Karnak Street Kats

Lady Barbara, a tortoiseshell female cat, came home after major surgery. She had had a puncture wound into her colon that leaked fecal matter. I had to take her to Texas A&M for the surgery. I was given strict instructions for her diet. No dry food. Every serving of canned food had to have a teaspoon of Metamucil mixed into it. I knew the only way this diet could succeed was to keep Lady Barbara in a separate room. Lady B as she came to be called was put into the solarium and fed twice a day per instructions.

This feeding schedule lasted for six weeks with Lady B growing less and less happy about mealtime. She made biweekly visits to the vet to have her incision checked as well as her general health. She always passed with flying colors. Lady B never protested being poked and prodded. She had a u-shaped scar now on her rear, open-side down. She looked like she had been kicked by a very small horse. Except for the scar, she seemed in excellent health. She was released from the solarium.

Lady Barbara lived fourteen more years. She died suddenly of internal bleeding. My vet believed that there had been other injuries at the time of her accident that finally caught up with her. In all those years, Lady Barbara was an indoor-only cat in the same house. In all those years, she never entered the solarium again. I guess she thought if she did she would have to eat that Metamucil-laced food again.



To learn about Lady Barbara's arrival, click here.

Labels: cat, colon, Lady Barbara, Metamucil, puncture wound, TAMU, torotiseshell