Boots is in the kitty hospital

Boots - is my 10 year old cat - he’s indoor/outdoor/fixed/has all his shots. He loves to be inside - when he wants to be - and hates is otherwise. Sometimes he spends the night inside/sometimes outside. He had to spend the time inside over the Christmas holiday and again in March when I traveled - and he was not a happy camper.

I know, I know - cats shouldn’t be outside. And I know they don’t usually live as long - lots of bad things out there that can hurt them. We did have a barn cat that lived to be 17 years old but the vet said that’s pretty unusual - but that’s another blog post.

Anyway, this is about Boots, and Boots is at the animal hospital. 😰

If he’s outside, he’s almost always on the back deck rail when I get up in the morning - he wasn’t there on Friday and of course I was concerned. I called and called - no Boots. He finally was back on Saturday afternoon. Had a “spot” that looked kinda like an insect bite on his right hip. He came inside and basically stayed there all weekend, very lethargic. By Sunday morning he had quite a big ‘lump’ on his back - so it was off to the vet first thing on Monday.

She said the spot I saw was a puncture wound - and she found another one - they’re bite punctures from a fight. Boots is a pretty big cat, is there another cat around who could best him, or…. I live in the country with a pretty grown up pasture right behind my back fence and I know we’ve had coyotes in the past.

He was running a pretty high fever when we were there on Monday and of course she kept him. Talked to her later in the day - she had to open up the ‘lump’ - said it was infection and quite deep. So, he’s in the kitty hospital with drains and on antibiotics. I find out more this afternoon.

Boots on a better day…

He is really a laid back, sweet cat, and I would love to turn him into an indoor cat, but I have a feeling he would shred my furniture…. which isn’t great as it is but…. So, I’m not sure what our future holds.