Trying to get a drink

A couple days ago Daisy tried to drink from the cattle's water trough after I filled it.  A yearling took an interest in Daisy.   Daisy knows when to run and she knows when to move over slightly so the cattle can't bother her.

Vaccinations

The Flathead Spay and Neuter Task Force held a vaccination and microchip clinic for cats and dogs today.   To my knowledge Daisy has never been vaccinated.   I put her in the cat carrier and took her to the clinic.

Daisy was fine until we got to the clinic.  The dogs were all barking and making noise and Daisy moaned her displeasure.  Most people there were with dogs and once I paid I saw a vet right away.  Daisy got a 3-way vaccination shot and a rabies shot.  Both last only a year. Ten dollars a shot.  Daisy stayed still when getting her shots.  She was more relaxed about it than I expected.  It helped that we were in a room away from the other animals and noise.

Then we were out of there and back home.  Daisy was glad to be away from the commotion and loud noise.

She is a little out of it still.  She only went outside for a few hours this evening and is now laying by the wood stove as I lit a fire tonight.

Back to normal

Other than sometimes when Daisy first gets up from sitting a long time and has a brief limp, Daisy seems back to normal.   She sleeps during the day and prowls at night.  I got her inside at 1:30 am last night.  At 2:30 am she wanted back out.  I tried to ignore her, and then told her she had been inside for only an hour, but she came back five minutes later insisting on going outside.  So I let her outside.  I was rewarded with a dead mouse outside the door on the driveway this morning.

Yesterday afternoon she kept me company as I worked in the yard.

This morning she wanted to go inside the house to get a bite to eat as I filled the cattle's water trough.  Here she is patiently waiting for me.

Much better

Daisy's limp is mostly gone.  She is back to her old habits: patrolling in the morning and evening and sleeping during the day.  This morning she caught a mouse and left it in the yard for me to find.

Late this afternoon she insisted on drinking from the bucket holding water for the willow tree branch.

I am cleaning up branches in the middle pasture prior to dragging a harrow around it.  At dusk when I walked back to the yard Daisy was sitting by the corral fence.  Once I got close enough, and she could tell it was me, she came running and bounding over to me as I walked across the hayfield.  Just like a dog.  She rubbed all around my legs while looking off in the distance all around in hyper-alert mode.

Still improving, part 2

I forgot to include this photo in my earlier post.  I took this photo this morning.  Daisy's leg is good enough that she can stand and sharpen her claws on fence posts.  She also had climbed up a fence to sit on top of a railroad tie yesterday.  What a cat.

Still improving

Daisy still has a limp but it is getting better.  She limps faster now.  She is getting more into her old routine and spends more time outside.  Even though she limps she still gets around to patrolling the yard, corral and outbuildings checking for mice, watching the cattle and the birds, and smelling the air.

Here is a photo from yesterday when she was resting.  As you can see her leg is not swollen anymore.

Pain meds and better

Daisy gives thanks to my cousin Jen.  Wednesday night Jen convinced me to get pain medication for Daisy.  Thursday morning I got some from the vet.  The pain med is a liquid in a syringe.  It is easy to give to Daisy and she drinks it right down.   Once the med started working her leg pain appears to have gone away.

A few hours later Donna helped me soak Daisy's leg in warm water for five minutes and Daisy didn't put up much of a fuss.  That evening I soaked her leg for nine minutes with little fuss.

Donna had a thermometer and we found Daisy's temperature was 101.7 degrees.  Apparently normal for a cat.

Early Friday afternoon I gave Daisy another pain med as it appears her leg was hurting again.  The leg soak only lasted about four minutes in the afternoon.   The evening leg soak lasted four minutes total: two minutes at a time as she was not as cooperative and started squirming.

Late Friday afternoon I let Daisy outside. I figured she would just sit on the front steps as she limps when walking.  But after a bit she limped over to the patio to check things out.  A little later I carried her to the cattle's water trough to drink.  Even though it was breezy Daisy was content to lay on the ground and look around and listen to the sounds.  Being outside seemed to lift her spirits so I sat with her a bit, then found some project for me by the pole shed.  Daisy mainly sat and soaked up the sun and at times did a little patrolling around the back yard.

After an hour I took her back into the house.  I didn't want Daisy following me as I pulled another large bale out for the cows.

Saturday morning at 6 am Daisy felt much better.  She scratched on the bed and door to get me to let her outside.  I didn't.  Even after she scratched some more.  Then I heard her do lots of scratching in her litter box.  A short time later I lifted her onto the bed and she slept by me till I got up after 10 am.  (I was very tired as I slept 12 hours!)

When I came back inside after checking on the cattle Daisy went outside.  Her leg was better.  It (finally!) wasn't as swollen.  She also didn't need any pain medicine.  She does still limp.

After a while I looked for her.  I found her on top of the camper at one of her favorite sleeping spots. 

She spent much of the afternoon on the camper.  In the evening when I went for an hour bicycle ride she went outside.  She came when I called after getting back home.  Since her leg is not as swollen I skipped the leg soaks on Saturday.  Daisy didn't mind.

So it appears Daisy is on the mend finally.

Set back

Daisy is not doing as well today.   This morning I was busy with a new born calf, a cattle breakout of the coral, and a meeting so I didn't get to soaking Daisy's foot until 2 pm.   Daisy was still in her cat basket.  She had gone in there before midnight last night.   Her leg seemed perhaps a little more sore.

I heated some water with Epsom salt, soaked an old sock in it and then put it on her bad leg to soak her leg to help prevent infection.  Daisy wasn't tolerating it as well as yesterday.  She was moaning more and more eager to leave.  After 5 minutes of soaking I let her go and she limped off.  She wouldn't let her bad leg touch the ground.  She went and hid under 'her' bed.  After 5 minutes she limped out and went back to her cat basket.  She crawled in and lay there moaning.  Her bad leg was shaking from the pain.

It was breaking my heart so I called the vet's office.  I learned they had given her a pain medicine shot yesterday so that explained why she felt better, and now that pain medicine had worn off.  They gave me the option of coming to get some pain medicine to be given orally.  The pain medicine has steroids and I am worried too much may cause cancer or tumors in Daisy later.  Since Daisy was somewhat ok before I touched her leg, I reluctantly decided to wait to see if she felt better in an hour once things settled down.   She was a little better so I am waiting till tomorrow to reevaluate her condition.

This evening she moved to laying near the wood stove even though I don't have a fire going.  Several times I brought her wet cat food in her dish so she could lay and eat and not have to move.

Even though the vet had suggested soaking Daisy's leg three to four times daily I have stopped soaking it for the time being.

The vet must have thought I was a basket case as I ended up crying on the phone talking to her about Daisy and Daisy's pain.

This is tough.  I love this cat so much.

Vet visit

This morning I took Daisy to Donna's veterinarian.  Donna came over at 7:15 am to get Daisy and I for the 7:30 am vet visit.  I had woken up at 5 am and never really got back to sleep.  So Daisy and I were ready when Donna came.  Daisy wasn't happy about going into the pet carrier but she did without too much fuss.

The vet called me an hour later to tell me Daisy's bad leg was because she was bitten on her leg.  From the bite mark the vet thought Daisy was bitten by another cat.  Cat bites have lots of bacteria and after a while her leg swelled up and was sore from the infection. The delayed reaction was why Daisy seemed normal when she came inside the house the previous night.  Daisy had a temperature of 104 degrees, two degrees above normal.  Daisy did not have an abscess on her leg.

The vet gave Daisy a ten day acting anti-bacterial shot.  I am to soak (wash) her bad leg three to four times a day in an Epsom salt solution.  This will help prevent Daisy getting an abscess.

I bought a bag of Epsom salts and got Daisy home by 9:30 am,  She immediately got out of the pet carrier and limped around the house looking for a safe place to go.  I opened the door to the spare bedroom as it appeared she wanted in there and didn't have the strength to push the door open.  I lifted her onto the favorite spot on the bed and she settled down to rest.

Later that morning, once she rested, she came out to eat.  I gave her some canned wet cat food - her 'special treat' food.  After she ate I washed her bad leg.  Daisy mostly stayed still but she made a low growl / moan.

After I was done she went back to 'her' bed.

A little upset with me for washing her sore leg.

After I finished working outside and came in the house at 7 pm to watch "The Voice", Daisy came over as soon as I sat down and before I could get my coat off.  She came up on the couch (ok, I lifted her up) and snuggled right up against me.  She rolled on her back, lifted one front paw for me to hold in my hand, looked up with me with love in her eyes, then started to purr before quickly falling asleep.  There I sat for two hours as she laid next to me changing position every so often but always against me.  I love this cat.

Her sore leg is in the foreground.

Later when I was making my supper Daisy came to the kitchen and I gave her the rest of her canned cat food.  Then it was time to wash / soak her sore leg.  Again she was not happy but stayed with only a little encouragement from me.  Again she had a little low growl / moan which is hard for me to hear.  My poor kitty.

After I was done she wanted to go outside but I told her no.  She seems a little better, sometimes hopping and other times limping.  And she is getting around a little bit and eating some now, unlike yesterday.

Daisy quickly forgave me for washing her leg tonight, as when I sat down to work on my computer she came up and laid on my lap and slept for a while.


The veterinarian's office weighed Daisy.  She weighs 15 pounds, 4 ounces.   The vet told me a normal cat weighs 7 to 8 pounds.   The other cat must be some bruiser to get the best of Daisy.  If I ever find that cat it will have one life less.

Hurt leg

When it rains, it pours.   First me, then now Daisy is hurt.  Late this afternoon I discovered her limping.  All day she had laid in my computer chair, and based on the crappy weather I thought she was taking the day as a 'lazy day', which she does every so often.  Early afternoon I had done some computer work and sat right next to her and nothing seemed amiss.

Then just before 5 pm, as I was adding wood to the wood stove, she hopped off the chair and came over to me like she often does when I fiddle with the wood stove.  I saw her limping.  Limping so bad she didn't want to use that back left leg.  She was hopping on three legs.

While I called Donna to ask which vet she uses, Daisy limped out to her litter box.  When she came back she tried to go around the cupboards but couldn't hop over a small obstacle.  I lifted her over it and set her by her food and water dishes.  She limped off to lay in the corner by the TV.  When I came over to see her, she limped back to the computer chair, and before I could help her up she jumped up on it and laid down.

Donna came over with a cat carrier.  She attempted to look at her bad leg and I wasn't able to hold Daisy well and she drew blood on Donna.

Donna's vet could see Daisy right away at 7:30 am and I decided since Daisy didn't seem to be in distress as long as she doesn't have to walk, I would wait till morning and not take her to another vet that is open after hours for emergencies.

Daisy has laid in the chair all evening.  Sometimes on one side, then the other side and sometimes on her back.  She purrs when I scratch her neck and face and rub her head.

I have no idea how this happened.  She came in before midnight last night and spent an hour on my lap while we watched TV.  Then she wandered off.  I heard her one time during the night when scratched on the bed but then she didn't want to go outside.  I was tired from my eye injury and slept soundly the rest of the night.

So she hasn't been outside where she could injure her leg.  And I don't see anything in the house fallen or could have injured her leg.  So this is a mystery.   Bob and Jan had a puppy a few years ago that once it grew up developed a tumor in its leg and eventually had to be put to sleep.  The dog wasn't even two years old.  I hope Daisy doesn't have a tumor.

I'll find out what is wrong once I take her to the vet tomorrow.

As I type this right now Daisy is sleeping soundly in the chair next to me.   My poor kitty.


The first three photos were taken early this afternoon before I realized she had a bad leg.  I thought her sour look was because she didn't like her photo taken and was afraid the camera's flash would go off.

After she had limped around the house.

Such a cute kitty, even with a sore leg!

Fence and water

Here are a few more photos from when Daisy helped me with the cattle last weekend.

With the warmer weather Daisy is shedding fur more.  Often when I stop and stand a few minutes she comes over and rolls around at my feet.  Today, after these photos were taken, Daisy came to me when I was in the corral and then rolled around at my feet.  The problem?  Lots of cattle manure.  The manure was dried, but it was fine and hard to brush out of her fur as I petted her.

Daisy is quite the fence walker.

Daisy loves her large water 'dish'.

A couple short videos of Daisy:

Fence walking: http://youtu.be/aA6s0p6m53c

Drinking from the cattle's water trough: http://youtu.be/ig_2I3NzhFU