Chapter 19: Wills limps for sympathy

The ginger slug bag has become very quiet just recently.

He has had, for some time, a very slight limp in his front right paw. It has over the past few days become more pronounced. I thought at first that he was just humiliated having fallen when he tried to leap up and join me on the wicker chair when I was trying an experiment by lying on my back  But he’s still limping and when I looked it’s very apparent that his front right leg is rather bigger than his left. I thought the limp may have been a sympathy thing he does when he’s trying to get round the human after he’s been discovered doing something he shouldn’t.

He’s now missing things when jumping up; he fell quite badly when he jumped up at the bed and ended up in a complete untidy heap on the floor. The human grabbed him and had a good look at him. He has a bursa tumour on his right leg and it looks like it’s all swollen up quite rapidly. The ginger hero was unceremoniously tipped into his cat carrier and taken immediately to see Saint Ben of Park Street Surgery.

He was held down on the vet’s table and his tumour was drained by inserting a large hypodermic needle and pulling the liquid out of his leg. The swelling went down as he watched. He yowled and made such a fuss, but really he was being a drama queen as the vet said the procedure was quite painless. Wills even spat and hissed at Saint Ben at one stage and I'm sure Saint Ben must have appreciated Wills appalling halitosis. Most dramatic and unnecessary as Saint Ben is just wonderful!

Ginger Drama Queen then had a plastic satellite dish placed on his head for 24 hours so he couldn’t bite the wound where the drain took place. If there’s one thing the ginger wuss likes it’s biting his scabs, he takes great enjoyment nibbling round them and making them bleed.

When he got back to Tom Cat Towers, the big twerp milked it for all he was worth, having special titbits from the human to tempt him.  Anyone would think he had undergone major surgery. He needs to keep an eye on this tumour because if he’s not careful he could lose his leg.

Needless to say the blackbirds all but fell out of the trees laughing when they saw the great loon in his plastic collar!

Willi’s version

When I jumped up to rescue Dippi when she looked like she had died, somehow I missed and ended up on the floor. I shook myself and thought nothing of it. Bit humiliating but I got over it.

I have had a bit of a hero’s limp for some time but it’s really started to make itself apparent and I now have quite a pronounced limp My human came and had a good feel of my leg. It doesn’t hurt, but my tiny bursa tumour in my joint seems to have swollen all down my leg and into my paws.

Not so long ago it was the size of a pea, and Saint Ben said he’s keep an eye on it. But somehow it just seems to have exploded in size.

So I ended up at Saint Ben’s.

He asked my human to help hold me whilst he took a large needle, inserted it into my leg and started to pull gloopy clear liquid from the tumour. At first I was just fascinated to watch it. Then I remembered that cat’s aren’t supposed to like vets so I began wriggling and making a scene, howling, spitting and cussing and just generally embarrassing my human who raised her eyes to the ceiling in annoyance.

After Saint Ben had finished, a large plastic cone was placed round my neck, clearly in recognition of the intense surgery I had just undergone. Back at home I lay round looking for sympathy, I got a few titbits then life was back to normal. I had though that Dippi may have reciprocated a bit of caring, but she just paddled past me quite disinterested as I sported the plastic satellite dish on my head.  The blackbirds seemed to like it; they were quite vocal in their praise when I paraded round the patio in it.

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