Comfrey, Couchgrass, Time and Rose Marie’

(Rose on her cushion in my den overlooking the back gardens. This is her special spot and I discourage the other kitties from taking over here.)

Well my apologies again for being so absent. Another kitty cat drama:( Rose Marie, my oldest kitty, is lame in the back end. I woke up Saturday the sixth, about 4 A.M., with a hot flash. On to the couch I went to cool down a moment and was immediately joined by Violet Joy and some other kitty I couldn’t see in the dark, on my feet. Suddenly, my companions shot off toward the kitchen, and I could hear a commotion under my kitchen table chairs. I dashed in and found Rose surrounded by the other cats. When I got her untangled from the chairs and shoved the other kitties back, I could see Rose was wild eyed and her back end was dragging uselessly! I first thought, oh no, she has had a stroke! I whisked her carefully in to the bathroom and closed the door so not to add to her fright by having such an audience surrounding her. I spoke softly and caressed her and started to make a careful assessment. Her eyes, while looking uncustomarily wild, did not have any bulging, or obvious differences in her pupils, and while her back end was lame, everything else looked fine! No blood anywhere, a gentle feel everywhere and I could feel no broken bones and she really didn’t act in pain! Carefully I felt for her pulses in her different arteries and felt her pads for warmth. Hmmm her circulation seemed fine. Well, I had seen this sort of thing before with two other cats. I was suspecting a broken pelvic. The first kitty, Lola, I ever had who had a broken pelvic, happened to be pregnant also. This was back in the day when I allowed my kitties to go in and out. I never knew what happened, but suspected she was sideswiped by a car. Here she came, dragging her back legs, and off I dashed 45 minute drive to the vet. I watched him carefully assess her and could understand how he came to the diagnosis of broken pelvic without doing  xrays. He said just bring her home and time should heal her, and it did rather quickly with her giving successful birth to her kittens within a few weeks. The second time I saw a cat with these symptoms was with our Rumbley cat. This is how my husband ended up adopting Rumbley, he came dragging up to the door lame. Well, with Rumbley I assessed him as my vet did and was confident that he had also had a mishap and broke his pelvic. Again, he made a good recovery although he always had a slight weakness on one of his hind sides and a bit of droop to one eye, no doubt a car mishap again. Now Lola was a fairly young cat and Rumbley, mature but not old. Now Rosie…. I don’t know but when I first found her and adopted her 4 years ago, my vet said she was an old cat, probably over 10 then, so things are going slower for Rose. She is requiring alot of bodily care as she hasn’t been able to use her litter box, but she has at no time acted in pain or done anything but act overjoyed to see me. I am keeping her contained to a closet I emptied for her. I have the floor first covered with plastic and then with towels for easy clean up. And I daily have been giving her gentle baths by just pouring the water over her privates and gently washing and rinsing before giving her clean plastic and towels. Yesterday she actually tried to stand up! Only for a moment, but that was encouraging so I have put a small box with one side cut out and a bit of litter in case she gets froggy. We have had to fight constipation and I am uncertain if it is because it hurts to have a bowl movement, or she just doesn’t want to mess herself so holds it.  Either way, she did have a bm the day after her accident,( I suspect she was being chased by young Dandelion and either slid into or fell off the kitchen table or one of its chairs). But then she didn’t have another for 3 days so I did run her to the vet probably for more her sake than mine, and she suggested adding a bit of pumpkin to her diet. Well, I had just added wet food to her diet that day and the very next day she had a HUGE bm so I felt pretty confident maybe just the wet food would help in that dept, but she hasn’t gone again for a few days so I am adding some pureed pumpkin I had in the freezer to tonights meal.  I have a heating pad covered in a soft cloth up against the side of the closet that Rose seems to favor sleeping in as she is my cold blooded kitty and was usually found sleeping on the floor directly over our furnace in the basement. This additional warmth seems to keep her cozy and as comfy as can be. I am helping to forestall any urinary tract disorders with couch grass and cleavers and comfrey for the broken bone. I am making an infusion of all three and giving her about two teaspoons in a dropper once a day. I don’t have children to mind tomorrow (maybe!) so am hoping to get out and see if I can find her any fresh grass in between the snow piles. Cats appear sturdy but their inside working are really quite delicate so trusting in Mother Nature and Father time also. So hoping Rose will be able to make a full recovery and will simply dwell on the fact she could have an undetectable tumor pressing on things. She and I are doing daily physical therapy whenever I get a chance. Just gently stroking her pads to make her flex her toes and gently massaging and flexing her back legs. Her right back leg seems to be doing very good and the left one has had some improvement, but is def the dodgy one. I will keep you all posted on how she does. So….. between kids and cats I haven’t been around the internet world much lately, but will visit with you all as I can! Thank you, as always, for visiting Comfrey Cottages:) And just to make things clear, I AM NOT a VET and don’t claim to be. I am just sharing with you all what has been going on in my household and how I am choosing to deal with it:)