2010 is going to be a big year for Sphynx cats. Starting with the release of the new movie Cats and Dogs: Revenge of Kitty Galore.
As you can see from the trailer below, Kitty Galore (the baddy) is a female Sphynx cat. From the trailer it seems that the movie makers have done quite a good job of rendering Kitty Galore as a CGI character. With the voice of Bette Midler, Kitty Galore is a rogue spy cat that both cats and dogs must battle to stop her nefarious plans for world domination. While it is disappointing that again Sphynxes are playing the role of an “evil” entity, I am sure she will be attractive to adults and children alike.
Well Sphynx Kitten Pierre continues to be in the wars. 2 days after being restitched a large lump appeared over night on his right side ribs. It was off to the vet again and he had a good poke around. The lump didn’t hurt Pierre and he put up with the prodding and squeezing with his usual stoicism (the vet’s words too).
It couldn’t be determined by just feel whether it was a hernia, or dead/dying tissue. If it was a hernia it would need to be fixed, if it was dead dying tissue then it would need to be watched to see it didn’t get any bigger. We took him home to watch over night.
In the morning it was obvious it was larger and had a pointy defined look to it, so it was back to the vet. He agreed it was larger and we decided to have it excised and if a hernia, repair work done. Again the 4 oclock phone call was good news with the tissue being determined to be necrotic rather than a hernia and he could come home again that night.
Poor Pierre was coned permanently as the stitches on this last wound are external and are up under his right front leg. He has since developed further “lumps” around the abdomen where he sustained more bites and around the ripped part of his stomach skin. The vet is happy for us to watch these over Christmas and keep the antibiotics up to ensure there is no infection.
Pierre is purring and starting to talk again, but loud noises and going outside are still causing him to wriggle and stare about. I am sure the cone is adding to his anxiety as it block most of his view of anything. I am sure he will be very happy in the new year when the cone and the stitches are removed.
Sphynx Kitten Pierre’s previous pictures didn’t really show the extent of his bruising and after getting him back from his restitching today we took a photo while he was under the influence of a great deal of pain killers. He will need to keep up the pain meds for another couple of days and antibiotics for at least a fotrtnight (dog mouths are germ ridden caverns of infection).
Pierre spent the night sleeping, as usual, at the end of our bed. I took him to the litter box in the morning, which he gratefully used. I then offered him water and food and he refused both. I was concerned about his drinking because he hasn’t had anything for almost 24 hours (though he had had a drip at the vets so he wasn’t totally dehydrated). I gave him his pain medicine and his antibiotics and let him sleep some more.
Around 10am Luna came into the bedroom and then to the ensuite and pawed at the vanity. Both Luna and Pierre have a thing for drinking out of the sink in our bathroom. Pierre being the jumper can leap easily up to the sink, but Luna asks to be picked up. I ran some water and she had a drink and left. As an afterthought I picked up Pierre and placed him on the lip of the sink and ran some more water in. He took a minute to slowly lower himself down to take a few tentative laps. Success!
Pierre slept for most of the day, just getting up for a nibble of some wet food and some more water. AT 6pm he seemed to suddenly feel really good and ate a lot of wet food, had a good drink, and walked slowly around stretching and sitting down. We were all so happy to see him come so good. Unfortunately we didn’t know how good he felt.
The vet hadn’t put a cone on Pierre, nor mentioned one. As Pierre hadn’t shown much inclination to do much of anything, let alone groom himself, it didn’t cross our mind he might not like being stitched up. In a matter of seconds he had chewed his stitches out AND decided he was going to jump up onto the lap of Ian who was sitting at his computer.
Ian instantly noticed that Pierre’s belly was gaping again (luckily not bleeding) and it was back to the vets for Pierre.
Pierre now has a cone and an appointment for surgery tomorrow to stitch him back up. Naughty Pierre!
Sphynx People Say…