Yesterday, late afternoon, I noticed that the cat was licking under his tail incessantly and seemed unhappy and uncomfortable. I took a peek and saw what looked like a hotspot, just to the left of his rectum, and immediately called the vet, who had no space on the schedule so pointed me toward urgent care . . . yet another perk of living in a city: services such as "urgent care vet" are in fact just around the corner. 

Off Ruckus and I went, both of us full of nerves. The vet immediately diagnosed him with an anal-gland abscess--basically a giant infected boil on his ass. So I sat for an hour and a half in the office as they sedated him, drained the abscess, did bloodwork, and finally returned him to me looking peaked and wan in an Elizabethan collar (which even in his sad state he had managed to remove inside the pet carrier by the time we got home).

So now we are facing 10 days of antibiotics (pilling this cat is the kind of punishment one might find in a circle of Dante's hell), plus the horrible collar, plus some pain meds, which at least keep him drowsy and not licking himself. He and I made it through the night together on the couch, and this morning the wound looks clean and he is purring, though still wan.

The question is: what about our vacation? Do we stay at home and tend the cat, or do we bring him along and tend him at the cottage?

After much discussion last night, we chose option 2. Except that when I woke up this morning I discovered that it's snowing hard.

So will we go anywhere? And if we do, will the cat yowl in the car for three hours straight? In either case, will I lose a finger while dosing him with antibiotics? Stay tuned tomorrow for another thrilling episode in Adventures with Fate.