Solo cat care

This weekend, Nada had an abscess on his face. The emergency vet identified a bite mark there, so it was almost certainly a gift from his brother, who tends to lead with his teeth. A generous friend spent his Saturday evening at the emergency vet with Nada and me, but since then, I've been back to taking care of Nada by myself.

Nada on Sandy's back when he was just a kitten. Pretty much
any time Sandy would lower herself to the floor to do stretches,
anywhere in the house, one of the cats would climb on.

He needs antibiotics twice a day. I opted for liquid medicine rather than pills, mainly because he has a wound on his head and I don't think my usual grasp-and-poke pilling method works if I'm scared to grab the cat's face. Nevertheless, squirting the medication has been an adventure each time. I manage to wrangle him into position, but then I need a third hand to keep him from turning his head away from me. After several stressful minutes, I get most of the bubble-gum flavored liquid into his mouth. The rest lands on his face or paws, and he grooms himself immediately, so it gets into his system one way or another. But neither of us enjoy the process. I quickly gave up on the advice to apply a warm compress twice a day; there was no way he was going to put up with that.

Every time I give Nada medication, I remember how much easier it was to do this kind of thing when Sandy was here. One of us would hold the cat and the other one would push a pill or insert a needle or squirt something or inspect a wound. I find that I not only miss her, but feel betrayed. We took on these responsibilities together, and we developed routines and strategies to meet them. And now I'm left to figure out how to complete the same tasks with fewer resources and greater challenges.

Nada's healing, though he still looks goofy with his clipped fur and the remnants of the wound. He only needs medication for another couple of days. Once again, both cats will be healthy and relatively easy to care for, and we'll all have come through one more hurdle of life without Sandy. But just for the record, I'm not happy about missing a member of the team.