Oh Frank. Frankie Frankie Frankie.....

I'm including some SMALL THUMBNAILS in this post, in case folks are squeamish around wounds.... You can click on them to get to the larger image if you wish to subject yourself to it.

So some folks know, Niceguy has this adorable cat Frank. Well, Mr. Frank has definitely been the king of the neighborhood for some years. He's got a few battle scars to prove it.

Notice the split in his ear here. It's not the only one....

Anyways, please know, that while Frank was an indoor/outdoor cat, he is VERY well taken care of. He's on an insurance plan with the vet, so we can take him in anytime for free to get checked out. He's up on all his shots, and has regular checkups as well. Plus he adopted our neighbors as his vacation getaway, who take good care of him as well.

Well, a few weeks ago, Frank came home from his night out with a spot of matted fur on top of his head. We thought nothing of it, because he typically rolls around in dirt and plays when he's out at night. I figured, since he's a short-hair, I'd give him some time to clean it, which he always does, and if it didn't go away, I'd just shave it off.

After a couple of days, we noticed, it wasn't going away, but getting bigger. I noticed it was shiny, and Niceguy upon further investigation noticed it smelled bad and asked for my opinion. It wreaked of infection.

So we immediately took him in to the vet, and they discovered what is featured below:

That WAS an abscess, that they cleaned and looked to be a decent puncture wound.

The puncture happened in such a way that the skin folded over it, so we didn't see it until the infection had already set in. Keep in mind, it was just cleaned out, so it's a little larger because of some slight swelling.

After cleaning, pain killers, and some rather expensive antibiotics, he was home for a week to recoop.

Once things had cleared up, we let him start going back out on his nightly romps. A couple days later, took him in to the vet for his checkup, and all appeared perfect. All that was left was a teeny tiny scab, and the fur around it was starting to grow back and cover what will be a decent scar.

So, a week or so of quiet, and then yesterday morning, after waking from a fairly decent night's sleep in air-conditioned comfort, Niceguy heads to Starbucks to get his Saturday morning coffee and my chai. Upon his return, he's met at the door by Frankie-poo, who has some new battle wounds to show off.


Yes another hole in the top of his head, and a gash from it, down to his bottom eye-lid. Thank goodness it missed the eye. So back to the vet we went.

The vet spotted things we didn't. Obviously, we saw the matted mess on his head and that was enough for us to make the trip. The vet found at least one puncture wound at the base of Frank's neck, a good scrape in his ear, and the poor thing appears to be all around sore.

More expensive antibiotics, and he's back home. Permanently.

It appears that the new Himalayan cat we spotted in the neighborhood recently, may be a little more than Mr. Frank could handle, and he's been knocked off his Tom-cat throne.

This is going to be a difficult adjustment for him, becoming an indoor-only animal. I'm sure we will drive him completely insane.

We'll be getting him some stuff to climb on and take out any building frustration from being stuck inside all the time.

What surprises me though, is that last night, he didn't stand at the door for hours and cry. He didn't pee on the bathroom rug out of anger (mostly because I put it up) or anything else for that matter. And this morning, this is the weirdest.... He stands at the end of the hallway every few minutes or so, and just stares at the front door. Just stares. No crying, whining, or scratching. Just staring. Then he goes and lays down, uses the kitty box, or eats.

I've even gone down and stood next to or behind him, and he doesn't rush for the door with a meow and a skip like usual. He just stands there, looks at me, then the door, then walks around me to head back to his favorite spot on one of the scratching mats.

I'm not an expert on cat emotions, so I won't make a wild decision as to what he's feeling. Maybe fear. Maybe he wants to go out, but knows he can't. *shrug* All I'm going to do is try to make him comfortable at home.

I'm sure at some point, the crying, whining, and scratching will start, but for the moment, he's content with laying around the house, like his big sister.

Niceguy and I are just happy that this wasn't something worse, and will be keeping an eye on both cats to ensure there isn't any friction arising from Mr. Frank being home all the time now. They typically do okay together, so here's to hoping.

So anyways, back to the daily grind. Hope everyone is well!

Love to all!
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