It's Always Somethin'
We currently have four cats. While they used to be inside/outside cats, with the addition of Sadie, our wild and crazy dog, all the cats have chosen to be outside cats. Keeper is our oldest cat and the only long haired cat. She was waiting for us on the front porch when we moved in here 11 years ago. She comes and goes as she likes and is often gone for a week or more at a time. Pedy is our youngest cat and the only male cat. He is the holy terror of the group and manages to drive all the other cats crazy on a regular basis. Then there is the pair of cats we got from my daughter-in-laws' parents. They came from the same litter. Cami and Tilly are very different in both looks and demeanor and you would never guess they were litter mates.
Cami is laid back and was the first cat to play with Sadie. Tilly has always more hesitant and skittish. Both of these cats have occasionally missed a meal but neither has ever gone walk-about until a couple of weeks ago. Tilly was gone for about a week. Ron was convinced he would find her dead on the road. Fortunately, he was wrong and she showed back up last week limping badly and very interested in eating. Catching her was impossible even with her bum leg so we watched as she got incrementally better and was even climbing trees.
Then on Monday morning I saw her up close for the first time in days. Yes, she was better but her hips looked wrong. We managed to catch her on Tuesday morning and took her into the vet's. She had a dislocated hip. I'm kicking myself for not trying harder to catch her when she first showed back up here. Those extra days with a dislocation could not have done her any good.
My wonderful vet, Dr. Michael Ridlen, took an x-ray to verify the dislocation, tranquilized her and they popped her hip back into the socket. She came home that afternoon with her leg tied up to her belly to help keep her hip in the correct position to heal, drops for pain and doctor's orders for 10 days of bed rest. For a cat that means leaving her in a small enclosed space with a litter box, food, water and a soft bed to sleep on. That sounds like a small bathroom to me.
Tilly was obviously in pain and didn't put up much of a fight when I give her the pain medication. By last night, however, she seemed much better. I opened the door to the half bath and she was stretched out on the small rug ravaging it with her claws. She rolled around and happily purred at me. She literally sat still and opened her mouth to get the dose of medication. They told me it was beef flavored, which is how it smells although I haven't tasted it. I put up the gate across the doorway to keep her from slipping out when I open the door without thinking about her being in there. It is my favorite bathroom so I just open the door without thinking. She can get around with her leg tied up but she isn't very quick.
Tilly goes back to the doctor in a week and we will see how her hip is. There is a 50/50 chance that this will work and she will have no further problems. If this doesn't work, then it's surgery. I haven't asked for any additional information about the surgery, like what do they do to her and what is the prognosis. I'll ask all those questions next Friday if I need to. For now, Tilly seems much happier, is eating and drinking, peeing and pooping and spending most of her time lying down in her crate. For now, all is right with the world.