Spike
Spike isn't feeling well.
It started last Thursday? Friday? with the appearance of a wound on his face, above his right eye, below his right ear. We're not sure where it came from. He's either outside in the kennel or in the house. It's not the kind of injury sustained from a spat with his siblings. It's possible he was stung by a bee or fire ant (the bees are out and about, and there are some ants trying to make a nest around the kennel, though I keep trying to discourage this).
As usual, cats being cats, they'd rather worry the wounded places to pieces, rather than leave them alone. If one of the girls isn't licking it, another one is doing same. Putting anything topical on it only results in him washing at it excessively. That has made the wound bigger- a scabby, bald patch about the size of a nickel. Now that it's scabbed over and healing enough that we don't feel the need to medicate it, he's acting as if it bothers him, squinting his eye, ducking his head...
Come to think of it, I noticed some odd "freckling" on his nose the day before this began. I wonder if maybe he really did get bitten by ants- more than a few times?
Anyway, yesterday he threw up after eating his dinner. Not unusual. At least one of the cats does this almost weekly. Spike, in particular, because he swallows his food whole. He did go through the motions of vomiting earlier that afternoon, before he was to be fed, so nothing came up because his tummy was empty. That happens, too. Stomach acid builds up in an empty tummy and becomes unbearable.
This morning he threw up, but, again, as his tummy was empty from not digesting his meal the night before, it was just fluid. I couldn't tell if it was just digestive juices, or water, but he drank a bunch of water after that and kept it down so...
I just kept an eye on him all day. He mostly sat in the same place and dozed. He's responsive. He likes attention. He eventually walked to the back door and expressed an interest in going outside in the kennel with the girls. He was NOT, however, his usual, pain-in-the-ass self. He didn't sit at the pantry door all day, demanding someone feed him with his incessant meowing. He didn't follow me everywhere, demanding to be taken outside with his incessant meowing.
DH didn't see any of this until he came home this evening, so he's pretty worried. Particularly after he fed the cats their daily rations and Spike ate half of it and threw it up. Spike seemed the same to me when I got home from the gym. Still sitting in the spot he's warmed all day, responsive to petting and attention. He even got up and raced to the kitchen with the rest of the crew when I got out the can of whipped cream (everybody likes to have a taste). He didn't eat any, but he was definitely alert and interested. I gave him a teaspoon of plain, homemade yogurt later, and he sure perked up for that! I gave it to him for the good bacteria in it. We're thinking that his constant washing of his wound maybe gave him a bacterial infection. Plus it will coat his tummy. He's kept it down, so I guess we'll just continue to watch him. All of the cats are due for their annual vet visit next month so if we have to take him in it's no big deal...
