The One-Eyed Pirate Cat - Bébé Has Arrived!

Bébé has finally been released by the pound! As mentioned in my previous post, a local rescue organization wanted to spring him from captivity last week, but his condition took a turn for the worse, and so the pound decided to hold on to him while he received additional medical treatment. I have to admit that it is very rare for a pound to put as much effort into healing an animal under its care as this one did. Most places would simply have euthanized him. However, Bébé did have a foster home waiting for him, and is quite healthy for a cat of his breed and age. But... .

Bébé lost an eye. His cornea burst, and despite the efforts of the vets and staff at the pound, the eye could not be saved. How the cornea became damaged, nobody can say for certain. The pound believes that he may have rubbed his eye against a cage door or something similar, and caused the injury that way. However, it also has to be kept in mind that the eye was severely inflamed at the time due to an infection that was presumed to be related to feline rhinotracheitis. It needs to be stressed that the diagnosis of feline rhino virus is often based on symptomology alone - as it was in Bébé's case. Unfortunately, this means that cats may be misdiagnosed. The only way to know for certain is to have a very expensive test done - a test that is only done by a few specialists in my area due to it's exacting nature. In Bébé's case, we have to assume that he may have the virus, and act accordingly. That means keeping him isolated from other cats for the time being.

All that said, the infection in his eye could have caused the cornea to burst, particularly if cortisone eye-drops were given to him either too frequently, or when there was already an unnoticed abrasion on his cornea.

So now Bébé looks like a one-eyed pirate cat! He has to wear his cone until the staples are removed, not only to prevent him scratching at the wound (he seems to be declawed), but also to prevent him from bumping the wound as he navigates around my apartment. It will take some time for him to adjust to seeing the world through only one eye! I tried to get a photo of his pirate-look, but unfortunately, he was more interested in trying to clean himself through his cone. Literally. He puts his paw on one side of the cone, and then starts licking the inside of the cone where his paw would be if the cone weren't separating cat from paw. He also tries to groom his ruff in the same way. His fur isn't getting groomed, but the inside of his cone is sure getting pretty thoroughly cleaned!

Image is my own - and the best I could get while he was trying to clean himself!

Even though he only arrived yesterday, it is clear that Bébe is been a very good cat. He used his litter box without problem, and took a shine to the building superintendent who came by to fix a problem with the heating. In fact, Bébé couldn't resist snuggling up with one of his screwdrivers when he stepped out for a few minutes! It just may be that Bébé is a "man's cat"; that is, a cat that prefers hanging out with the men in a household. Yes, some animals do have a gender preference when it comes to owners... .

Bébé will just have to tough it out with both cone and female care-giver until the staples come out! It may not be his idea of a perfect life, but I am quite sure that it beats being in a cage all day long!