£1000 Poop!
Here we go again with the ‘you couldn’t make it up’ shit!
We have a wonderful old cat called Bobby, he’s about 14 now and still going strong, frequently bringing us ‘presents’ of dead mice, squirrels etc… He’s a real character, constantly on the prowl for food and begging everyone who walks past him to give him more no matter how long it is since he last ate.
Bobby is a real fatty in the winter, always worrying us that it’s going to affect his health, but, like clockwork, every summer, he sheds every gramme of fat and get his summer bod on. It’s a real life transformation, every year!
Bobby is out a lot in the Summer, presumably hunting for prey in the woods and fields around us, we don’t worry, his desire for endless food always brings him back within a few hours. Sunday morning was different though, Mirie went into the sitting room and Bobby was lying there looking very forlorn, not like him at all, he’s a perky, active cat.
She went to have a look at him and he tried to stand up but his back end just collapsed on him. Mirie was worried and came to get me, he couldn’t walk and it looked as though he’d been hit a car, maybe fracturing his pelvis.
Mirie booked an appointment at the vet where he was examined and the vet suspected that the base of his tail was injured as he was extremely responsive to being touched in that area. He suspected an injury that is often seen when a cat has been pulled by its tail. He told us that he needed x-rays and blood tests etc… to establish what was wrong, we left the vet feeling very sad and worried that we may lose him, after all, he’s an old cat.
The vet had promised to ring us with an update when there was some news which came a few hours later. The x-ray had shown a very large blockage in his lower intestine, he was constipated!
He needed a general anaesthetic, enema, laxative, and intravenous fluids to sort out the lower part of his intestine with a smaller blockage further up where they couldn’t reach. The vet informed us that they had removed extremely compacted faeces 15cm long and 3cm wide!
Apparently, it had been full of a type of gritty material which they surmised was undigested bone, Bobby’s hunting forays had come back to bite him on the bum, literally!
Very painful and uncomfortable for him but financially excruciating for us, the final bill was £1038.00, the most expensive shit in the world! Of course, it had to be dealt with, it could have killed him but we’re still smarting from the cost of something so basic.
In the meantime, Bobby woke up from the anaesthetic and instantly wanted to be fed. The nurse told me when I picked him up that they had been feeding him constantly and he was still begging for more! She’d never seen a cat eat so much, that’s our Bobby!
He’s home now and much happier although still struggling to walk (he must be very sore!) but back to endlessly begging for food so we know he’s ok. We normally let him keep his prey when he brings it into the garden, it’s nature after all but from now on, if we can manage to get it off him, we will. We don’t want another compacted, bony poo blocking him up again and costing us another £1000.00, that would be a step too far.
At least he’s alive and well and not badly injured, let’s look on the bright side.
