Nursing sick Alap

Just in case you guys thought that i was nursing a baby human named Alap at this young age, you guys are wrong.

Alap is a 8 month-old cat I've been adopted last year and he fell sick when i was in my last week in Kelantan. Remember this guy i posted in here??? He's been so much manja now, especially when he dropped his body to the ground and rolled on his back, exposing his tummy, wanting to be rubbed. I would simply gave him a slight head/tummy rub to show him some gesture of, "You can put trust on me, bro!" then, you gotta see his cuteness overload like this!

Ah, ready to bite your little fingers with my sharp fangs!

But *ahem*, not when he started to scratch and bite me when i was about to treat his open wound. He was no longer cute to me, werk, bad Alap!

Okay, back to my sick Alap. He was truly sick in early July, to be exact — due to the presence of an abnormal lump on his neck (he's currently in healing process). The lump looked less likely a "beguk" and i were just like... "ooh,..kucing pun boleh ada beguk??" Well, at least that was what i been informed by ibu regarding Alap through phone when i was in Kelantan. In fact, i found that dogs might actually be able to get mumps, transmitted from humans but it is very uncommon. But cats?? I can't think of it.


When a dog is exposed to a person who is infected with a viral infection called the mumps, the dog may develop the same infection. This cross-over is very rare, but is known to occur occasionally.

— source, Mumps in Dogs,



Poor you, little boy.

In a meantime, ibu actually noticed something was wrong with Alap due to subtle changes in his behaviour — not be that interested in eating (eat very little), low energy level (seemed to be lying around a lot, sleeping and more tired than usual).

For one thing, it was understandable we would be worried about Alap. By the time i were back home from Kelantan, i found the lump ruptured deep under his skin, creating painful swelling area around the neck and it was getting larger. An abscess should i call, left a small hole through his skin which was kind of gross looking (i could see Alap's bloody trachea/oesophagus, whatever they called, i dont know), directly from my two naked eyes! Luckily, i'm okay of seeing blood in real life and tv, so yeah bring it on!


Open wound caused by skin abscess.

Ooh,...regarding the abscess, it appeared as a swollen spot, pus-filled lump under the surface of the skin bcs of wound infection by bacteria. What more, i assumed that he might had a fight with other cats since he has an access to the outside for mating purpose and then, got himself scratches or bites, either through the claws of another cat or himself (only God knows) thus, resulted in wounds which became infected. So, we went to the vet in order to determine the cause.


Alap received his first advanced treatment by draining the fluid abscess for dead tissue removal beneath the skin in proper sterile veterinary environment. Supposedly, a type of reconstructive skin surgery was required to close over the skin due to a large puncture wound that was left opened. But, i absolutely couldnt afford that skin surgery for him since the vet bills might cost me around RM300 - RM400!! Hence, the vet advised me if i could treat Alap at home by my own without underwent expensive surgery to which i just had to buy some medication and things i need to cleanse the open wound at the nearby pharmacy if necessary.


This gonna be tough, bro!

Cleansing the wound perhaps, would be the crucial part since i must perform the aseptic techniques to minimize the risk of the wound infection. Get everything to be sterilized. The part when i must get my both hands 99.99% of free-contaminants before a salve was applied around the open wound.

Remember when i said, he started to scratch and bite me when i was about to treat his open wound? I actually asked the help from Anis, Amirul or Ikki to "tie" his legs. Not to be mentioned, when Alap couldnt stay still when i dug around in his wound to clean it, otherwise he would struggle to release himself to which it only means he prepared to attack us real quick!...(that's another the whole different story).

Also, he did received an opportunity to wear "cone of shame" for the first time of his life! hhahahaha

Bro why so mad?

Guess what?? Basically i learnt that checked out Alap at the vet had caused me a lot of money. Bless my sick Alap when his open wound could be dealt with at home. What i need to do was checking on the wound for every hour to prevent bleeding from Alap's scratching at it, cleaned and put bandage around his neck like this!



I know, i know sounds complex but within the sem break i've got free time on nursing Alap.

He's still in healing process now. It takes about 2-3 weeks to allow the open wound heal by its own. Still, he tries to take off the bandage around the neck by scratching onto it and i have to put it all over again up to 3 times a day. Oh, please Alap jangan buat hal lagi.



2 comments:

  1. alolo...siannya Alap. Taking care of sick cat definitely not easy. My cat is restless and even scratched me when i tried to give him his medication.

    https://luminaryskylar.blogspot.com/

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    Replies
    1. hey syahirah, current update: alap went missing somewhere for mating purpose xoxo tq for the link :)

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