One Claw Less - S Version

One morning last month (Fri, 7 Aug), I stepped into the kitchen to see the top door of the refrigerator ajar. Skoda and Braun were nearby. A couple of minutes later, I was going to leave for work so I went into the kitchen again to do a final check. This time, I saw some blood on the counter-top. Braun was the only one at the 'crime scene'. I scooped her into my lap and did a thorough inspection of her but didn't find any injury on her.

I went looking for Skoda and saw some blood droplets on the floor outside the girls' room. Skoda ran off when she saw me. I managed to catch hold of her and saw a claw that was half coming off on her right paw. She refused to let me attend to it so I couldn't treat the wound on my own. I took half-day urgent leave, shoved Skoda into the pet carrier (this girl put up a big fight) and off we went to the vet's clinic. I found the claw on the floor and took it along with me.

The clinic was crowded so we waited for quite a while. Dr K's slots were fully taken up so Dr D attended to Skoda instead. She showed me the wound which looked quite deep (with the whole claw missing). She cleaned up the wound and applied some potassium medication (blackish stuff) on it to stop the bleeding and gave her an injection. I requested for her not to bandage the paw because I doubted Skoda would tolerate it. Grimlock was at work so I wouldn't be able to remove the bandage on my own if Skoda struggled with it. Dr D put an Elizabethan collar on her and to wear it for at least a day. By the time we got home, it was already 12noon. I took leave for the other half-day as well. She kept knocking into things and experienced difficulty in eating and drinking. The immobility did not damper her spirits though.

We took the cone off on Mon, 10 Aug night. We were afraid Skoda might keep licking her paw. Tried to put on a mitten for her but she shoke it off. On Wed, 12 Aug morning - again when I was getting ready to leave for work, I saw a small trail of blood on the floor. Skoda's wound was bleeding a little. This time round, I couldn't take leave. Grimlock took leave in the afternoon and brought her to the vet. She had to put on the E-collar again. Dr K prescribed an anti-inflammatory medication for her. We tried to put on a baby bootie on her paw but she wouldn't stand for this as well. When we brought her back to the vet's clinic on Sat, 15 Aug for her urinalysis, Dr K told us her wound was healing well. We could remove the E-collar but to stop her from licking her paw. The latter proved to be a feat - she couldn't understand why we stopped her from doing so and on our part, it was difficult to keep an eye on her, so we kind of let nature to take its own course.

During this time, Braun and Mikki were not much of a friend to Skoda. Braun, for whatever reason, was fearful of Skoda with 'that thing' around her head; she steered clear of her path. Mikki was fearful too but expressed it through aggression; she scrowled at her whenever their paths crossed. Maybe there is a price to pay for being the Alpha :p