Poor Rani
For as long as I could remember, I’d wanted a Siamese cat. They seemed like the epitome of catness. So, about 9 years ago my ex arranged a surprise and took me to (what I now realise was a backyard breeder) get a Siamese kitten. She was the last of the litter and climbed up the aviary wire to get away from the breeder. She was incredibly skittish and lived under our bed for 3 days before venturing out. She soon settled in and made herself at home. Over the years, I had two other Siamese, Claude and Cyclops (she was born with only one eyeball), but they both got hit by cars.
Most nights Rani sits next to me, like a furry hot water bottle. She is definitely my cat, but sometimes she will grace visitors and A with her presence. The children are tolerated by her, but she will quickly disappear if they are annoying her.
Rani, a couple of months ago.
So, when I saw her face late on Friday night, my heart sank. It was swollen on one side, we hoped that it would go down over night. We spent the morning racing around doing housework, so when we sat down with A’s mum, we saw that she had a scratch that had become infected and an abscess had formed.
I decided to take her to the vet, but we didn’t have a carry cage, so I ended up sitting her on my lap for the drive. Once she retracted her claws, she was fine and so was I. The vet took one look at her and said that she had an abscess and she would have to stay over night and have it drained.
Obviously I was upset. She is a very strong willed and territorial cat. I know that it is the done thing to keep cats indoors these days, but both cats are indoors/outdoors cats, coming and going as they please. When we have tried to keep her inside, she has literally wrecked the cat door to get out. We do have a ‘reverse aviary’ for the cats, with a cat door coming into the house, but it is no substitute. The vet nurse actually said that she is obviously a dominant cat because the damage was on her head, as opposed to her rear end.
Overnight I had a dream about Rani. I was at an outdoor festival of some kind and paid money to eat at a buffet. I sat down with my Mum and Dad on the ground and leaned back on my elbows to look at the stars. I saw a group of shooting stars and them looked down to see Rani winding in betwen my legs. I hoped that it was not a bad omen.
It was not a cheap exercise and many thanks must go to A’s mum who lent us to money to pay the vet bill. Pet insurance is looking mighty attractive right now!
She came out looking like this, with an Elizabethan collar on. Not a big fan of it though, she seems to be leaving the drain alone, so I’m not going to try to force her to wear it. The beige thing on her face is a drain. The vet instructed me to wipe antiseptic over the wound twice a day, but she’s not keen on it!
When I picked her up, I had Willow with me. Rani had been silent until I put her in the loan carrier, then she started that typical Siamese ‘mrow!’ She was obviously not happy to be confined and let us know all the way home.
The dogs wanted to give her a good sniff when she got home, they were probably curious about where she’d been. Our other cat, Harley was not pleased to see her, they don’t like each other.
Tonight A boarded up the cat door – a temporary measure for now, we’ll need to replace the panel. I’m worried about the damage that she might do tomorrow while we are all out of the house. I have heard of Siamese cats impaling themselves on windows while trying to get outside. We have to be firm though, it will be too expensive otherwise.
I need to take her back for a checkup on Wednesday and again in two weeks for stitches to come out.
