Ah Mitzi!

[RedHedd]

My poor little girl. I noticed while petting her yesterday that she was matted and had some poop sticking to her fluff "back there" so I decided to help her. Imagine my shock and dismay when I discovered my poor, wooly girl was hiding an anal abscess! YUCK! I've heard about such things, but have never experienced one and especially on a lady such as my little princess.

She was a good sport about letting me clean it - my what a lot of pus I was able to express out. :eek: It was obvious she felt better after that insult to her nether regions. Today she's at the vets so they can clean her properly and make sure she's okay.

My poor little lady! :( I'm sure she'll be fine.

[Catty1]

Poor girl! That must have hurt. A good cleaning up at the vet and a few days on antibiotics, and hopefully she'll be good as new! :)

[KittyGurl]

Poor Mitzi! Get a good cleaning at the vets and behave yourself. When you come home, you will look beautiful than ever! :)

[AbbyMom]

Poor widdle thing. Hope she's better soon.

[cassiesmom]

Feel better soon, beautiful Mitzi!

[RedHedd]

Well she's home but not very happy. I need HELP! How the heck do you keep an E-collar on a kitty? She's not supposed to lick back there, and they said to use the E-collar when I can't watch her. The wiley Ms. Mitzi has it figured out and is out of it in minutes! I've never had to use one of these danged things. The "ties" they provided me with are flimsy gauze that are already falling apart; this is definitely not going to work. Also if I try to leave it on her all day when I'm gone, she won't be able to eat, drink or use the litter box! WTF? :confused: It's too hot here right now to let her get dehydrated just so she can't lick!

[Catty1]

Can you attach another kind of tie, such as bias binding? How long does she have to wear it?

I thought a cat was good and clean for cleaning herself - she wouldn't infect it, would she?

Unless the vet kind of had to make a bit of a mess to clean up the ulcer.

Poor Mitzi!

Maybe she won't bother the area...you never know!

[RedHedd]

Thanks, Catty - that's what I thought. She's not messy back there, it just looks sore and a bit swollen - poor thing.

The stuff they're having me use to clean her, Nolvasan, is the same stuff they gave me to use for Mishi's chin acne, so I know it's not toxic as I was using it near his mouth. I think I'm just giong to watch her carefully while I'm home, but I don't want to spook her when I'm not around to supervise. I think they gave me an E-collar that's just too big for her - she is a tiny, round thing. My little girlie princess! She's crashed out on the loveseat right now - it's HOT here. She looks absolutely exhausted and very cute ;)

[jennielynn1970]

They do make ones that have snaps and that's what I used for Boris when she was a tiny girl. My one cat walked backwards when hers was on, but she could still eat and drink ok. It might be that it's too long for her. Try a petstore, they should have varied sizes.

I think they are usually afraid of the cat over cleaning the area and making it more irritated. I was supposed to watch Calloway with his tail bite as well and use the collar if necessary. It wasn't. :)

[Freedom]

When Dazzle was neutered, he came home with an ecollar. He learned to get it off in just 20 seconds! :eek: Dad and I took turns sitting up with him that first night home.

If the collar is not too big for her, try putting in on the other way; so it fits like a shawl over her shoulders. It won't bend, so she still can't reach "back there," and it is just a wee bit harder to take it off herself. Plus then she can reach down and eat, drink and such.

Good luck!

[Tubby & Peanut's Mom]

Awwww....poor little Mitzi girl. :(

I'm glad you got her all cleaned up and to the vet already. Peanut had a big cyst like that in the middle of her back one time. I, too, was amazed at all the pus the vet squeezed out - eewwww! How old is Mitzi now? The vet said these cysts aren't uncommon in older kitties because they just don't clean as well as they used to, and they're not as nimble as they used to be so they can't get to all the spots they used to. Peanut was 17 when she had hers. Somehow I don't think Mitzi's that old yet though. ;)

Gently hugs and smoochies for the little queenie girl. :)

[Barbara]

Poor Mitzi- I am sure you feel much better now. I know that I would give up on the collar - Tigris would get crazy by it (you lay a thread of wool on his back and he runs as if the devil was after him) and Filou would be out in no time.
I hope watching is enough....

[krazyaboutkatz]

I'm sorry to hear about Mitzi:( but I'm glad that she's now on the mend.:) My cats never liked their e-collars either and I had to wrap the strings around many times to keep it tight or they would be out of it a few minutes. Starr had a fabric one that worked well but he scratched at it so much that he was tearing it up so he ended up having to wear the plastic kind later on. Good luck and I hope that she heals up quickly.:)

[Heather1031]

When I needed one for my little kitty the one they gave me was to big too. So I just cut it all the way around so that she could still eat, drink and go potty, but couldn't reach the back area. Good luck with her.

Heather :)

[RedHedd]

Thanks everyone. I just might try putting it on backwards - I think that would work. Mishi was so cute last night helping to clean Mitzi (licking her head) when she had the collar on. I should have gotten a picture, but I didn't ....

As far as we can tell, Mitzi is around 7 years old, but we don't know for sure. She's very small. She weighed in at a svelte for her 9.8 lbs. yesterday which is terrific; she's just built round - it's so cute! She weighed over 12 lbs. when I adopted her and was EXTREMELY obese.

She tolerated me flushing her wounds this morning, although not without me getting an eyeful of the antiseptic - ow that burns! I have to "flush" her twice a day; I know she will be on to me after a day or two and it will become a battle royale! She's a feisty little beast!

[RedHedd]

Mitzi is at the vet's today for a recheck. The doctor called this afternoon to let me know she's healing very well and looks much better. I could tell that too. Even though she doesn't like me flushing her out back there, I could tell that she's getting better as there's no more pus. She's also back to cuddling with me - actually she's cuddling even more. I think it's because she's feeling a LOT better. I wonder how long she'd been hiding her symptoms from me as I hadn't noticed anything being off with her. They are SO good as masking their symptoms when they are ailing!

[krazyaboutkatz]

I'm so glad to hear that Mitzi is doing much better and that she wants to cuddle with you again.:)

[jenluckenbach]

I totally missed this thread, but would like to add my thoughts for Mitzi. Glad to hear she is already getting better.
Did the backwards e-collar work?? (I never heard that idea. I MUST remember it!)

[Tubby & Peanut's Mom]

Whew! Glad to hear she's doing better. Way to go, Mitzi! :D

[RedHedd]

I've been so busy this week with work and after work commitments, that I didn't have the heart to e-collar her when I wasn't around as I wasn't around much at all. In fact I completely forgot about it! She's healing fine without it and the vet didn't mention it again, so I figured I'd just let sleeping cats lie ;)