Brave Boy

My Dear Princess and Dear Fellow,

So Punky was supposed to go to the vet for his op last week. We deprived him of food last Monday night* and Caro was in the car with him on the way to the vet when they called to say the vet was sick.

Caro said a very bad word. A few, in fact.

So. One week later, I deprived Punky of food on Monday night*** and Caro had Punky in the car on the way to the vet when...

No.

No reprieve this time buddy. 

Sorry.

So I worried about Punky all day. We knew the tumour on his hip was cancerous but we weren't sure how far it had got or if it had travelled to his organs.

Caro and I had a discussion and we already agreed that even if he could be saved by losing a leg, we wouldn't want that for him. Don't get me wrong, I know of plenty of happy tripod cats, but Punky is 15 and I just didn't think it would be worth the shock and pain of an amputation.

So we waited anxiously all day. Caro got the call in the early afternoon that the procedure had gone well and that he was recovering nicely. The vet explained that the wound would look "a bit weird" because the tumour had grown so rapidly and was so big. You can just about make out the huge "U" incision on his hip in this picture.

But the vet added that there was no sign the cancer had travelled to his lungs, although there is no way of being 100% sure. And Punky's leg was safe, despite the fact that he lost a lot of muscle and nerve tissue. 

So we got our boy back. 

Feisty as ever, he had ripped off the Cone of Shame within 2 minutes of being in the car. When we got him home he ran around with it still tied to his neck before we were able to catch him, calm him down and cut it off. 

JUST out of surgery. 

Eff's sake. 

I'm actually amazed at how active he has been. 

Now he is much calmer and asleep. Hopefully this will give him the recovery time he needs and he won't worry his stitches with cleaning until we are able to get a better cone (a fabric one). 

He's had a drink, some food, a wee, a poo and he's purring.

But most importantly, he's back home where he belongs.

S.

*      And Jasper.
**    Which led to no sleep for me.
***   And Jasper.
**** Which led to no sleep for me.