I went out to feed the animals yesterday and encountered my barn cat, Rosie, looking different. I couldn't quite figure out what was different about her until I got a little closer (because it was dark and I wasn't wearing my glasses). When I approached her, she meowed her greeting like she always does and then turned to walk into the barn to be fed. Good God. Her tail was STRIPPED. Like someone took a hold of it and just peeled all the skin back. I was horrified, disgusted, sick and a little woozy. I don't really do well with this kind of stuff so I leaned on the fence for strength for just a minute.
I'm OK when it comes to kids (and other humans) - Zoe's friend got her arm ripped open a few summers ago in our pool and I totally handled that appropriately. Mostly because I could explain to her what was happening, I could apply pressure to the wound and I could call her mother to take her to the hospital where professionals could properly care for her. Not so with a cat.
Let me preface this by saying that Rosie is mostly "feral". She's never been a super friendly cat but she and I have an understanding. I feed her and she doesn't bite me. That's pretty much the extent of it. However, her relationship with the rest of the world is a bit...strained. Mostly, she doesn't like people to touch her, pet her, look at her or be near her.
This situation was clearly going to call for some sort of intervention. I knew it wouldn't be pretty and I knew I couldn't do it alone. Still, what's a responsible pet owner to do? I couldn't just walk away. My niece, Emma, was over at my house and I roped her into helping me with the cat. Emma is a pretty "farmy" girl, whether she wants to admit it or not so I figured she'd be the best one to help. We gathered our supplies on the screen porch (warm water, lots of towels, gauze, surgical tape and a tub of Vaseline) and we went to find Rosie.
Once I had the cat gathered up in a towel, we got her into the screen porch and gave her some nice, soft cat food (mostly to distract her and gain her trust). As she was eating the food we both took a good look at the tail. Just looking at it made me gag a little and it felt like my skin hurt. It really was awful. Still, there was a job to be done and Emma and I were the only ones to do it.
I gathered Rosie as tightly as I could in the towel so that Emma could examine the tail. We soaked the tail in a warm cloth and Emma began to clean it. As anyone who has dealt with cats knows, the scene fell apart from there. Lots of struggling, screaming and wrestling ensued and that was mostly just me and Emma. Then the cat peed on me. Ugh. We tried to be as gentle as we could but we knew we had to get the job done so we persisted. In the end, we got the tail cleaned of debris (mostly), covered it in Vaseline and got it wrapped in gauze. The "not so farmer like" part that came next was me using one of my old tablecloths to make a bed for her and placing her next to a space heater. I'm not a robot, you know.
Rosie is now resting somewhat comfortably in the screen porch being fed soft food and lots of water. I check her every few hours which consists of me entering the porch, her looking at me with disdain and running away, and me trying to reassure her that I'm only trying to help. I talk to her softly and tell her "You'll feel better soon" and "I'm sorry I had to do that to you but it's really for the best". She looks at me as if I'm a liar.
I may never fully regain her trust but I'm alright with that. I'm hoping that she'll have a full recovery but I'm still worried. There will be constant monitoring for the next few weeks as well as dressing changes. NOT looking forward to that. And, sometime soon, I'm going to need a new jar of Vaseline as my current one has bits of cat tail in it. Still, sacrificing a full jar of it is a small price to pay if she gets better.
I suppose that most people would have taken her to the vet but, for a variety of reasons, that's not a great idea just yet. First, I'm afraid that she would tear apart the vet's office and injure a bunch of people in the process. Second, I'm broke and can't afford any overnight stays or extensive surgeries. I'm hoping that I get at least partial credit in the way of karma for trying to do what I could to help her. I'll keep you posted.
ps - did you notice the other kitty looking out the window? I think she's mocking the tail wrap. Cats can be so unsupportive....
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