The Perils of Latte

Latte has had a problem for the past couple of weeks; we think he was in a fight.

Latte is our dog-cat; he stays near the house, on our property, most all of the time, unless he's following us on a walk. When I go out, he waits for me to come home. He sits in various places in the yard or on a porch, "guarding" our house. He sits on my lap with his arms around me; he's possessive, and is the alpha-cat around here. He's not the fighting, roaming type, but one day recently, he came into the house missing a patch of fur in front of his tail. The skin was broken, but it seemed to heal...and then he came indoors, another day, with a similar spot on his flank. This one has not healed fully; it closes and reopens.

I kept trying to decide whether to take him to the veterinarian. Just when I'd decide to take him in, the wound would close up and heal; then, it would open again.  Grossness alert:  he has left little spots of "ooze" on all of our best upholstered furniture. NICE.

Yesterday afternoon, David and I took Latte to the vet. They wanted to sedate him, abrade the wound, clean it and keep him overnight. Keep him overnight? I said, "Sorry, no. I can't leave him." The vet said, " Okay. See you later," and walked out of the room.

Hm.

I made an appointment to bring Latte back to the vet first thing this morning, and he's there, now. They sedated him, cleaned his wound, and he is coming out of the anesthetic as I write this. I will pick him up this afternoon.

This is probably one of those PTSD things, which comes from so many medical horrors with Katie:  I felt a lot of anxiety and sadness taking Latte to the doctor. He hated the car ride, and I felt guilty for making him go where I knew he would be uncomfortable and unhappy, even though it was for his benefit, in the long run. And at this point, I can't leave a "family member" alone at the hospital overnight, even an animal family member.

I didn't know that until yesterday.

I couldn't leave him; I would have had to sleep there with him, and the vet wouldn't have liked that. Neither would Gregg, and, come to think of it, neither would I. It's funny, in retrospect, how clear I was about it.

NO. Not overnight. Not leaving him.

He's coming home with me today.

UPDATE: Latte is home, recuperating in the laundry room (the cats' room). He was very vocal in his displeasure, riding in the car on the way home, but we made it safely! He has to take antibiotics by mouth 2x a day, and he has an open wound (about the size of a nickel) on his flank, but that is what the doc ordered: it has to "air dry." ICK. But it's great to have my boy back where he belongs!
By the way, I found out that he weighs about 16 pounds!