The latest cat news is pretty good. Throughout the day I've been getting up-to-the-minute reports from the vet. I've never met this vet, and we are getting to know each other under unlikely circumstances, but I really like her. She seems to care a lot about the poor kitty, and also on her business card is says she has an MA and an MFA (!) in addition to her DVM, so this makes her a winner in my book.
Anyway– here's the good news. The surgery is done and went well. The cat had hypothermia for a while following it, but they put her in this special cat warmer called a bear-hugger and surrounded her in warm air, and after a while she went back to normal. Earlier today it seemed that she would need to be fed with a syringe for a few days, and that I would need to give her subcutaneous fluids now and again (with a needle– got used to this during Mr. Cat's final days), but then I got a call saying that she's eating on her own, and drinking and seems to be really recovering rapidly.
And here's the best part– anal tone is already returning. No anal tone, my ass! I'm so glad I didn't follow the gentle lead of the other vet yesterday, who opened the option of putting her to sleep due to the fact that she would never regain her anal tone and would live out the balance of her life fecally incontinent. And yet, only 24 hours later, despite having surgery in between, she's already showing signs of improvement.
I'm going to get her home tomorrow morning, and as luck would have it my mom will be here to provide advice and technical support. This is a moment when her expertise of caring for probably hundreds of ill animals over the years will really come in handy.
Zane Grey's new non-tail will be in the rottweiler/manx sort of range, and I'm sure she'll pull it off with great flair. I went out this afternoon and got her a heated cat bed and special dishes that attach to the inside of her crate. Plan A is that she'll be living in the crate (big enough for food, bed, and littler box) until fully recovered and then free to roam the basement for the rest of the fall and winter.
Also a new possibility as to what may have happened– the vet suspects that a car ran over her tail. Maybe it happened that faithful day she disappeared, and she ran off in dreadful pain and fright, and then– who knows?– got lost? COuldn't find her way home and has been wandering ever since? If only she could talk. But anyway, at least it's going well, and it seems that we're looking at a reasonable rehab and a decent chance of good health afterwards. What an amazing kitty!