What is your pet doing right now?*

[Kim]

It might just be an extended sulk over the entire cleaning incident.

Would be my guess.  Fingers crossed.

[hellymedic]

Thanks all!

Blackie has been away for longer, in much harsher times.

She was away for 6 days in the Beast from the East, a mere fortnight after she was spayed, as a big kitten last year.

She's skinny but a good size now and an adept hunter. There's no bell to scare potential prey, though she does smell of the oil.

I just hope the oil hasn't poisoned her.

The garden and those adjoining have a plentiful supply of rodents and birds.

[hellymedic]

In the mean time, a little local stray we call Luna is visiting every evening and getting less shy. Big Tom is still very much a feature and tends to spend much time indoors, mostly resting.
But David is very upset about Blackie's absence.

[hellymedic]

It might just be an extended sulk over the entire cleaning incident.

Would be my guess.  Fingers crossed.

Teh Kim is right!

Again!

Blackie returned at 16.00, miaowing and shaking her legs.

David fed her and she seemed to eat quite a lot.

She's hardly letting David touch her and though he thought we ought to have taken her to a vet earlier in the week, he doesn't seem to want to catch and incarcerate her now as he understandably doesn't want to stress her.

[hellymedic]

Blackie is resting on the carpet in the lounge.
Big Tom is resting in the lounge, having faced off Little Feral when we offered food to him.
Little Feral was last seen cowering behind the bins. David says his mangy nose seems better since we laced his food with FleaClear.

[Mrs Pingu]

Glad she's back.

[hellymedic]

Thanks! I've arranged a vet for Sunday, as this is the earliest David and his friend can take her. It's over a week now since she got oiled.

[ian]

The good thing about letting the vet do it is that the cat will blame them for everything that happens. It's also the vet who has extract cat poo from her cleavage.

[Mrs Pingu]

Any sensible vet will hand it over to a team of plucky vet nurses....

[hellymedic]

GN: Blackie seems subdued but settles into her usual resting places. She seems to be feeding well.
There's much less oily black fur than before.

BN: She seems to have pulled of lots of contaminated fur, leaving pink, bald, exposed skin. I suspect this is tender.
She's unlikely to get cold if we keep her under house arrest.

[Kim]

Any sensible vet will hand it over to a team of plucky vet nurses....

And some vets have magical powers, causing ordinarily pissed off cats to immediately become their best friend.

[Gattopardo]

In the mean time, a little local stray we call Luna is visiting every evening and getting less shy. Big Tom is still very much a feature and tends to spend much time indoors, mostly resting.
But David is very upset about Blackie's absence.

Luna is my girl cats name therefore no other forum cats maybe called luna.

Boy cat and girl cat have both learnt that crying will bring the hoomans to come and see what is going on.  Boy cat cries as his sister is sitting where boy cat wants to sit. Girl cat cries, then brings a toy to you, as she wants to play.  Bot cat cries as he wants to nap close by or touching you.

Currently on the end on the bed, lightly snoring.

[essexian]

Glad Blackie has returned 

Right, a quick round up of our moggies....

Pearl is currently sitting on my desk looking for food/attention, Pixie is cleaning herself in her basket after being out in the rain for a while, Whinger the Ginger (not our cat) is asleep in front of the fire (not on...he doesn't seem to mind), Jamise is asleep on the back of the chest of draws in CBH's dressing room, Quinton (not our cat) is asleep in his basket in the same room, Posie having been out for some time is trying to get into bed with CBH to dry off, Eric the stray is in the shed, while Purrdee the kitten lost the battle of the shoe rack earlier to Jamise so is now asleep in the summer house.

Not sure where His Lordship, Lord Rayner (not our cat) is, but he will be around when I get the food out later.

[hellymedic]

We arranged for Blackie to see a vet tomorrow and tried to keep he indoors.
There was some offensive business in the litter tray, which David took outside.
Both cats were scratching at the closed cat flap when David returned.
They escaped when he let himself back inside, despite his best efforts.
Blackie is sitting on the flower bed in the middle of the garden; she does not seem unhappy.
David is fretting about having let the cats out.
I can't see Big Tom right now but he was chasing bugs in the garden with Blackie earlier.
[ETA] Camouflage Cat is lounging next to Blackie on the bare soil of the flower bed.
I reckon we'll still capture Blackie in time for her vet's appointment.
Anyway, she seems OK to me: settled, doing catty things, eating and resting, with little sign of distress.

[Mrs Pingu]

She'll probably be more distressed if you keep her in if she's used to coming and going as she pleases

[hellymedic]

Indeed, but we need to catch her to take her to the vet, which might be a challenge!

Big Tom has migrated to 'my' chair in the kitchen.

Blackie was still in the garden when I last looked.

I think she's scared of coming in.

'Frozen watchfulness' is a term used to describe the facial expression of abused kids; I think Blackie is displaying this, though WE haven't abused her.

ETA Big Tom has gone out and joined Blackie in the garden; he seems to be very kind to her right now, which is good when she won't let us.

[hellymedic]

Having spent all all afternoon resting in the garden, both cats returned a 8pm.

Blackie is looking much less bedraggled and is starting to regain her fluffy appearance, which considerably belies her size.

They were feeding contently. Big Tom has escaped; I didn't realise David must have opened the cat flap.

[hellymedic]

Blackie is at the vets, with David and our friend Marie-Louise, the cat whisperer.

She doe snot like the cat carrier!

I am awaiting news/return/a big bill...

[hellymedic]

They're back!
Unable to fully clean her.
Normal bloods.
Charcoal tablets.
Cone of Shame too large to allow her to feed and scaring her witless.
Big Bill.

We've removed cone of shame and she's calmer. Cone was applied to stop her ingesting any more oil from deep in her fur. My reasoning is that she won't eat a lot more oil after 10 days and she seems unharmed thus far, it's unlikely to harm her now and she needs to run free.

[Mrs Pingu]

What did they try cleaning her with?

[hellymedic]

I don't know; I wasn't there.
I think I would have used Swarfega, followed by LOTS of hot water if I'd had a posse of handlers. I doubt they would have tried anything as powerful.
Having removed (or attempted) bike chain oil from clothing and self, I think I have some experience of Oily Gunk.

Vet admittedly had none.

She's prescribed omeprazole capsules and charcoal tablets.

I can't see how a tiny bit of charcoal would make much difference to the substantial oiling though I can see it impairing the absorption of the omeprazole...
...whichI can't see as of any benefit here, really.

Am I cynical?
Who am I to judge a vet?
Methinks Blackie will be fine and the clag will eventually grow out or get groomed away/washed in the rain; Two days on charcoal and omeprazole >10 days after the event are unlikely to do anything.
IMHO

[Kim]

I don't know; I wasn't there.
I think I would have used Swarfega, followed by LOTS of hot water if I'd had a posse of handlers. I doubt they would have tried anything as powerful.

Indeed.  Swarfega, some vegetable-based oil as a solvent, or if that didn't work, trimming fur.  All assuming a sufficiently compliant cat.  Not worth sedation or anaesthesia to get the gunk off at this point, and you probably don't want to feed them swarfega.

Am I cynical?
Who am I to judge a vet?

On the gripping hand, they probably have quite a lot of experience of critters that have managed to cover themselves in oil, paint, etc.

[hellymedic]

Actually, David said vet had NO experience of an oiled cat.

We had tried vegetable oil earlier.

I have a LOT of experience with oiled hoomins and clothes.

We think my late grandmother's charcoal tablets prevented her getting digitoxicity so me know charcoal tablets too.

I are an arrogant retired cycling medic!

[Kim]

Actually, David said vet had NO experience of an oiled cat.

Interesting.  I suppose if it's a typical pet cat, the owner's going to have more luck washing it than the vet will.  But it's not like they aren't habitual sitters under cars.  (Maybe modern cars are less leaky than they used to be?)

Charcoal and PPIs is presumably the catch-all solution to "I think my dog ate some X".

[hellymedic]

Charcoal and PPIs is presumably the catch-all solution to "I think my dog ate some X".

Indeed but homeopathic doses 11 days post-event, given dose size impress me not.

We gave HYOOGE amounts of charcoal for some poisonings where ingestion was in milligram quantities.