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alloy-digest         Wednesday, July 14 1999         Volume 04 : Number 193



                               Today's Subjects:
                               -----------------
  Re: Alloy: The Truth About Cats and Dogs (ot)              [CJMark@aol.com]
  Alloy: The Truth About Cats and Dogs (ot)  ["Stephen M. Tilson" <Stephen_T]
  Re: Alloy: The Truth About Cats and Dogs (ot) - Fudge's Tail, er, Tale  ["]
  Alloy: The Truth About Cats and Dogs (ot) - Fudge's Tail, er, Tale  ["Step]

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Tue, 13 Jul 1999 03:15:08 EDT
From: CJMark@aol.com
Subject: Re: Alloy: The Truth About Cats and Dogs (ot)

Hey Stephen.. (et al)

Nice job with Oreo..   sounds like quite an undertaking.  My best to you and 
Mary for the efforts to save his life!   

I've been a bit out of contact here lately since I've been traveling for the 
past month.  I'm in Milano right now, working on a couple of commercials.  I 
only caught up on all my Alloy mail yesterday..   They charge by the minute 
here in Italy to access, so I had to read fast since I had over 100 posts.. 
many of which were the Alloy variety.  It's been great to hear the latest 
from everyone.   I'll be able to be more involved again upon my return at the 
end of July..    Enjoy the summer..!!  

Ciao for now..

Mark

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 13 Jul 1999 04:20:34 -0400
From: "Stephen M. Tilson" <Stephen_Tilson@compuserve.com>
Subject: Alloy: The Truth About Cats and Dogs (ot)

CJ wrote:

 > Hey Stephen.. (et al)
 > 
 > Nice job with Oreo..   sounds like quite an undertaking.  My best 
 > to you and Mary for the efforts to save his life!   
 > 
 > I've been a bit out of contact here lately since I've been 
 > traveling for the past month. <snip>

Thanks for the accolades - from both of us.  It'll be nice to have 
you back!

I let Oreo out in the fenced backyard today (he is a verrry outdoor 
cat), turned my back for a moment, and heard the rattle of the gate.  
I rushed across the yard to find his nibs perched at the top of its 
5-1/2' crest and contemplating the other side!  Three legs and all.  
I didn't mention it earlier, but both of Oreo's rear legs were run 
over.  It is damn fortunate he got to keep the one . . .  and it is 
really torn up, stitched up, and bandaged up.  Still, he jumped to 
the top of the gate.  Amazing!  The amputation was just six days 
ago.  Every HMO's ideal patient.

Guess that other leg was just holding him back all these years . . .

Tonight he climbed into his favorite chair for the first time.  That 
scored an "Awww".  I'm a sucker for a happy cat. <g>  Especially this 
one.

All the best,
Stephen

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 14 Jul 1999 00:41:10 +0100
From: "I T Admin @ Govt Office North West" <help.gonw.st@gtnet.gov.uk>
Subject: Re: Alloy: The Truth About Cats and Dogs (ot) - Fudge's Tail, er, Tale

At 16:48 12/07/99 -0400, you wrote:
>
>Dear Friends,
>
>A little over a week ago, on Independence Day, a much loved 
>neighborhood cat, Oreo, was struck and very nearly killed by a hit 
>and run motorist on my ostensibly quiet street. .......

 <snip>

>PS  Oreo is walking, after a fashion, and we expect him to regain a 
>decent quality-of-life.  He is a cat's cat, and my very expensive 
>decision to spare his life has so far been vindicated by his 
>amazingly speedy recovery.  :-)
>

It has to be said that cat's ARE capable of recovery from horrendous injury.
Our cat, Fudge, has a steel plate in his right foreleg after being hit by a
car a few years ago.  He disappeared on Valentine's Day and didn't reappear
for four days.  He leg was plastered from paw to shoulder and he had two
black eyes.  The question was, where had he been for four days?

After he reappeared we rang all the vets in the area to see if one of them
had treated him, as he was obviously  profesionally plastered, but none
could help.  We then took him to our own vet to see what condition he was
in, and they also rang all the other vets and found he HAD been treated by
another one, and that he'd been brought in by a man who said it was HIS cat
and had been hit by a car.  He'd paid £90 for treatment and we wanted to
replay him (Fudge was insured anyway, so we'd get most of the treatment
costs back), but were a bit concerned about him saying it was his cat.  The
vet wouldn't give us his address but contacted him and got him to ring us.
It turned out that he thought it was his cat that had disappeared over
twelve months earlier, and he'd seen it hit by the car in the next road to
ours, and had taken him for treatment.  Our vet was able to assure him it
was our cat, not his, as they had complete medical records for him, and we
went around to repay him.  He told us that when he'd brought Fudge home he
could hardly move, but they fed and looked after him for four days, at which
point he'd managed to escape and made his way home, very slowly and it
seemed it had taken him about two hours to get just over 100 yards, though
he had several five foot walls to get over.  To this day we don't know how
he managed it.  When he arrived home he just went to sleep under the dining
table and didn't move for about 12 hours.

The following day we took him to our vet who examined him again, and X-rayed
him, and found he'd got a broken 'wrist' which was not healing very well, as
it was an awkward break.  It didn't help that the plaster kept slipping and
wasn't supporting the leg properly.  It was comical really, as he was like
Long John Silver, plodding around with this HUGE plaster on his leg.  We
have photos of him in a variety of positions, sleeping, sitting, etc. with
this disproportionately large appendage.  The vet recommended trying to put
a plate in, as the leg was unlikely to heal without it, but estimated the
cost at £500.  We couldn't have afforded it without the insurance.

Well, he had the op, and came back all plastered again, but eventually had
the plaster removed and the plate seemed to be doing its work. Despite the
plaster he was still able to climb onto 'his' rocking chair.  I remember the
vet cringing when Fudge jumped down from the examination table on about our
third follow up visit after the op, but the cat quite literally took it in
his stride.  He had a big scar on his leg, which had been completely shaved,
and looked worse without the plaster.  To this day he can't fold his right
paw under him, as the joint is a bit stiff, but otherwise he seems to have
made a complete recovery.  He limps occasionally, sometimes in damp weather,
but other than that the only evidence is the inability to fold that paw.

He's currently undergoing photodynamic treatment (similar to early stage
skin cancer patients) for granulomas in his mouth, but even that doesn't
seem to worry him, though he's not keen on visiting the vet.  he knows
that's where he's going as soon as the cat carrier basket appears.

So, I'm pleased, but not totally surprised that Oreo's making such a good
recovery, and all credit to you for looking after him.

TTFN

Slarv

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 13 Jul 1999 21:25:00 -0400
From: "Stephen M. Tilson" <Stephen_Tilson@compuserve.com>
Subject: Alloy: The Truth About Cats and Dogs (ot) - Fudge's Tail, er, Tale

Thanks, Slarvi.  The little bugger is even now curled up on *my* favorite 
chair, and of course I wouldn't dream of disturbing him . . .

Cat insurance?!?  And I thought *Americans* had cornered the market on 
risk-management contrivances . . .  Well, I guess Lloyd's of London was 
somewhat first in these matters, eh? <g>

Cheerio,
Stevie-boy

PS  To Alloy at large:  Mary and I will be offline for the next five days.

    Be seeing you,
    S&M

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End of alloy-digest V4 #193
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