Worrying disappearance

The Simian and Feline Denizens of the House of Chaos are worried, mightily worried.

Yesterday Zorro came into the Kitchen of Chaos and announced with plaintive meows that he wasn’t feeling well.  Indeed, his behind seemed to be bulging a bit. And The Mistress smelled a rat. Sort of.

Our cats have been fighting an intruder for several months now, a brother of Frankette and Franky’s and an unspayed tomcat to boot, that we call Almost-Franky. He belongs to no-one and seems to want to live here, but the other cats won’t let him. And thus they fight. But the virile young tomcat is learning from every scrape, and growing stronger and fitter each day. Zorro, at the age of 10, is no longer really in his prime. He’s bound to lose a quarrel. But unlike Hrimnir, who would demonstratively show off his injuries, or Loup-Garou, who would make certain to jump into your lap and strategically position the injured body-part under your hands for you to find, Zorro is the macho stoic silent martyr. We had noticed he hadn’t come in for a few days now, he seemed to prefer to remain in the garden, and knowing this aloof kitty we let him be. Had we but known…

A huge abcess near the base of his tail, surrounded by flies, and emitting an odour that can only be described as Eau De Rotting… clear signs of a festering injury, and given the distressed state our usually stoic Zorro was in we threw him into the Travel Cage (thereby causing the abcess to burst – ough !) and dashed to the Man in White. Who was so kind as to let us pass the other patients and go right in.

One entire roll of kitchen towels later the abcess was drained. And we discovered that the entire site had been infested by flies’ eggs, which will turn into maggots that would eat our dear kitty alive if left untended. Strong disinfectants were applied, a pair of scissors was put to good use, a good old jab with anti-biotics was rammed into the buttocks, and Zorro was put back into his cage. He just let it happen. And he became worryingly lethargic to boot.

Back home he did crawl out of the cage, but was lying down all the time. He drank a few drops of water, but refused any food and any further water. Late at night he was still lethargic and had become severely dehydrated. You can check that if you take some skin (like in the nape of his neck) between thumb and finger, lift it, and then let go. If the skin does not go back smooth again but sort of stays lifted up your kitty is in sore need of liquids. And Zorro did. And Zorro would not drink.

Our cats can go outside. We cannot keep them locked in for they will break down every barrier in order to get out. We had no choice.

By morning Zorro had vanished. And he still is not back home. We fear the worst.

Goddess keep you safe my kitling. I do hope you’ll return safe and sound.

Oh yeah. It’s my birthday today.
Joy.

Places to visit, if you want to get to know some great feline friends: The Friday Ark, The Carnival of the Cats, Weekend Cat Blogging, Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos.

Edit Sunday September 14th:

No sign. Absolutely nothing. So we know for sure now that he has gone over The Rainbow Bridge, to rejoin Critter there – his bestest furriend ever. May they frolic with joy for eternity, and watch over us.

Strange though, yesterday we were visited -nay, invaded- by a tiny grey she-cat and her kitling. They seem intent on staying here. Now that is weird. How had she known there’s a vacancy in our hearts and home ? Did Someone tell her ?