Something shocking happened to my cat - not traumatic to read but can you shed light?

[hereidrawtheline]

Yesterday my boy cat Yang had been out for about 30 mins or so. DH walked into the kitchen and he was sat there on the floor with blood pouring out of his eyes (the sockets) and nose. To say we were shocked is putting it mildly.

Yang is 9, he is white, with long very fluffy hair. He is sweetest cat ever, lovely natured, he is actually our constant puppy.

Anyway we rushed him to the out of hours emergency vets. Yang is insured and we have made so many claims for him while his sister Yin has never had a claim!

While sat there in the waiting room we noticed a small bloody little hole on the top of his head between his ears. Very precise and not a lot of mess around it.

Vet looked him over and was shocked at the injuries. He said the wound on the head was the cause of the bleeding in the eyes/nose, that he had a very severe impact there on the head that caused brain trauma. He was shocked he was hit hard enough to cause that bleeding but he still managed to be ok, his pupils were normal, he was walking and responding normal etc. Vet wanted to keep him in for observation til Monday but we wanted to take him home, Yang has been in hospital for a month before and it was so traumatic for him. We are 10 mins away from this vet and promised to take him back there if he deteriorated at all. The vet said he had a very very lucky escape.

He was given an anti-inflammatory injection and an anti-biotic and we have to take him back on Monday to our regular vet. He might need a skull xray but they couldnt have given him one yesterday anyway because of the head wound he couldnt have had anaesthetic.

The vet said it "could" be an air rifle but it didnt look like a classic air rifle wound. And it "could" be a car but didnt look like that either as his paws etc were fine so didnt looked as though he had been dragged. He said it "could" be a person, i.e. who hit him with a shovel or something but the wound is so small and precise. He really has no idea what could have caused it. I would pay good money to know.

We are keeping the cats in til Yang is fully recovered but even afterwards I am afraid to let him out again. He has had such bad luck and I am afraid one of these days he will get killed and not make it home and we will not know what happened to him or be able to help him. I am just so grateful he made it home yesterday with such a bad head wound.

did you try to locate where they're coming from? - an airgun won't produce a loud bang but will give a 'crack' as they're fired.

this is bringing back such memories of my brother's air-guns... I remember my brother's was a bsa scorpion, haven't remembered it for years!

Ahhh so pleased master Yang's doing well

I couldnt tell where they were coming from. When I noticed them I realised I do hear them a lot, but I really cant tell from what direction. I am not very good at picking out sounds, either direction or descriptions... I definitely described it as a bang before, think maybe like 2 heavy metal things being hit together??? Something like that. Not a high pitched metal sound but a deeper one. And not a crack like the crack of a whip either.

Yes Master Yang is doing well.

We sing a song to him... what is the tune?

Yangy boy yangy boy in a tree
yangy boy yangy boy doin a wee
yangy boy yangy boy in a tree
yangy boy doin a wee

He loves it. He will dance around and flop when you sing it. So cute! We have been singing it to him since he was a baby! Even DS sings it!

DS calls Yang his brother (and Yin his sister) whereas the other 8 animals are really classed as pets. And when we were taking Yang to the vet he was crying and DS was talking to him saying "its ok Yangy boy, I will take care of you, because you are my brother, and we will go home and sleep in bed together" and I was welling up, thinking, how am I going to explain to my child who has SN that his beloved cat/brother is not coming home? Because I was pretty sure Yang was going to die. This was both times we took him to the vet - Saturday and Monday. DS said the same thing, over and over again. I was so so so worried. For myself, because I love Yang to bits. I really really do. But for DS - I mean he would just fall apart completely. And I truly hated whoever did this to Yang.

Yang was crying in his cat box and DS said "I wish he had something like {insert name of DS's comfort item}" and I thought, "what would yang love to cuddle?" and I smiled and reached into the diaper bag and grabbed a spare pair of DS's pants and put them in the cat box and sure enough Yang was all over them! LOL He has a family underwear fetish you see! It was very sweet and very funny and made me laugh while I was crying.

I didnt tell you all that story the other day because I was still too scared Yang was going to die and it was too near reality for me to talk about it in a light hearted way but now that I can see he is going to be ok I wanted to share that moment with you, to say thank you for being so supportive to me about this.

Yang is obviously very special and is loved to bits, quite rightly so.

Thank goodness he's okay.

If you haven't already done the mail shots, I would also make the point that if someone is taking pot shots at cats that this is also a danger to people especially children. I would play on this a bit as some people may not think it is an issue for them to worry about if they don't have cats or dogs.

I would also maybe make the point about the possibility of it escalating if they get bored of shooting cats.

ahhh, your yangy boy song's made me well up... soppy old cloth wabbit that I am...

you sound such lovely people

i once had a beautiful black cat - we called him black cat bones (after a blues song)... bones was SO gloriously aware of his beauty we used to sing him his 'beautiful bones' song... even in his sleep he would stretch and reach out with his paws in a 'I am beautiful aren't I' way...
Unfortunately he used up all of his 9 lives by the time he was 12months old... just too beautiful for this world!
(I mistakenly thought it was only us that knew cat songs and that they should be sung to at least once a day! )

oh wabbit you did make me laugh! No our cats get sung to all the time!! We do actually sing constantly in our house! DS went through a stage when he was younger when he cried if we stopped so DH and I did everything in song! Bones sounds like he was lovely! Bet he loved being with you and getting all the adoration. A cat like that will just soak it up and be in bliss.

Our Yin is like that. She is this sexy little shiny chocolate brown fluffy cat that purrs and is just scrummy - and she is such a little tease. Yang is totally oblivious. He really is like a bounding puppy. He just hasnt got a clue. (Thank you for saying we sound lovely people! I thought if I told you I gave my cat my son's pants you'd think I was totally mental!)

We havent done the mailshot yet - I am going to try to write it tonight so DH cant print tomorrow and we can deliver over the weekend. And that is a really good idea about saying the risk it poses to children, and very true.

From my front door you can see over the road the playing field of the local primary, behind me is the big play park. And my own DS plays in my garden every day.

You're not mental, HIDTL. I was brief earlier because it reminded me of my lovely big black boy, who was knocked down and killed last year. I love all my cats but he was very special. Gawd knows I would have given him my very best undies if it would have made him happy - all he wanted was to be picked up and draped over your shoulder, where he would purr like mad

Will try singing though

oh bella I am sorry about your boy I know what you mean about some animals being very special.

Singing - works a treat. They love it. Pick a theme song, make up the words. Stick to it, there you go. Your cats ego is satisfied! Repeat daily.

Aw I'm so glad he is improving

What a shocking tale

Thanks, HIDTL - will get serenading. And when the men in white coats come (again), I'll just keep singing

that's the spirit bella! tell them HIDTL sent ya!

Thanks MP. He is actually pretty much right as rain this evening. I am shocked he could have been so hurt at the weekend and so close to normal on Thursday! That's cat for you I suppose.

can I just add he snores like a trucker.

You can hear him, in the next room, with the door closed between you. He always has done but its got worse as he has got older! He sleeps on bed with us or DS at night and I love listening to it!!