For those who would like the follow-up on this post, Carl Ortona sent me an update, below the fold. The ending is happy.
The cat came back, and is alive, although I suspect he used up about 7 of his supposed 9 lives; in fact, he seems to be doing o.k., and the vet was true to his word (and no sign of infectious diseases � for me or for him) — always refreshing to find a really competent, honest person who doesn�t screw you �. Max�s tail was indeed necrotized/necrotizing after 4-5 days �. — it was definitely an other animal that did the damage as there were some other serious gouges in the little bugger�s haunches, neck and (even) skull that the vet treated for free. To repeat, he always annoyed me with how �precious he was� even if he was a stray/feral; now I am in awe of an animal�s resilience � especially his. For some reason, he always loved laying in the magazine basket, so when he actually jumped in there last night, I didn�t have the heart to move him, because it seemed to me he actually had the will to live and was moving about and responding to the other cats � and both Baxter and T-boy were very concerned about the little guy pre-op and post-op and showed their concern with nudges, nuzzling, grooming, etc. � who says animals are mere brutes. God knows why, but Baxter (the orange cat) and Max (the stray/feral cat who got used to free meals and loving affection from us and Baxter) immediately hit it off and if I didn�t know better, are in love, after a fashion, in a respectful sort of way�.. and its nobody�s business, not that there�s anything wrong with that anyway�.
How this little waif survived 5-6 days on its own (and, in between, summoned the energy to beat the hell out of me under the house) does indeed indicate the resiliency of animals — and hell, we humans have such attributes and virtues in spades as well — if there is a lesson to take from this, our animal nature ain�t half bad; we just need to know that 1) it is there; and 2) it is useful and might come in handy some day; just don�t destroy it �. Oh, the corrupting effects of civilization (maybe the French might want to reflect on this lightweight cat�s toughness before demanding a �guarantee of safety� from the UN before deploying to Lebanon �. But I digress) �. Even without the tail, I still think of him as the �little lord fauntleroy of the cat world�, but my desire to punt him has diminished, my respect has increased. Who knows what he actually endured.
As a sidenote (and I will drunkenly retell the story next time we talk anyway) my dad had the best line; apropos the 3 or 4 comments at chicagoboyz with regard to U.S. (and Canadian, I might add!) pet care being better than 75% of the rest of the world�s healthcare for people (and he made this comment without looking at the website), after I told him about the plight of the little guy, he said �you know, growing up on the farm we always had problems with rabies and distemper, especially distemper, among the dogs and the farm cats � rabies is easy to deal with, but you don�t want distemper spreading to the hogs or cattle because it is so contagious � I remember having to give the cats a lot of shots �. Usually from a .22�)
More on more important things later. Strike that; what is more important than the miraculous survival of this little bugger. Share the news.
Done as directed, sir.
I do not know how to post pictures, so our dear readers are spared the pictures of Max�s necrotized/necrotizing tail.
I had to google “necrotized.” Part of me is glad you didn’t post pictures, but part of me is wishing you did.