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There is a cone of shame in Monkey's near future.
6 days after his annual vet appointment, I brought Monkey back in. Over the weekend he got in a fight. I did a cursory check of his war wounds, but Monkey gets in quite a few scrapes, and usually the wounds are minor. I thought his cheek seemed a little puffy, but that swelling disappeared w/i 12 hours.
Then, when checking for swelling, I found a lymph node the size of a marble. Monkey's vet is also a music friend of mine, who confirmed via facebook that it was something worth getting checked out, and that I was locating the lymph node properly (John also was a sweety and isn't charging me for the check-up part -- he said 'you were just in, and anyway you diagnosed it yourself. via facebook!'). I couldn't get Monks in yesterday, though (vet booked and I didn't have transportation). By yesterday evening the lymph node swelling was down but one of his scratches was seriously puffy and his whole cheek seemed a bit big. Sure enough, vet confirms that the whole side of his face now needs to be drained, he has a fever, and he's lost four ounces in six days. Poor kitty!
Monkey's there right now, probably under the effects of kitty tranquilizers, getting half his face fur shaved off and his skin opened up in at least one place. He may need a drain for a few days. They're going to send him home with a cone of shame and tiny little kitty opiates.
I wish I'd brought him in sooner, after the initial fight -- then he might have gotten away with just antibiotics. But he's had enough scrapes that I wasn't that worried about it, and for two days there the lymph node was his only symptom. Now I know that "Monkey in distress" looks a lot like "Monkey being entirely normal, except for being an even more cuddly cuddlebeast than he already is."
6 days after his annual vet appointment, I brought Monkey back in. Over the weekend he got in a fight. I did a cursory check of his war wounds, but Monkey gets in quite a few scrapes, and usually the wounds are minor. I thought his cheek seemed a little puffy, but that swelling disappeared w/i 12 hours.
Then, when checking for swelling, I found a lymph node the size of a marble. Monkey's vet is also a music friend of mine, who confirmed via facebook that it was something worth getting checked out, and that I was locating the lymph node properly (John also was a sweety and isn't charging me for the check-up part -- he said 'you were just in, and anyway you diagnosed it yourself. via facebook!'). I couldn't get Monks in yesterday, though (vet booked and I didn't have transportation). By yesterday evening the lymph node swelling was down but one of his scratches was seriously puffy and his whole cheek seemed a bit big. Sure enough, vet confirms that the whole side of his face now needs to be drained, he has a fever, and he's lost four ounces in six days. Poor kitty!
Monkey's there right now, probably under the effects of kitty tranquilizers, getting half his face fur shaved off and his skin opened up in at least one place. He may need a drain for a few days. They're going to send him home with a cone of shame and tiny little kitty opiates.
I wish I'd brought him in sooner, after the initial fight -- then he might have gotten away with just antibiotics. But he's had enough scrapes that I wasn't that worried about it, and for two days there the lymph node was his only symptom. Now I know that "Monkey in distress" looks a lot like "Monkey being entirely normal, except for being an even more cuddly cuddlebeast than he already is."
