Bless his little heart.

I learned from Zebo (rainbow bridge) that some kitties just want to hide when they don't feel good.

When Zebo was not even a year old, he darted out one day as I was leaving for work. I didn't have time to look for him, but decided he would be okay outside, figuring he'd find a bush to sleep under and snooze the day away.

Well, he found a place to snooze, but is wasn't the safety of a bush.

When I got home I didn't notice anything. But after a few hours I realized I hadn't seen him; in fact, he hadn't even eaten. I hunted him down and found him in the closet. I still did not know something was wrong, but he did get up and follow me out of the closet. Since he usually ran ahead of me when I went into the kitchen, I turned around to see what was taking so long. That's when I finally saw it - he was favoring one of his back legs and his tail was cut clean through about two inches down - just a flap of skin was holding it on. No wonder he had been hiding in the closet! The vet said he apparently had been in a car engine, and the fan belt got him when the driver turned the car on - a common injury to outside cats.

Jump ahead about 10 years, and due to a fight with one of the neighborhood cats (both neutered, both sweet and docile until they saw each other, us owners never did figure it out) Zebo developed a deep abcess - right next to his jugular vein. The vet was reluctant to excise it, but he would drain it as necessary. I originally figured out something was wrong with Zebo because he was hiding under the bed - he couldn't go hide in a closet because in the house we were in then had doors on the closets (my apartment had been one of those efficiencies where the closet is really nothing but an alcove). Each time he had it drained he would be his normal self, but then he would retreat to under the bed again, and I knew it was time to have it drained again. This story had a good ending, though, because the vet finally decided it was time to take the risk, because Zebo was surely going to die if the abcess wasn't drained - whereas he only might die if it was. So I had it done and Zebo was fine.

Anyway, I didn't mean to go on, I was just trying to say that Max probably just doesn't feel very good right now, so he feels the need to be alone where it's quiet.

Bless his little heart, I hope this mystery is solved soon, and he starts feeling better again.

[ August 12, 2001: Message edited by: 4 feline house ]