The Return of Wee Geordie

My buddy Geordie came home from the vet's last night. He's had a pretty terrible week, and I've posted a new profile picture on my Facebook wall - it's a dunce cap!

The Tall Lady and I have fostered kittens for over a year now, and each of our eighteen kids has been a treat. Geordie, his brothers, Cole and Blaze and sister Sidney have been among the best tempered and most easy-going of the lot. Geordie is certainly one of the prettiest.

On Hallowe'en, I went out onto our third floor balcony to watch my neighbours finishing up the yard decorations. A couple of our six cats came out to keep me company. Now, I know better than to leave cats on an open balcony - especially kittens, but I was distracted. In fact, I was putting a Michael Myers Hallowe'en mask on a photo of Geordie (for a Facebook profile), and I wasn't watching them as carefully as I should have done. When I went to get everyone in, I only counted five noses.

Geordie had fallen off the balcony railing and landed on our neighbour's patio three floors below, breaking his right femur. With a lot of help and a good deal of human blood spilled, we managed to get him back upstairs and into the evil cat carrier for his trip to Killarney Animal Hospital.

Once he was there, the plan was to put pins in his leg, get him healed, healthy and mobile again. Unfortunately, the femur was badly shattered, and on Tuesday, Geordie's leg was amputated. After he'd spent three more days being a horrible patient, we were commanded to bring him home.

Geordie is currently residing in a great, big kennel in our living room that we call the post-op ward. The other cats don't like the cage very much, and for the moment, they seem not to be too fond of the big, pansy weirdo who lives inside it.

He will have to stay in the kennel for fourteen days, until we take him back to have his stitches taken out. In that time, he's to be confined to his new bed, and isolated from the other cats. There will be no running, no jumping, no rassling and no adventures allowed!

Geordie is really pretty sad about that. As far as he's concerned, he's done his time and paid his debt to society. He misses racing around the apartment with his brothers and sister, getting into all of the places he knows he's not allowed and doing all of the things he shouldn't do. He even misses his grouchy, old aunts!

His appetite is all that it should be, he's good about taking his meds and he's becoming really adept at rolling on his three remaining wheels. He's strong, alert, good-natured and gentle with his wound. He's our big, handsome Geordie, and he's ready to come all the way home and be as spoiled as he deserves.

I think that he's forgiven me for the accident - maybe I should do the same.