post op harley

it's been several weeks since my last post as harley and i have been both working with his post op, less teeth than before, care and making the most of the summer before this heat wave hit the area.

to re cap, harley went in to have a few infected teeth pulled. when they called me with the update, he was 12 teeth lighter than when he went in. the vet said there were impacted teeth and in the end it was a lot for a 6 yr old cat but we don't know what his life was like before the shelter, like what he was eating, and it could well be genetic. he came home, happily, i might add, and after reluctantly taking a yucky liquid antibiotic for several days, he seemed to have turned a corner.

the result is he bites a heck of a lot less, and when he does, it hurts a heck of a lot less! he lost an incisor which is part of that transformation. he is more snuggly and purrs a lot more than he did before. he even encourages me to pet him as he purrs, and that can go on for up to 15 minutes before he moves on to something else. the vet will see him again on monday. hopefully he won't need stitches for the incisor gap. they wanted to have it heal up on its own first.

good thing he sees the vet soon anyway. i don't think he has a urinary tract infection; no i'm pretty sure he was just delivering a clear message to me at 330am this morning. i was online checking something and without any fear, he peed on a beanbag foot rest i have in the living room. this was done right in front of me. i was amazed at his brazeness, but i had to say he wasn't happy with his food selection the last few meals - he expresses his dissatisfaction by scratching the cloth placemat so its covering his still full food dish - and i wasn't feeling well so i hadn't yet cleaned his litter box.

so i got the footrest and his litter box into a garbage bag and cleaned everything up. this morning he got a new placemat, a new bowl, and new food with new water. he ate then .... you guessed it ... proceeded to very cleanly pee in his litter box, followed by a ton of chasing his milk ring toy. when i made myself a sandwich for breakfast, he proceeded to annoy me for some of the turkey then moved on to a catnip toy.

i'm thinking he's just fine but i'll ask the vet to be sure.

what a character.