Flying Biggie

He finally did it. This morning Biggie when after a bird and flew off the terrace. 4 floors. I thought I saw it out of the corner of my eye. I went to look for him and he was no where on the terrace and no where in the house.

I slapped on some clothes and ran down to the street. I could not see him anywhere. I walked across the street and looked back at my unit and looked all over. Just as I was getting ready to give up, I spied him. Sitting by the back door to the condo.

I tried to grab him and missed and he scrambled into the garage and under a car. So at least his legs and back seem ok. He also had a tag on his collar with my phone number. Finally I was able to reach under the car (very grateful for those high off the ground SUV's) and grab him and got him upstairs and inside. He scrambled to the bedroom where it was dark.

I left him alone for a bit because now my nose was bleeding. WTF?

Finally I got that stopped and went back to him with a flashlight. His face was bleeding. I cleaned it up but I'm pretty sure he's got a broken tooth. I put out some of his favorite wet treat and he tried but couldn't eat it.

I got out the carrier and he went under the bed. I'll drag him out but I'm waiting a bit. The vet is all backed up with wait times of more than an hour. I hate to make him go but if he can't eat... He's not crying and hopefully maybe it's just a cut that will heal. I need to have it looked at.

Damn cat.

In the middle of this entry, I checked on him again and was able to get him into the carrier, much to his dismay. And now we are at the vet. On their website it said the wait was an hour an a half but when we got here and I explained they took him right away.

They said they said he seems mostly ok but also might have breathing problems so they are doing a chest x-ray now.

Holy crapoly.

When I got here, all of their reserved parking was taken. So I pulled into the next lot and brought him in. While they took him to look at him, I went back to the lot to pay and discovered someone leaving a vet space. I grabbed it and considered it a good sign.

Fingers crossed.

This vet is ready...

Not looking good

The vet was just in and reports that Biggie's in bad shape. Maybe life threatening. He has a broken jaw, maybe an issue with his leg and a small pneumothorax at the bottom of a lung.

They are working on an estimate now. They will sedate him and see if they can wire his jaw shut. Then hope his lung issue and leg clear up on their own. If the jaw is too broken to fix or the lung issue gets worse, we will have another discussion that will be horrible.

Turns out the tech used to work at the emergency vet and remembers Biggie. She was really sweet about him as was the vet. She said that one of his paws might be broken, too.

I left him there. They will call with updates. I don't think they do any over night stays so he will be home tonight or... not.

Over the past two hours I have had a huge fight with myself about letting him outside at all. But how could I keep him in? I would have had to have never let him out at all from the beginning and that probably would not have worked anyway.

He's a heartbreaker! What a cat.

GOOD NEWS!!!!

I just wrote a long horrible entry about not hearing anything and just as I got to the end, Dr. Moore called.

Biggie's ok. He's doing good. He'll live to get into trouble again. She said he's probably planning it now.

Turned out he did not break his jaw but only dislocated it. They were able to get it relocated but not exactly. It may mean that he will need a tooth pulled at some point in the future but for now he's ok. He has a fairly significant laceration in the roof of his mouth that needs to heal.

And he broke several bones in both front paws. So he has bandages and splints.

"And he's high as a kite right now."

She said that she called their head doctor from their other office over to help (I love that) and that doctor recognized Biggie, too!! He's not yet three years old and already famous with vets all over Seattle.

He'll need drugs and weekly vet visits for the next few weeks. And no hard food for at least a week. (Happily, just this week he's decided he's ok with Fancy Feast Petites.)

She wants to watch him a bit more so I'm to go get him at 6 (it's 3:30 now). Dr. Moore asked me if I had a cone/collar for him. I assured her that he has a vast surgery collar wardrobe and I'd bring one with me.

I can't believe it. I was sure I was going to have to make a horrible decision today. WHEW.

And in other news

The Seahawks are playing a nationally televised home game tonight. The crowds started about 10:30 am and are now - two hours before game time - at a fevered pitch. Happily, I don't need to leave here until after kick off and will be back way before the streets get crowded again.

I got an email today from Capital One saying my 'case' for reimbursement had been denied. They apparently don't feel any ownership of their allowing me to send a payment to a Capital One credit card that was closed five years ago. They (Capital one) suggested I call Capital One. So I did. I called Capital One Credit Card - clearly the Jenifer Garner people because 1. when I told the bot HUMAN I got one immediately - no waiting and 2. the one I got was 100% easily understandable. She got the problem immediately but couldn't fix it. She sent me to the second person who was not quite as easy to understand (although, clearly an native English speaker) and she fixed it right away. Paper check coming in two weeks. She started to explain how I should handle a check written on paper and I told her I was old and remembered them. She giggled. It was done and dusted in under 5 mins. I should have started there.

I have not done much today. I did remove the cat door. It's not a long term solution but it made me feel a little better today. But mainly I just sat around wondering if my phone was broken. I've never been so happy to hear about a jaw dislocation. In My Life.

----------------

Also, thank you. Thank you to all of you Biggie fans out there. It was very comforting to read all your comments while I waited. As I just texted my brother, I feel guilty for all the lives he stole from other cats after when whipped through his own 9.

home

On the way home from the vets I realized his litter box might be a problem for his feet and his collar. I grabbed a shallow storage bin and made it into an instant litter box.

And he plopped right into it.



He can get around on his casts but clearly it's not his favorite thing.

So I move the new litter box into th living room and squeezed out a tube of his favorite treat which he actually ate some of!! The Cheerios are so he can get to it. He is not a fan of that collar.



The tech gave him chicken and piggie bandages which are cracking me up.



I just got down on the floor and he came over to snuggle with me. He is not a snuggler usually. I'll need to fashion some steps so he can get into the bed tonight if he wants. Poor thing.

On the bright side, at least for a while, he won't be biting me!