Dixie is not going to enjoy it, but hopefully we can get this stuff in her to help out.
Defintely threw a wrench in the day’s plans, but that’s okay. We’re not ones to rush off at the slightest cough, but after having animals around for most of my life, you just know when you should react and when you can take a wait and see attitude. Massive local infections are just not good and very painful. They just have a way of getting out of hand fast and taking down animals. And I just can’t bare to see our little friends suffer. She’ll be feeling better in a day or two for sure. And it’s great knowing that we now have a great new vet for our 3 feline pals.
Poor Gypsy’s on her own unless we can convince them she is a rare Belgian ah, cat.
Yeah. 40 pounds of black catdog.
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