Charlie in trouble.

Monday the 3d of September, at 6.30 pm, Charlie came in to eat his dinner with his tail hanging at a weird angle. When I examined it a bit closer I saw some blood too. One of his back legs also had a wound on it but that didn’t seem to bother him. He did eat well though but went hiding behind the couch after, something he normally never does. They are not allowed in the bedroom at night but that night we left the bedroom door open. Charlie came in for a while and snuggled up to my stomach for comfort. But after about an hour he decided to go elsewhere. When I woke up in the middle of the night I checked and he was lying on the couch.

I phoned the vet in the morning but they couldn’t see him until 4pm that day. He wasn’t hiding anymore on Tuesday and seemed to be back to his normal self except for the tail. At the vet’s they couldn’t do a lot, because he was screaming his head off and wriggling like mad. They gave him a painkiller and send us home for the night. We brought him in on Wednesday morning on an empty stomach so he could be sedated and properly examined. They shaved off the hair and discovered a cut where the skin had been pulled for about a centimetre and stitched that up. They also took x-rays but nothing seemed to be broken. They weren’t too sure about other internal damage, as the punctures were quite deep. They think he got caught in a wire. The vet put him on a course of antibiotics and told me to keep an eye on it. He was so happy going back with me, that early Wednesday afternoon, that he was rolling around in the carrier, every now and then sticking his paw out to touch me. “You didn’t abandon me and leave me locked up in that funny smelling place. Thank you.”

The next few days we had to put on fresh bandages a few times as they came off, mainly because of his lively playing and running around. He only objected when we put on the bandages and were actually touching the tail but for the rest he didn’t seem to be in any great discomfort.

He did complain a lot about us not letting him go outside though. He was grounded for four days when I decided to go outside with him on Sunday. In all fairness: he was very good. He stayed with me the whole time and didn’t disappear into the bushes once. Tina was very sweet and also didn’t wander, which was nice. The two of them were chasing flies in the grass and each other. Three times I went out with him. The third time was after it had rained and I didn’t really wanted him to go as I didn’t want to get the bandage wet. His complaining was driving me up the wall though so I went with him for another half an hour.

Monday we decided to leave the bandage off and he didn’t seem to go at the stitches.

Last Wednesday we noticed that the end of his tail had gone quite stiff and dry. It looked like there was no blood supply. We phoned the vet and brought him back in on the Thursday. They decided that part of the tail had to come off so we brought him in on an empty stomach on Friday morning. Early afternoon they amputated his tail.

Friday night at around 7 pm he was back in the house, still asleep from the anaesthetic. Two and-a-half hours later he was awake and trying to get out of the carrier. He could barely walk and was going around like a drunk.

I went to bed early while Orla stayed up late to keep him company. I got up at 5.30 am to keep an eye on him again. At 7am I gave him his painkiller, antibiotic and some food. Tina went outside but I kept Charlie in. During the day he slowly got back to normal.

Yesterday he was back to his normal self and I went outside with him for a while. Tina and Charlie went around the garden but he stayed in sight. Then a rain shower came in and the two bolted for the door. I went outside with him two more times for short whiles. In between he slept on my lap while I was working on the computer.So far he’s doing well. He doesn’t seem to go at the stitches and the wound looks clean. It’s a shame that he had to loose his tail but at least he is still there, hopefully for a very long time if he can keep himself out of trouble.

 

Charlie's tail the day before the amputation and below, a day after the amputation.