Dangers hidden under the skin
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With Thong to watch over him, Thep makes a speedy recovery from a nasty infection
Even though they treat my home like a cat hotel, Thep and Thong, my two soi boys, are real charmers.
When they drop by for a meal, if they don’t have any strange cats to fight, they curl up beside me, smiling at me and purring.
It’s an honour, the two boys being so fearful of humans. Thep, who’s a year or so older than Thong, is especially wild, but he’ll let me hold him and pet him.
Are the two related? I don't know. I doubt that Thep is Thong’s daddy, but they might be half-brothers.
This evening, when Thep comes in, I notice that his face seems to have changed. It seems fuller.
To check his face, I stroke his whiskers and feel his cheeks. They do seem a bit hard, not his normal softness, but he doesn’t seem uncomfortable when I touch him.
I really don’t want to take him to the vet. Confinement is extremely stressful for him, and I decide simply to watch him for the next few days.
In fact, I should know what’s wrong. I once had the same problem myself on my arm, and perhaps you’ve seen it on your own cats and dogs - but I’ve forgotten what I should remember.
Within a few days, when I see blood oozing from a wound on Thep's face, along with yellowish fluid called “serum”, my memory returns. That serum is full of dead white blood cells that have been fighting a severe infection under Thep’s skin.
He has an abscess, an infection acquired perhaps from a fight with another cat. Without treatment, the infection has grown and finally burst through the skin.
At the clinic, when the vet opens the abscess and cleans it, she discovers how huge it is, nearly two centimetres long. It’s so large that it’s worked its way in the opposite direction, almost into his mouth.
Poor Thep is one sick cat. For sure, I can’t treat him at home. He’d run away before I could clean that wound every day and give him antibiotics.
He stays at the clinic, where he receives the treatment he needs. The wound begins to heal immediately. We know he’s feeling better, but he’s too stressed to eat.
He has to eat to get better - and there’s only one solution. The next day, I take best-friend Thong to the clinic. The minute Thep sees him, he starts eating.
It takes more than a week for that terrible wound to heal, but meanwhile, all the assistants at the clinic are delighted.
They’ve decided that the two boys are gay. The boys don’t care. Gay or not, they’re in a committed relationship, one that's important to the health and well-being of each.
