Tiki went missing all weekend last weekend which is so NOT like him. He usually returns home multiple times a day & always sleeps inside. I knew something was wrong come Sat morning. I spent most of my weekend searching for him to no avail. It was monday morning, I was on my way out the door to go to work when he came trotting up the steps. He seemed ok at first, tired & hungry but ok. I picked him up to say hi when right then & there I knew something was majorly wrong. His meow was very rattly & liquid sounding, and the fur on his underside was all caked with something, I turned him over noticing part of his one side was the same way. We walked into the light & I found it to be all dried blood. Thank god I work for a vets office I thought, I just rushed him right to work with me. I set him down so I could grab his carrier. he tried to jump up to his food dish but he couldn't.
I get him to work, he shaved him all down & found 2 major puncture wounds, one was scary, it was deep and right where his lungs are as well as many bruises. So off to the x-ray room we go before we explore the wounds. Thank god we did, we found that one of his lungs was punctured. This turned into a very lenghtly & delicate procedure requiring every single staff member to assist with the surgery. After 1.5 hours and many x-rays later we had him sewed up good, the hole in his lungs was closed.
The vets are amazed that he lived through the weekend (the would was 1-2 days old) and then again, we almost lost him a couple times on the operating table when we were trying to close up the hole in his lungs. Just a few seconds without anything on the whole to close it up would send him to deaths door step. I thought for sure multiple times that he was going to join Nanook in the heavens above. Everyone says he is one of the luckiest cats alive.
He's now content, or as content as he can be confined to the spare bedroom. lol
He has a cone on since he likes to chew at the sutures on his side (which is the most important ones NOT to chew). He's still on pain meds (which makes him a happy purring machine) and he'll be on antibiotics for about 2-3 more weeks, depending on his progress.
We are not sure what caused it. It is not a cat or the like, the wounds are too big. It is unlikely but not impossible for it to be from a dog, coyote or the like (because there are only 2 puncture wounds placed where they are there would most likely be more wounds from the teeth) it could be from a stick or piece of metal (again weird that they would puncture him where they did). We think most likely it was big bird of some sorts, an owl, big eagle or hawk or the like.
We are certain that the wound happened while in movement (because of the bruising & the fact that he lived). Therefore when what ever it was that entered the skin, it changed direction right after it started to puncture the skin, therefore the tissue/muscle/lining went back into it's normal position causing it to cover the hole to his lungs. They still don't believe he lived all weekend like that.
He's not out of the woods yet but we are almost certain he should have no problems. He sure is one lucky cat.
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I hope he continues to heal!
I'm so glad that he was found in time and that you work at a vets office so he could get the help he needed asap. I hope he recovers quickly. Will he be an indoor only cat now?
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