Sandy's Tale

Sandy the Cat is the nicest cat you'll ever meet. He's about 14 years old, now, and spends his time sleeping and laying in the sun.

He's also gone deaf.

A bit of a scaredy-cat Sandy has always been nervous around loud noises like vacuum cleaners, hair dryers and automobiles. No longer. He sleeps through the weekly vacuuming of the carpet, sits placidly on the countertop as you dry your hair and watches cars, trucks, the UPS Guy and the Lawn Crews drive through the neighborhood without so much as a flinch.

Obviously, he didn't hear the dog sneaking up on him until his tail got bit. And a good chomp, too. Right to the bone.

Not being a complainer, we didn't know anything was wrong until the dog bite wound became an abscess, burst and turned into a bloody mess.

After a trip to the vet an attempt was made to heal the wound, but it was too extensive. The tissue started to die and the infection began to spread. We had to do something quick and the only option was amputation.

Bob the tail.

Chop chop.

Snip, nip and tuck.

Sandy went under the knife last week, survived, is doing well and starting to behave like his old tail-ful self. Kink has been respectful of Sandy's condition and not bugged him as much as usual.

Here's the poor guy before and after. The "haircut" doesn't help his appearance but it's starting to grow out.

Before



After