Sassy cats — Hopefully the end of trauma

Sasha: This is best I can muster. Go away unless you have treats!

It’s the peep again. Sasha will be back next week with her opinion about her surgery and I’m sure it’s a doozy. (For those new to the story, she had surgery to remove a mass on her neck last week.)

She’s getting her stitches out today. I had to give her something to calm her down so her writing skills are non-existent right now. We got the results of her biopsy and it was a benign skin tumor most likely from previous trauma. The portal to hell is out so both cats are tip-toeing around. It’s like musical chairs. Best to be under the bed when the music stops.

Although it was minor surgery (on the scale of life) it was on her neck and at a most inconvenient spot. I kept a tee-shirt fabric wrapped around her neck like a turtleneck and that worked. She tolerated it and it was soft enough to not irritate the incision. The concern was that she would scratch at it with her back leg. She’s not able to lick it but Gus would gladly do that for her. He has been her support animal through this. (I almost bought him a vest that said that but he’s a cat. It would be off in a New York minute!)

Sasha with neck bandage. Tee shirt was donated by the beloved husband.

Source: clipartbest

I will be glad to put cat drama in the rearview now and focus on “where is that dang spring? Is Mother Nature in the islands again? Why didn’t she take me along? Is it margarita time?”

85 thoughts on “Sassy cats — Hopefully the end of trauma

  1. Whew! So glad it turned out to be nothing serious, and I hope Gus the emotional support animal helps her get over the trauma! Hopefully everyone sails along in good health and spring comes to visit you all soon! Though I guess that will not happen this week yet?

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  2. Well, lets try this commenting thing again and see if this one sticks. 🙂 Tyler had a mass removed from his neck also. There’s a picture of what they took out on my blog. Although his stitches were taken out too early so it was a much longer ordeal than it needed to be. Sending happy thoughts your way.

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    • Your comment came in under anonymous so it was awaiting approval but it came through. Sasha had her stitches removed after 10 days. The center of the incision is completely healed (it will be 2 weeks tomorrow). Just the ends have scabs yet. She’s doing well except for a shaved neck. I think she gets cold. She’s never liked the heated bed but she’s been using it.

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      • Maybe that’s where all my others went 😦 Even though I’m logged in to see my blog, and “reader” to read other’s posts it’s like it wasn’t keeping me logged in. I’d have to type in “mass” and go back to look at the post about Tyler but without going back I know Sasha healed up better than Tyler. Trinity hated being shaved. Her skin rippled and she tried to run from herself. Although she hated the flea stuff too but at least that one I could stop. Thanks for the tip on why my post were not showing up.

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        • Once my indoor/outdoor cat passed, I stopped the flea drops on all the other cats. That was 10 years ago and I haven’t had a flea issue since. RIP Mollie was sensitive to everything and didn’t do well with the drops. When Gus had his PU surgery they shaved his back end and part of his tail. It took 3 months to grow back. He looked so sad. At least with Sasha it’s on the side but more front so you can’t see it easily. WP has a lot of wonky things that come and go.

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  3. Hi Kate – I just got online (making the most of this good weather and walking). Earlier today, I heard a story about rotisserie chicken and thought immediately of Gracie. Did you buy Gracie’s chicken at Costco? The story, which I’ll send a link separately for the Reuters article, says there was salmonella in Costco’s plant where they process the chickens. If this was the case, perhaps this was what was making Gracie suddenly so sick. There are two lawsuits against Costco – one involves salmonella poisoning and the other because they said the chicken contained no preservatives, even though they did. Could preservatives (sodium nitrate and others) cause sickness in cats? Perhaps you didn’t even buy the chicken at Costco, but I wanted to share this info … it won’t bring Gracie back of course, but maybe this is an answer.

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      • Okay, I thought the vet wasn’t sure what was the ultimate cause. I’m glad you all were spared … that is very scary. There are too many incidents of listeria and salmonella these days. When I had my two canaries, I had always fed them Dole bagged lettuce … there were too many incidents of salmonella and listeria poisoning that I stopped buying it, even for myself and I ended up giving my last canary broccoli florets and scalded them to ensure they were safe.

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          • The radio report said if you have cancer, or are immunocompromised, salmonella would affect you more and yes, some people are just mildly ill. I found a fruitfly in my applesauce the other day – I had already eaten it, when I found it. That didn’t bother me as much as a few years ago I opened a can of Del Monte creamed corn, and had a few spoons of it while putting it into the pot to heat it up. Then I found a huge fly – not just a house fly or horse fly, some huge bug with big wings. I took a photo of it and e-mailed it to Del Monte and got a coupon for three cans I think and they weren’t real interested saying “no humans oversee the canning of the corn from the vat – these things happen.” Easy for you to say, I had already eaten some of it. Ugh. I’m still here, so ….

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    • As if the Sasha drama wasn’t enough, Gus developed an intense sneeze. He was sneezing constantly and I had to give him meds. As Sasha got better so did Gus. I think Gus doesn’t handle stress well. They are back to their mutual grooming. I’m sure the occasional spat isn’t far behind. So glad to be back to normal (or what goes for normal in this house).

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      • Another blogger I follow took one of his cats to the vet for an (I think) overnight visit. When he brought the cat home, the other one hissed and growled even though they had always been the best of buddies. I’m pretty sure there are still major issues between the two of them a couple of weeks later. I guess it’s rare but not unheard of. Have you ever experienced anything like that?

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        • I’ve had that happen but never for long. They smell different when they come home from the vet and until that smell wears off, it upsets the other cats. It didn’t happen with this. When Gus had his surgery, he was isolated for 2 weeks. I would let Sasha come in to see him but she found his cone annoying and would leave, not his smell. She tried to lick his face but his cone would smack her. It was funny actually.

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  4. great news about the biopsy results. i don’t care what it is any surgery on a beloved pet is a big deal. Hope the stich removal went well.

    And yes where is spring???

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    • I used surgical tape to keep it together and that worked but the real key was that she didn’t try to get it off. I’m a wuss and I kept is on the looser side so if she had been determined, she probably could have gotten out of it. She’s never worn a collar so I was surprised at how compliant she was.

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  5. What great news for Sasha’s surgery. Good luck at the vet’s for removing the stitches. Sweet Gus…he’s Sasha’s full time Valentine-love that.

    In the good news department, Spring will officially arrive in 34 days so not too much longer. I’m starting to see a few spring bulbs who are getting ready to start blooming. Always a good sign. Here’s for drama free days for the foreseeable future for the cats.

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  6. Poor Sasha….BUT good news that the mass was benign. Hopefully she will recover fast and Gus will “Sasha-sit” to make sure she’s OK until she’s back to her pre-surgery self. That first photo of her with the “stay away from me or else” pose actually is a SUPER photo…..I love it. Old t-shirt is a GREAT idea to keep her from messing with the stitches. I’m sure ALL of you will be glad to get back to pre-surgery routine ASAP.

    Hugs, Pam

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