Tigra-Monster

We had some unwelcome excitement with Tigra recently. A couple of weeks ago, Tigra started oozing out of her back left side. There had been a couple of other times in the last two months when Tigra started oozing a little bit, but we attributed it to getting in a fight with Bailey. However, this most recent situation rang our alarm bells because she wasn't just oozing, fluid was flowing out of her like a fountain. We had no idea what was going on with her. Of course, everything happens at once. So when Eric noticed that Tigra was oozing he started worrying, Noah started screaming, and when I saw that Tigra was oozing all over our new carpet I got upset. Our regular vet is not open on Saturdays, so Eric had to find us another vet who could see Tigra on an emergency basis. Fortunately, Eric found a vet open on Saturdays just down the street in the Como Park area. Eric rushed Tigra to the vet while I tried to calm Noah. The carpet had to wait for another time.

It turned out that Tigra had an abscess on her left side. It must have been there for some time. The vet guesses it was caused by a bite from another cat at some point in time. The bite then became infected and fluid built up under her skin. Once the pressure built up enough, she began to ooze. It must have been very painful for her. Since it is now winter, Tigra hasn't been spending much time outside. She must have had her encounter with the other cat back in the fall.

Tigra spend a couple of hours at the vet. They put her under anesthesia and cleaned out the abscess. She was given a shot of antibiotic which would be effective for two weeks while she healed. Then they fitted her with a floppy cone around her neck to prevent her from licking the abscess area. Eric brought her home and she immediately scared our other cat. Bailey ran to the basement and didn't emerge again except to eat until Tigra had recovered and the vet had removed her cone.

Things are getting back to normal now. Tigra lost a little bit of fur around her neck while she was wearing the cone. While it doesn't seem to bother her, Eric hopes the fur grows back soon. Tigra is happy and back to chasing shadows on the walls. Bailey has also reemerged from the basement and seems friendlier than usual. She must have been very lonely for those couple of weeks.