I've taken Bruce to the West Fargo Animal Hospital a few times now: feline leukemia 2nd vaccination, rabies and distemper boosters, fecal exam, etc., and things appear to be going well. Then I notice that when I set the dry cat food out for him, he doesn't eat much. Next I notice that he brought a mouse to the front door, but only could eat a bit of the neck... that lower canine tooth that Heather noticed was broken must be giving him trouble. I consult with Heather and she relays the info to her DVM, who prescribe pain meds, because this must hurt him a lot.
A diagnosis of abscessed canine is determined, and an estimate for extraction (plus blood work, x-rays, ultrasonic teeth cleaning, anesthesia, blood profile, soft food, etc.) is presented: $543.86. Wow... let me think about this a minute... a stray cat ...hmmmmm. My dearest Burton says, "It's only money. The poor cat... lucky he came to our door back in 2008. You've got a connection with him now and I guess we better help him out." ...So 9 Nov 2010, I dropped Bruce off at WF Animal Hospital, where he spent the day (and I was at school, etc.). They extracted his tooth, put him on antibiotics, the rest of the pain meds (Tramadol) and soft food for 7-10 days. So I took him back to our house, and tried to keep him comfortable, supplied with soft food, pain meds and antibiotics for the next several days. By the 2nd or 3rd day, he needed/wanted to go outdoors to his familiar environment, so I let him out and he returned in the evening. 22 Nov we got 12.5" of snow; Bruce decided he rather enjoyed our warm home and he could forgo living outside since we also provided food and a litter box. (to be continued)
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