It Looks Much Uglier Than It Is

The pictures really do look horrendous. Cammie appears to have been shot in the head, in the right side and out the left. These sights are the result of an infection that she developed after being scratched, probably by Josie. She had inflammation on either side of her cranium early last week, so when I took Bear-Bear to the veterinary hospital to give his blood samples, Cammie came along, too. She behaved well at the doctor’s, becoming irritable - greatly so - when her temperature was taken. I would have, as well.

The damaged areas were shaved, so a better look could be obtained, and she was given anti-biotics in pill-form. She absolutely refused to eat her soft-food with the pills either crushed and mixed in it or hidden whole. Then I pulverised the medicine and dissolved it in water, giving it to her through a syringe. That worked twice, after which she was ready to fight me to prevent it happening thrice.

I at last tried Pill Pockets. I have never had luck with them, any other cat I have attempted to use them on simply refusing to eat or even smell them. But Cammie has swallowed them. She has even chewed them and not noticed the half-pill buried in them. Perhaps the aroma is strong enough to mask the pill’s. I gave her one or two without pills previous to offering her the Pockets with the pills inside. This, I hoped, would allay her suspicions that she was being tricked. It worked for a while.

I have about a third of the prescription to run, and Cammie has now decided that she does not like Pill Pockets. However, she does enjoy Temptation Treats. Therefore, I embed half a pill in the Pocket, then top that with half a Temptation Treat. After much coaxing, and waving a whole Temptation Treat under her nose to make her associate its fragrance with the Pill Pocket, she consumes everything, including her medicine. It’s a tedious process, but it’s working.

And now the photographs. They were taken this weekend and show dried blood and pus from the inflammations, which are almost all gone. I have tried cleaning the sites but, though Cammie will allow me to run a finger over the wounds, I am not permitted any stronger contact. All that you see is from superficial bleeding and leaking. She doesn’t scratch at the areas at all, so, thankfully, she seems not overly bothered by them. I think what has come out and dried on her head is from natural breakage of the swelling, or perhaps from her grooming.

In any case, her appetite remains very good (except when I try to sneak medicine into her via her food), she plays now and then, she has been on my lap for extended petting and purring sessions and she is as feisty as ever. The fact that she is particularly adamant that my Chubs not approach her suggests that I am correct about the origins of her wounds. Other than that, things are improving with my guest-girl, in all ways.