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.