Homme Chaton update: 4 weeks 6 days post-op

Thank you to everyone who has asked after Man Kitten's well-being.

After what has felt like forever, he attended the vet today for his follow-up x-rays to determine how well he has healed. Given that at times he has been a right brat about the whole thing and has not always been on his best 'recovering cat' behaviour, I was worried that his antics, though minor in the scheme of things, might have resulted in less than perfect healing of his bones.

I need not have worried. The vet who performed his surgery is very pleased with how well he has healed. Everything went 'right'. His pelvis has healed in the correct place so that there is no narrowing meaning he can poop and wee. His tail function is perfect, and he walks correctly on his left rear foot. The vet says that if he could talk, he would tell us that his foot and leg have pins and needles and a loss of sensation in places, as his sciatic nerve has been distressed and may still be presenting with damage that we just can't see. It doesn't look trapped, though, and the vet feels very positive about the nerve function despite the trauma it clearly suffered.

When we dropped him off this morning, the receiving vet had a quick listen to his heart and asked us if we knew about his heart murmur?

sigh

No, we did not know he has a heart murmur.

He has a heart murmur.

So today before they were able to sedate him, because no one has ever heard his heart murmur before and therefore did not know how sever it was, he had to have a heart thingy something. You know, like a ultrasound. They took a look, and his heart murmur is currently minor. But new, and so that is something that we have to have checked again in 6 months to a years time.

Of course we do.

All in all, though, the lovely little shit is well on the way to having his life back to normal. He isn't allowed outside for a few more weeks yet, but he is allowed to do whatever he like inside and is no longer confined to cage rest. Which makes me and him happy happy happy.

Thank you to everyone who helped pay for his ridiculously expensive surgery. You'll all be pleased to know that after some reflection, and a recent 30 hour disappearance of Cookie the sister kitten, we have implemented a curfew. At tea time each night now the cat door is closed and everyone is locked in until morning. While this results in extra litter tray duties for me, it just makes sense. Cookie disappeared at night. Man Kitten was hit by a car at night. Mick and Mike, the cats we had during my entire childhood, were locked in a  custom built 'cat house' every evening to keep them safe, and they lived to 15 and 16 years respectively. I guess my parents had it right all those years ago.