Originally posted by rosethecopycat

What is a cuterebra?
Cuterebras afflict mostly cats/kittens that live outdoors. It's the larva of a bot fly that got into her system and set up housekeeping on her chest. When I first saw her, I thought it was a big burr. Luckily I did not try to remove it myself - apparently if you're not careful, removing it in the wrong way can cause an anaphylactic reaction in the cat.

Reese was a scrawny, 2 pound, flea-infested kitten - we thought she was just 2 months old; turns out she was twice that. Her tail is about an inch shorter than it should be, because of the unknown injury. She is small of stature, but big on attitude.

Here's another picture of her - we've had her since October 2001 - we have not been able to decorate the Christmas Tree since then. She thinks it's her personal climbing toy.