On March 7th, just before 7pm, my husband went to the market. On his way there, he sent me a photo. No text.
I had never seen that cat before, and I first thought he was one of the guard’s. That dude is a cat hoarder, and we’re not on friendly terms. We once were, but my willingness to support him with his cats fizzled out once I found out he refused to have them sterilised.
When my husband got back home from the market, he informed me the cat looked injured and couldn’t put his right front paw down completely.
I sighed. I even thought for a minute I wished he had not told me. I was tired and so annoyed with him. Because he wasn’t the one who would deal with all the hassle if that cat needed care. I would be the one going to the animal hospital and handling everything, and each time I try to help an animal, it takes a lot of my time. I do have a lot more free time than a lot of people, but I also have a lot to do, including writing up at least one assignment every month for my Counselling Psychology course. And I already have 7 cats and 2 dogs at home, it’s already very time-consuming!
But well, now I knew there was a kitty outside who was possibly injured, I had to go and check. So I went. He was so cute, but he clearly had an issue with his paw, and I said, ok fine, let’s take him to the hospital to have him checked.
There’s a new hospital that opened a few months ago, only 5 minutes from our place, so we thought we’d go there. Vet was nice, she checked the cat, said he didn’t seem to have a fracture, but an X-ray would be needed to confirm. We also noticed he wasn’t neutered. And also that he only had one ball. The other one had not dropped.
I thought it’d be convenient to have the cat so close, so I asked for her rates. And then I decided we’d go to our regular hospital! The price for sterilisation was more than double what I pay at my vet’s, so it was an easy decision.
We got to the hospital, had to give the cat a name, so I went with Big Grey. We had a rescue kitten in 2024 that we called Little Grey, so Big Grey is the first thing that came to me.
We ran blood tests for common infections and X-rayed him. No leukemia or other common disease and no fracture, but the doctor said there was definitely something wrong with his paw and we could observe for a few days and see. We got him vaccinated, and then, the doctor said we could have him neutered a week later. We also did an ultrasound the next day to check where his ball was inside.
I didn’t quite understand why we needed to wait that long to get him neutered, as I know that Soi Dog usually neuter the animals and vaccinate them on the same day (and release them the next day), but the vet later explained to me it was safer for the animal, better for his immune system. I then looked it up online, and actually, the recommendation on most medical pages was to wait for two weeks for better immunity.
I visited him every day, except Tuesday, when I’m always very busy.
He was scheduled for surgery on March 14th, but his blood tests on the 13th showed anemia. The red blood cells percentage was 27.5%, which apparently is not great. The doctor recommended 3 days of blood supplement and retesting to check for improvement.
I kept visiting him and he was such a cuddly cat. I think he enjoyed my visits. We cuddled a lot while I listened to audiobooks and podcasts and told him what a good boy he was.
In the meantime, I managed to see a lady who feeds strays in and around the village. She always comes around at about the same time, so I waited until I saw her and went to show her a picture of the cat. At first, she said she didn’t know him. But then, something clicked, and she checked where I had found him. And then she said she did know him, but she wasn’t sure who his humans were, but she was pretty sure he lived in one of the houses close by. She said the guard would know. I told her I didn’t speak to the guard because he didn’t neuter his cats. She said she understood. She is very pro-neutering herself, and she is also annoyed with that man.
Good thing was that I didn’t need to find a family for Big Grey. I could just bring him back to the village. I had posted online about him, and a lot of people were interested. So many more than usual. I think it’s because I said he wasn’t neutered, even though I specified I would not let him go before he was. People might have thought he was a Russian Blue. Maybe they thought they could breed him or something. People make me sigh a lot.
His surgery was rescheduled for the 17th. His blood test showed good results on the 16th, so they went ahead with it.
I didn’t expect the pictures the vet sent me when she texted to tell me it went well, but it was very interesting!
With all the time I spend at the hospital, and everything I learn from my vet, I feel I should graduate soon to assistant veterinary.
I kept visiting Big Grey every day, and I noticed his paw had improved. He was putting it down and seemed a lot more comfortable. It was never quite clear why. I thought maybe it’s because his inside ball was bothering him and making him all twisted. Or more likely, he got hurt, and staying in hospital for 2 weeks allowed him to rest and heal.
We took him back to the village on March 22nd, and we regularly see him around. He’s still friendly and cuddly, he likes to rub against our legs and he’s happy when we give him food. He’s wary of dogs though and doesn’t like when Happy wants to play with him.
I saw him on Sunday night (June 14th) and gave him his deworming medicine and some food. I need to buy some drops for next time I see him.
We also had a nice cuddle, but I had to cut it short because mosquitoes were eating me alive.
In the end, I’m really glad we took him to the hospital that night we did, because he definitely got better while he was there, and now, he can’t make babies. He can just chill around the village and enjoy his cat life. His paw has been fine, he walks perfectly normally.
I keep all the receipts from the hospital, but the ink starts fading away after a while. We can just about see how much we spent on Big Grey in March : 10690 baht, which is about 245 pounds.
And that includes x-rays, ultrasound, vaccine, anti-parasite drops, deworming meds, 2 weeks in hospital, blood tests, sterilisation, litter, food…
I’m so excited about the donations people have made already! I need to get organised and talk to my vet about bringing some neighbourhood cats in for sterilisation. I also want to get Softie neutered, vaccinated and treated for his skin condition if he needs more than anti-parasite meds. And whenever I see that lady who wants help with a cat, I can tell her we can take the cat to the hospital to have her checked.