Nini Love

I had to go in to work today and leave Nini for the first time since her surgery. Fortunately my partner is working from home so he’ll be able to keep an eye on her.

I set up her x-pen so that she’ll be able to lay in the sun once it comes out, and put a sheet over it so that she can’t jump out. Yes, she has tried to jump up on the bed and once it looked like she was going to try to jump out of the x-pen, so extra measures need to be taken to keep her safe.

Although I hated leaving her, maybe fate was on my side today. While I was away, she finally pooped. A small, compacted, post-anesthesia poop. But still. Yay! This is kind of the last big milestone in her early recovery. She’s eating, drinking, peeing and now pooping.

Unfortunately for my partner, Michael, it didn’t stop there. A couple minutes after her first trip to the litter box, she hurries back and has some diarrhea, which goes all down her leg and tail and even a little on her back.

Now, I’m a wildlife biologist, and I’ve dealt with my fair share of gross things coming out of animals. While I wouldn’t have relished dealing with this, it wouldn’t have phased me. My partner on the other hand has a much more sensitive sense of small and gag reflex than me. But bless him, he did a great job cleaning her up.

When I came home I cleaned her up a little bit as well. I was worried about poo getting onto her incision site so I took a cotton pad with alcohol and dabbed the incision site. Later when talking with the doctor, I was told to *not* do this, as it dries out the wound. She said since I just did it once, it was fine, and that at this point there’s good enough closure on the wound that a little poo on the surface is ok. The doc also said that a damp washcloth and warm water was the best way to clean her up.

Nini’s first time sunbathing outside after surgery

After all the litter box drama, I thought I’d treat her to some supervised outside time. I covered a lounge chair in a clean towel and carried her out to it. But she kept on wanting to jump down. Probably to roll around in the sun on the warm ground, which she loves to do. But we won’t be doing that until she has her stitches out! So back inside we go.

Overall, I am so encouraged by Nini’s progress so far. I thought she would be in a far worse state at this point. I was expecting a drugged-up, confused cat that had little resemblance to my precious girl. But Nini is acting more like herself everyday, even such a short time after surgery. I’m feeling really optimistic about her recovery.