I have two cats: Mud & Alice.

Mud’s has been a 18+ pound cat for the past 7-8 years. He’s 11–birthday sometime in early September. This year, we didn’t get him anything. A nearby teenage chick in a rag-top very-late-model Mustang, however, did. She gave him a swift compound fracture to the pelvis. In case you read this, I know who you are.

It happened like this:

• Sept 10 ($$$)
• 7:30am ish: I let Mud outside to do what cats do outside. Not an uncommon thing (at least wasn’t uncommon).
• 7:45am: Apparently an older gentleman saw the whole thing from his car–the Mustang slowed some, then after it was obvious she was over the cat, kept going. Didn’t touch the brakes again until the stop sign at the corner. The gentleman stopped and knocked on a few doors in the neighborhood. In case you read this, thank you! We assume he knocked on ours, but I was at work, and my wife was in the shower.
• 11:30am: My wife calls–says the neighbor came over to let us know Mud had been hit, and meet at the vet. Mud’s fairly with-it, but obviously not right. Won’t put any pressure on the left hind leg.
• 5:00pm: I meet with the vet. Mud’s got multiple fractures of the pelvis. In terms of breaks of this type, his prognosis is pretty good–80% chance of full recovery. Good news, considering… Keep him isolated, give him the drugs, follow-up in few days.
• Sept 17 ($$)
• 11:00am: Mud’s not pooping. That can’t be good. Back to the vet for a “warm-water cleaning”, if you get my gist.
• Sept 27 ($$$)
• 10:30am, 5:30pm: Mud’s not pooping again. It really can’t be good. To the vet for thorough, ahem, cleaning. This time, so thorough that Mud get’s a general anesthetic. He’s out, they do their thing, which I’m sure is why Vet’s love their job (yeah, right), I pick him up. At home, he’s loopy, but in better spirits by the next day.
      In general, we think thing’s are going OK. Mud wants out of his little recovery room (our bathroom), and is walking much more normally.
• Oct 6 ($$$)
• 11:00am: Guess what? Mud’s not pooping. We’re just about 4 weeks after the accident, and thing’s ain’t right. Back to the vet to see what’s up. Colon problem. Another “warm-water cleaning” and some X-Rays to see what there is to see. Oh, and Mud’s lost around 7.5 pounds.
      X-Rays show no change in the breakage. Further, his colon appears like bones. That means, that thing’s full, and fairly solid. All kinds of no good.
  We get to see a specialist.
      To compound things, they have 3 they can refer us to: two in Portland, one in Springfield. Any equal about a 1 hour trip.
      Springfield it is. They were cool on the phone, could get us in earlier, and a few bucks less.
• Oct 11 ($$)
• 2:00 - 5:00pm: We meet the doc at Oregon Veterinary Referral Associates (OVRA). He’s probably 13, maybe 14. At least he’s older than Mud (in human years, anyway). Don’t get me wrong…bright guy, helpful, good doctor in terms of doctors. Matter of fact, I want my doc to be as personable and helpful. I never once felt like he was just waiting to be able to exit the room. He just hung out ’til we had enough info. But he was damn young.
      Turns out the break is not even an issue. That’s healing fine, as far as breaks go.
      The issue is non-pooping, and non-peeing. Basically, Mud’s colon has stopped doing it’s job. Mud was quite, um, shall we say portly, as I’ve mentioned. That may have had something to do with it. Doc thinks that the accident may have worsened things, but it was probably wrong in the first place.
      So, we have a choice. Periodic warm-water cleanings and meds…possibly for a while, possibly for Mud’s time on Earth. Or, surgery. Muds not a fan of meds, and we’re not a fan of giving him meds. Plus, surgery has a better chance of happiness after-the-fact. Really, other than the dollars involved, pretty much a no-brainer. Surgery it is.
      Leave the cat that night. Surgery’s Tuesday afternoon.
• Oct 12
• 7:00pm: Vet called. Surgery itself is a success. Mud’s awake, but out of it. He’s running a temp, but that’s normal.
• Oct 13 ($$$$)
• 5:00 - 6:30pm: We get Muddy back. The vet-tech goes over the short version of what they did, what we should do, and what Mud will likely do. Doc makes a visit, runs down the surgery, and off we go. Oh, yeah, stop to pay the bill, of course.

So, he’s on the mend, and already getting back to his old self. He’s just a few weeks away from sitting on the counter, staring at me while knocking a water glass to the floor. Ah, ya gotta love pets. Well, I do.