The other night we noticed one of our cats "Princess Luna" had a kink at the base of her tail. We could see the base of her tail try to rise up, but the rest of it was limp. We were guessing she broke it somehow during the night falling off the stairs or some other part of our furniture she likes to climb on. So we made an appointment at Tacoma Cat Hospital where they received their initial check up two years ago. You would think taking a cat to the veterinarian office wouldn't be such a big deal, but both our cats don't like getting in the pet carrier and Princess Luna is the worst. She doesn't like to be held for any length of time and by "time" I mean no longer than a minute or two if your lucky and since she was injured made things worse. I got the carrier out of the shed and prepped it for a passenger. I asked Jaz to hold it while I picked up a slightly upset cat in my first attempt to an upload, but when she saw the carrier she started growling and flailing about so I thought it best to put her down and get something to protect my hands.
My first thought was to try the Ove Gloves but they proved inadequate because she clawed and scratched her way free. After the second attempt she changed from the sweet Luna we like to a Tasmanian Devil on steroids. In truth, she's ONE MEAN F...KING CAT! So out came the welding gloves and I was very happy they did the job. She was growling, screaming, scratching and biting like "her life" depended on it and I was holding on to her and keeping her away from my body like "my life" depended on it. Approaching what appears to be a rabid animal is one thing, but picking one up made me scared shit less.
Tools of the trade.
Having her safely in the carrier and all my fingers still intact with little blood spilled we left for the Vet. When we arrived I had the movie
Young Frankenstein on my mind and after stepping inside and announcing our presence I told the tech you may have to give her a Sedagive to calm her down. I chuckled a bit and proceeded to place her on the examination table.
The doctor wrote me a quote with the worst case scenario (amputate) and I did what all good pet owners do, agree to it and wait for a phone call after the examination. A couple hours later the phone rang and it was confirmed. A broken tail that needed to be removed or she'll face serious health issues later in life. The trip home was much better than the trip out and she appears to be recovering nicely. Now our little princess does the little wiggle wiggle wiggle with her stub and it's kind of cute. I'm sure one could think of several nicknames while looking at our little Bobcat, but just in case you're at a loss for words I'll lay some out for you. Stubby, Nub, Bobbie... feel free to send me a few more. But if you try to hold her, her nickname will be Shredder because that's exactly what she'll do to you. : )
