…and I feel so horrible. It started off just like any other evening – me yelling at Tabitha because she was eating Harmoni’s food. It is tough to keep a cat from what they want, especially if it is wet food. I can tell when Tabitha is committing the crime because her collar bell always bangs up against ceramic bowl. Just like every other night, I yell her name and the bell stops as she runs out the kitchen and up the stairs…this time it started up again and I got out of my seat and waited for her to run past me towards the stairs. While she is running, I always manage to catch her hind quarters with a tap to let her know that she was wrong. Something felt different this time…
I woke up on Saturday and just like every other morning, Tabitha and Luna greeted me at the bathroom. Tabitha’s tail looked funny…it was limping. After examining her, I felt the swelling near the base of her tail and she let me know that it hurt by letting out a loud meow. I woke up Will and told him “I broke the kitten…”.
It took a little coaxing to get her from under the bed so Will could examine her. We knew that she had to be looked at by a vet, so I started the non-internet search for emergency vets in the area (the Yellow Pages still has a purpose!). We found one in Ellicott City, called to confirm its location and packed up Tabbi. It is a very nice facility and the staff was nice as well. She had an x-ray taken and sure enough I had dislocated a bone in the tail. The Vet informed us that she can recover from this, however there is a chance that if it does not improve that the tail would have to be amputated. Those words struck me like a guilty verdict at a trial…I was responsible for causing pain and a potential life altering event for this cat.
Words cannot describe the way I feel everytime I look at her. She still loves me, but deep down I feel that she is always asking why…I have been beaten as a child, but I have never been beaten to the point that I was injured and had to be taken to the hospital…this makes me question how I will discipline my own children…
