A story of two good friends

About a week ago, there was the sound of a cat-fight in my back alley.  After some time, Cow came in from the alley and his ear was bleeding quite badly.  We could not clean his wound at all as he ran away when he saw me holding the cottonwool.  Poor Cow, he must have been defending the back alley.  Sometimes, stray cats wander into the alley.

The next day, the wound seemed to have dried up and I thought it would heal by itself.  Cow’s appetite was normal and he did not have any fever.  I did not want to subject Cow to more stress as this would slow down the healing.  And anyway, the moment I opened the cupboard to take out the cottonwool, he would run away. 

After four days, the wound suddenly started bleeding again, so it was off to the vet’s.  I managed to bundle Cow in a towel, put him into the carrier and off we went to the vet’s, amidst all his distress calls in the car.  

Cow was very well-behaved at the vet’s and allowed her to clean the wound.  After the scab was cleaned off, we saw that Cow’s ear had a wedge-shaped tear in it.  The vet said healing would be quite slow and there was no point in stitching it back.  Cow would either have to live with a torn ear or if the flap disturbs him, the vet suggested that that part of the ear be snipped off.  Cow would then have a slightly smaller ear, but it would not make much difference since it was only a bit of skin. 

I asked if antibiotics would help in his healing, and the vet said yes, but if it is very difficult to feed Cow medicines, it would be better to just let the wound heal by itself.  It wasn’t life-threatening, it would just take a longer time to heal.  Well, yes, it IS extremely difficult to feed Cow any medication, but I thought I should at least try.  So I came home armed with 7 days of Clavomox, to be administered twice a day.  The first dose was given by the vet.  Cow was too afraid to resist while he was at the clinic. 

But at home, it was a different story altogether.  It was Feline World War III, and I have the scars to prove just how impossible it is.  However, after one day, I thought I’d try the oldest trick in the book, ie. crush the medicines and mix it with canned fish.  It had never worked before with Cow (he’d always smell the medicine in the food and refuse to eat), but this time, it worked!  Or should I say, it has worked for two days now.  Wish me luck, please.

But wait…where is the story of the two good friends?

Here it is…

If you’ve been following this blog, you might remember that Cow is the only person in the house who can make Bobby (my 14 year-old almost-blind dog) eat all his meals.  Bobby would only eat if Cow sat beside him and ate together with him.  This happens three times a day. 

But on one particular day, Cow must have been feeling really down and unwell because of the pain on the ear, so he did not come into the kitchen during feeding time. 

Bobby refused to eat, and sat at a distance from his food.  No amount of coaxing from me could make him eat.  He just sat, staring at the bowl. 

I went to the living room and found Cow sleeping on Bobby’s favourite chair.  He did not look well at all.  I thought it wouldn’t be fair to ask Cow to accompany Bobby since he was unwell. 

Cow walked into the kitchen by himself and sat next to Bobby’s food bowl.