Tag Archives: cat health

Oct21

Iggy Update

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We visited with Iggy kitty today. He is completely relaxed at the Vet’s office: nothing seems to get him upset. Doc mentioned how chilled out he is with a bit of surprise or admiration, not sure which!

His face is still leaking from the abscess but it is healing. He made sure to rub goo and drool all over me and hubby. My chin was a bit crusty afterward – Iggy loves to be held close and give sloppy headbutts. 

Of course, he is still full of love and cuddles – he didn’t want me to set him down! Quite the drool machine, too, and got so excited to see me he did nip a little, but not hard. The excitement overwhelmed his little kitty circuits at first. 

They are letting him heal for a bit longer and will do the neuter on Monday. He can go to a new home on Monday evening, if I can find one. I have a new coworker who is interested, and he got permission from his mother, but I’m a little concerned as I don’t know him well. Iggy needs to be kept inside as he has no sense of danger, it seems. I don’t know if this guy has really understood that, yet. I sent him a text yesterday but had no reply, which doesn’t speak well to his dedication to the idea of taking Iggy in. Or on. I expect Igs will be a bit of a challenge. 

He is using the litter box in the cage no problem – we saw him do it!

Doc N agrees that our two-cat one-dog household is very stable, especially with how Lumi loves all over the dog and Siamese Lokii. He thinks that introducing another cat would be a bad idea for our current happy family. We showed him pictures of Lumi cuddling with Lokii and hanging out beside the dog. The first thing he said was, ‘Don’t mess with this, it’s rare and easily broken.’

Going to be about €150 if he goes home somewhere Monday evening; if he stays longer it is €15 a day.

Oh, and he needs a bath still. He’s rubbish at the washing up. I’d make a joke about him being the typical male, but none of us believe in stereotypes or think they are funny! I’ll save that one for the work lads.

No new pictures, I didn’t think of it and the doc was closing up for the evening. Here’s a blurry older one. 

Oct19

Iggy’s Adventurous Day

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Yes, I named him. Since he comes when I call for Peggy (and just to confuse things further, I call Piggy Piggy Piggy when I’m looking for her), I chose a rhyming name. Iggy it is.

It rained nonstop from when I got to work until 1:30 when I went to lunch. First thing I did on my break was get soaked while walking around the building calling and looking for him. No sign of him, or Peggy. To be expected in the rain, really, but it worried me for my plans.

I sat in an open doorway and ate my lunch, looking for him and hoping he would come to where he last saw me the day before…nothing. Just as I was about to go back to work, my phone rang. It was my favourite coworker. 

“Get in here, quick! Your cat is in the warehouse! The managers are all right here, they will freak out!”

I bolted for the area Iggy was in, wrapped him up in a moving blanket and took him back outside. I gave him a can of tuna, closed the door, took all my stuff back to my workbench and went back out to see how he was….no cat.

He was already back in the warehouse, as comfortable as he could be. Shit!

Another coworker was bringing her carrier in, but she was still at lunch. Shit shit shit.

I couldn’t leave him in there. He followed me everywhere. It is a crazy busy place, not safe for little kitties! Not to mention getting me in big trouble for encouraging him.

Another of my favourite lads said that there was someone in the office who wanted him. So I went and got her. Iggy-to-be loved all over her…but also tried to bite her twice. She is very young, still lives at home, and had to ask her parents if she could bring him home that night. To make the hours I waited shorter, the answer eventually was no. Well, maybe for the best. Iggy never tried to bite me.

Eventually the carrier arrived, and I popped the remainder of the tuna inside. I’d also brought in a tee shirt of mine as bedding and to hopefully make him feel safer when caged – familiar smell and all. He went right in. Door closed…tuna gone…the howling commenced. I covered the carrier with the moving blanket, but he was going a bit berserk, pulling the blanket into the carrier. And noisy? Oh yeah.

He calmed down a bit, but not before one of the aforementioned managers said I should move him to an outlying building in case the Big Boss heard him. So I did.

I rang hubby to give the update, and he suggested I ring the vet and ask if I could bring him in tonight. It would be a huge favour. I work until 6:30 and the vet we love is 45 mins away from where I work, even when someone drives as fast as I do. The doc on duty said he would wait for me. This is why we love this place!

I made it in 35 minutes, due to very little traffic. Iggy was incredibly good in the car, I have to say! I covered the carrier again, and that may have helped. He did pee on my shirt, however. I don’t blame him one bit.

On arrival, he came out of the carrier not in a rush but happy to be free and happy to see me and be loved on again. Doc Richard squeezed the abscess and it…fizzed. Like spit bubbles. He said it was oxygen generated by the bacteria festering in Iggy’s cheek. Iggy didn’t complain or try to get away, either. Instead he rubbed the bacteria juice on me, yay!

Doc said he is between 2 and 4 years old, and has been indoors before by his behaviour. Not just in a warehouse, but a real house. He gave Iggy an antibiotic shot which was huge and only hurt him toward the end of the syringe. It was a lot of cc’s. Doc Richard also pointed out that the small wound by Iggy’s ear is the other side of the bite that caused the abscess.

Best of all, Richard thinks that Iggy will easily adapt to being an indoor cat and toilet train himself quickly. Doc also scanned for a microchip (none of course) and agreed that Iggy ‘is a lovely fellow.’

I’ll ring tomorrow and see how he is doing, of course. He might need a few days to heal before being neutered, too. It’s okay, I’ll figure something out for him. Everyone who met him thinks he is just lovely, and he is. 


Pic of him roaming the warehouse. You can see how swollen the left side of his face is. 

Dec14

Piggy Peggy

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I have a “work cat” now. I’m pretty sure she has a home at one of the houses next to my workplace.

I go outside at lunchtime, weather permitting. I have a cozy spot outside of the warehouse where I can read and relax for a bit.  It can’t really be too cold for me here, but too windy or rainy sends me elsewhere.

Two or maybe even three months ago, I had a visitor while eating. A black and white kitty had silently appeared in the parking lot and was watching me.


Of course I gave her some of my lunch!

And it became a ‘thing.’ She was very shy, always snuck into view without my seeing what direction she had come from, and would not get closer to me. But she had a great sense of when my lunch break was. 

No kitty love? Good thing I’m persistent, and I do have chicken at lunch every day! 


At the end of November, I saw her every day for a week. She finally let me pet her and gave me lots of head-butts and shared some drool. Aww. I started calling her ‘Piggy’ when she got very brave and tried to steal the rest of my lunch, too! Then I decided that was a bit mean, so I started calling her Piggy Peggy.

Once she allowed me to touch her, I looked and stroked her all over, to check her health. She was pretty clean, but had burrs in her tail and some evidence of ear mites (brown goo in the ears). It wasn’t a bad case, however – and no sign of fleas.

During the once-over, I felt her belly and found that she seemed to have mammary gland swelling. Oh no! Could she be pregnant this late in the year? This seemed evidence to me, along with the mites, that she isn’t being cared for in the best way possible. Maybe she was a stray after all, or had been dumped and was surviving on handouts.

I got worried when she went missing for over two weeks. I wasn’t there every day, but I looked for her and called for her whenever I was outside. Nothing. Dammit.

Today, she was back! And instead of silently appearing, she walked up to me shouting, ‘Where have you been?’ I was so happy to see her again. She kept her distance at first, but before long I was being drooled on again.


She loves my stinky boots. Except when I’m walking – then she is scared and that makes me sad.

After eating way too much of my lunch (which she doesn’t bolt down like she is starving, by the way – it’s just really tasty chicken my cats at home go crazy for, too), I got in some good loving and when I felt her little kitty boobies? Smaller! So she isn’t pregnant now, but had a litter in September or thereabouts. While I’m not happy that she isn’t spayed, at least I’m not worrying about her having a litter of kittens in the middle of winter with no shelter.


She’s a pretty and affectionate girl, I really hope she gets some proper healthcare.