Cat-shaped hole in my heart

[gwyn]

Just wanted to say THANK YOU to everyone for the kind comments and support about the cat bite and the allergic reaction. The past week has been...really weird, but having you guys for support made it a lot easier. I completed the IV antibiotics on Friday, and the cellulitis (the infected tissue in my arm from the cat bite) was reduced quite a bit. In the pic below, you can see some pen marks on my arm; they usually draw the boundary of the infection to keep track of where it starts off, and they don't want it to spread past that when you start treatment, mine spread a little farther but not too much, and it definitely had scaled back a lot by Friday. The two right hand puncture wounds were the worst, but the left top one was really gross so I left the Band-Aid on. ;-)



I will continue to take antibiotics for the next week, and most of the redness is gone by now. I wish the pain was gone too -- that part is definitely harder. Anything touching the arm, especially pressure on the puncture wounds, is still just really effing painful, and it's hard to sleep since I'm a stomach sleeper and my arm rests at my side. I'm still taking pain meds and Benadryl to get rid of the allergic reaction, but my joints are a lot less swollen now and the aching and feverish feelings is mostly gone.

The hardest part is that I'm kind of afraid of Blues now. I just don't feel like I can trust him at all, and it's hard coming to terms with the fact that he's no longer my sweet little boy. He was always such a sweet, tender, loving little guy until he hit about three, and then he put on a growth spurt, gaining about four pounds and three inches in length. He also became a bully to Olive, and basically acted like a...frat boy. He was about 80 percent of the time a sweet, fun guy, and then 20 percent of the time an entitled, mean, bullying little shit monster who seems to think Olive and I are here to serve him. He is relentless in his pestering of her, and went from a guy who was always trying to get her attention in a "HEY LADY! LADY, HEY!" kind of way to pouncing on her and biting her neck. She could totally kick his ass, too, but she never does, and I feel so bad for her.

He cuddles up to me in my sleep in the mornings, but there have been times where, since he's a ginormous cat now and a bed hog, I try to move him over a bit and he'll start kicking furiously with his hind claws at my hand, and nipping me. He's never bitten through skin, though, and I think that it's probably likely that he'll do this again, despite the horrible reaction I had and that he was probably hurt by how hard I slammed him off of me. I just...I don't know how to get him to behave; Olive learned really fast that biting at hoomin was not a good idea, but Blues is just apparently incapable of learning lessons. I've picked him up a few times and tried to cuddle him but I just feel really wary of him now. I hate that. Those kitties are the only thing keeping me going and it's terrible to fear one of them.

He also never used to talk, now he sits in the kitchen and endlessly wails to be let out, which I won't do, and that seems to piss him off as well. Arg.

I had been making progress on my Idyll Challenge story. This set me so far back on my book that I haven't been able to work on it (and honestly, it hurt to type, so there was that). I doubt I can make the 22nd deadline.

Comments

[klia]

I'm glad you're improving, but GAH, what an ordeal! I don't blame you for being scared of Blues now -- if I were you, I'd definitely be wary of interacting with him after something like this. It's really hard to live in the same house with animals you don't trust, even though they're not usually being deliberately malicious.

[gwyn]

Yeah, especially since they're pretty much all I've got. He's just...not the little sweet guy he was when he was young, and I have to learn how to accept that. And Ollie's never been much of a cuddler, so she doesn't like taking on the responsibility of enduring mom cuddles all the time.

[nagasvoice]

Does he respond to discipline by water spray? I've had times in the past when I had to keep a spritz bottle by the bed and zap an animal who was getting out of hand. Things have mellowed out a bit lately, but things get riled up sometimes. We've got a big bully around here, too, and we worry about how it goes when we're not around to referee and keep things reasonably safe. The big dumb goof could also get himself seriously hurt if he pushes one of the other cats too far.

[gwyn]

You know, he's always been kind of a water baby, so getting wet, even with a spray, doesn't deter him much. He's just a really strange cat -- I've honestly never had one who is just so utterly, completely unwilling to learn anything from discipline. I know he can learn -- he's learned to high five me, and he taught me to play fetch with him because he loves spongeballs, but when it comes to stuff he shouldn't do, he absolutely won't change. It's kind of awe inspiring, almost, just because he's so recalcitrant in the face of potential pain or suffering.

[therienne]

I know he is sort of young for it, but is there any chance he might have thyroid disease? The degree of roughness and accidental injury Riley caused when he developed it were hugely exponential. I did not recognize what was going on at first, (for way too long), but the energy increase from this disease has to go somewhere. He never meant to hurt me, but he was just manic until it was diagnosed and he was put on medicine.

[gwyn]

It doesn't seem like it -- I mean, I've had cats with thyroid issues and he has no symptoms. And his yearly checkups don't show any problems except that he has terrible teeth. I know when the dog's gone, things will be better, but he's still going to be aggressive about some stuff that didn't used to be when he was young. But I'll have them double check next time we go to the vet.