SLIM JIM
Jimmy (as in Slim Jim because he isn't!)
We had a call at the beginning of September about a stray cat in a garden in the Binley area. The householder said that he seemed to be hanging around a lot of the time, and he seemed to have a bad eye. I said I would go across
and scan him for a microchip in the hope of reuniting him with his owner.
I heard no more about the cat, and then a day or so later, received a call to say she thought I was going round. So I asked her to send me a 'photo of his eye so I could estimate how urgent it may be. She managed to send me a photograph via Facebook and I couldn't get the image out of my head. So after a couple of days, I couldn't bear it any longer, and went over to scan him.
He was sat on a chair by the dining table in the corner of their kitchen, he was a large cat, indeed, we found out he weighed around 6.5 kilos. Sadly there was no chip found. So when I saw how bad his eye looked, we took him straight to the vets . I had no appointment, but when I showed the practice manager, she kindly slotted us in straight away.
The vet examined him with the special dye and prescribed some medication for him, and gave him some pain relief there and then. So we tried to make him feel better for the next couple of weeks with eye ointment twice a day, and
some Metacam (pain relief) added to his food once a day to keep him comfortable. He did seem better in himself, but the eye didn't seem to have improved really.
I was also concerned about his mouth, there seemed to be a nasty smell, and when the vet examined him there was a small lesion on the left hand side of his mouth. So I hoped that the medication would help it settle down after a
few days.
When we took him back, the vet agreed with us that it didn't seem any better, but she wanted us to see the senior vet first before any decision such as removing his eye was made. So we came back a few days later and it was decided that it must come out. If we had left it alone, he would have been in some discomfort (because he seemed better on the pain mediation) and there was a greater chance it would become infected at any time.
So out it came and he had to wear his Buster collar, or as I now call them, his "party hat". I put him in a large hospital recovery pen in the cat room, but he managed to rub his face on the mesh of the pen. So there were
a few frantic emails to Angie and a trip to her house at 10.15 at night to collect a small dog sized "party hat" which she had used when one of her own very large cats had an operation previously.
He had his packing removed from his eye after a week, and then about another week later, he had his stitches removed. The verdict on his mouth was that that too seemed better thankfully. He has been superstar throughout his treatment, far braver than I could ever be.
He loves a cuddle and purrs quietly whilst enjoying a good tickle behind the ear, he has no problem allowing you to pick him up and give him a cuddle. He enjoys sitting on a cushion which I made from a donated fleecy jumper.
Jimmy has to be one of the most grateful cats we have had in the Group for a while, he just appreciates the simple things in life.
