Rectal WHAT?!

For those of you who just happened to click on this link because of the interesting title, I applaud your nosiness.   

For my loyal stalkers...THIS is Sparky's story...

I have told you before, of the 2 faithful & loyal steeds, Sparky is my wild child.  He's perfectly happy being outside.  Frolicking through the bean field. Chasing (& sometimes killing, but not on purpose...) small woodland creatures.  He doesn't care about being inside. Nope, no siree - not my Sparky... 

He would never dream of lounging around on the back of the couch like Sonny does...

 

 He would rather die than lay on my bed & roll around like Sonny does...

 He wouldn't be caught DEAD laying on the bed on top of a freshly 'dryer tossed to get the wrinkles out 'cuz I don't iron' shirt like Sonny does.  

You can imagine my surprise when I opened the door last Monday night to feed the dogs (Lilly was still with us then... tear...) & Sparky ran into the house?  UHM, ok?!  I noticed he looked 'funny'.  A mom just knows these things, ya know?  His tale looked wet underneath.  Hhhmmmm?  I said, "B-rad, something is wrong with Sparky!"  Crickets...

I walked over to him & noticed something near his bottom.  (Listen-most of you are moms...you're just gonna have to listen to this gross stuff...)  I thought maybe he had gone to the bathroom & didn't get it all off (if ya know what I mean...)  As I examined closer - I saw something pink sticking out of his back leg near his booty.  "B-rad, I REALLY think something is wrong with Sparky."  Crickets....

I got a wet paper towel & chased Sparky's butt (literally) around the house to kinda 'wipe' it to see what was up.  Gag - I know.  I didn't know if he had been hurt or what.  When I got hold of him, I knew it wasn't poop, but it wasn't bleeding.  Double gag.  So I immediately wanted to take him somewhere & B-rad said, "No place is open tonight.  If it's still like that tomorrow when I get home, I'll take him to the vet."   I really didn't like that answer, but what was I gonna do?  I put him back outside & started to feel guilty.  A bit later I opened the door again to check on him.  I couldn't find him.  Ruh roh.  I yelled & yelled, "SPARKY!!!!".  I came back into the house & there he laid on the rug.  Man, he's stealth.  He must've ran in as SOON as I opened the door.  My wild child...who hates the inside...this is a problem... We decided to put him in the basement until the morning & I knew I would take him to the vet before I went to work.

Picture it:  I'm at the vet.  Sparky is in the carrier.  I'm crying.  And I'm telling the guy at the counter, "I don't have an appointment.   Suf suf.  But my kitty is hurt.  Suf suf.  I don't know what's wrong with him.  Suf suf."   I dropped him off & came to work.  I worried & worried so much I got a fever blister.  Bleh.

The vet called in the afternoon & said (in a soft, monotone voice ending everything with 'okkkkk?' ), "Sparky has a rectal prolapse.  This is a very serious injury, ok?  Basically what has happened is his intestines are coming out of his rectum, ok?  This is a very serious & we need to operate on him today, ok?  He has about 3 inches of tissue hanging out of his rectum & that tissue will start to die soon, ok?  He will have to be on stool softeners & medication, ok?  It will be imperative that he stay hydrated, ok?  This could happen again & this is a very serious, potentially life threatening condition, ok?"  

Hold up - WHAT?!  So I'm crying & asking questions because my wild child does NOT do medication.  I also asked how much it would cost (because if it's thousands of dollars there's no way...) & told her I need to call my hubby.

So I call B-rad.  And I'm still crying.  And I tell him what's happening.  And I was hysterical.  I told him how much it would cost & my concerns about the medication & told him, "YOU have to make this decision!  I can't do it!  YOU have to decide.  YOU YOU YOU!"  (Told you I was hysterical...)

So B-rad decided to have them do the surgery.  She called me Tuesday evening to say everything went fine. We could pick Sparky up on Wednesday before 6.   He had to wear one of those collar thingies because they had to 'put a suture' in his rectum to hold his intestines in & they didn't want him getting it out.  

Triple Gag.  

And THIS was the goody bag they sent him home with.  The green stuff on the left is stool softener.  The box in the middle with the lovely depiction of intestines with the red dot indicating distress is a paste (that looks like chocolate toothpaste) to help lube everything up.  We have to wait 1 hour after the other medications to give him that.  The bottle on the right has pills in it.  I don't know what they're for, but he hates the pills & paste.  Greaaaaaatttt...

 Another side effect of his rectal distress is that he has to stay inside.  He wasn't suppose to be running around or be stressed.  This should be wonderful...

After a few days, he began to realize that being indoors was just part of his reality now.  

I had a box that was  under the coffee table (because I was too lazy to throw it away...) & he took a real liking to it.  He would just lay in that box & sleep.

   I caught him mid-yawn.  Apparently he's not getting enough rest...

 He had to go back to the vet last Friday for his 2 day post-op check.  Everything looked good except my wild child had chewed out his suture.  Nice.  Even with that collar, he's so nimble & thin he was able to get to his booty.  She told me to, "watch him closely over the weekend to make sure that the tissue didn't start coming back out, ok?"  Really?  So I spent most my weekend watching Sparky's a**.  Hmph...

We went back to the doctor yesterday for yet ANOTHER check.  (Told ya this was serious.)  They gave him more fluids & told me to keep watching his a**.  I could stop the paste & pills, but I needed to continue to give the stool softener & slowly ween him off that.  He even got to take off that silly collar since it served no purpose whatsoever.  Perhaps the worst of all?  He has to stay inside for the rest of this week.   Poor Sparky... He is SOOO ready to go outside.  

So far, Sparky's butt has cost around $400 with the 2 post-ops checks.  When I took Lilly there Thursday, they charged me $272 for the x-rays, medication & putting her to sleep.  Sparky does not have to go back to the vet for another check unless something happens.  That's great news...our bank account needs to recover.  I told them at the vet, "We love ya, but we don't want to have to see you again for awhile!"  Sparky became a real celebrity there.  When the vet was working on Lilly last week, she asked how Sparky was doing.  And when I took him yesterday (& he wasn't moaning & groaning in his cage & hadn't pooped all in it...yet...{he waited for the trip back home for that.}) the tech said, 'Gosh, Sparky seems to be in a good mood today!'  Yea, that's how he rolls...he's a real gem...