Percikins

"Dammit, Percy!" And just like that, his fluffy butt ran out the door and into the night. I had opened the door to let the dogs in, not realizing Percy was lurking nearby. What is it with indoor cats wanting to go outside all of the time? I guess they don't understand there are many dangers in the outside world for pampered, pretty kitties.

Nova was outside, too. She was a second cat we adopted as a companion for Percy, but Nova liked to do her own thing. Including roaming outside. Nova was "cat-smart" though. Percy was beautiful, but not the brightest kitty in the world. Initially, I had kept both cats inside, but Nova was so persistent on going out that I finally just opened the door and said "Go!" She came back a little later, and peaked through the living room window, wanting to come inside. This became a regular routine. The neighbours loved Nova and would feed her treats. She was friendly and my neighbour's son (he was 2) loved to chase after her. Nova being an indoor/outdoor cat wasn't an issue.

i can't explain how I knew Percy was not destined to be an indoor/outdoor cat. It's not that he did anything in particular to support this theory, but he DIDN'T do the things that Nova did. She would kill mice and do typical cat stuff. Percy kind of just stared off into nowhere-land.

So when Percy dashed out the door, I groaned disparagingly. Now I had to put on shoes and go look for the little bugger. Normally, Percy would come when I called his name. Outside was a different story, however. Far too many interesting things to listen to Mom calling his name. Nonetheless, I could usually persuade his terrified ass back into the house after he realized he was in unknown territory for too long. But not this time. This time, he was gone.

Nova had stayed out all night before, but would always come running when she heard me open the front door in the morning. Morning time meant kitty treats and she never missed out on kitty treats. Percy being gone all night was unheard of.

Then, it became 2 nights. My annoyance at Percy escaping turned into worry and concern for the fluffy butt. Both my cats were registered with the city and part of a Pet Safety group. You could report your cat missing and the system would send out an email to all those who were registered in the area of the lost cat. I did that and had many of my friends contacting me because they knew I always referred to Percy as "the baby kitty". Not because he was the youngest, because he wasn't, but because he needed the most care. And now that baby kitty had been missing for 2 nights.

One of the most recommended suggestions people gave me was to put his littler box outside. Apparently, they could smell it and find their way home? Wouldn't surprise me. I put the litter box out on the back porch.

Lo and behold, Percy came limping in through the back door later that evening! It worked! I was so relieved, except that he wasn't putting any weight on his front right leg. He was purring like crazy after I picked him up. I tenderly felt along the right leg and the poor guy let out a painful yowl. I knew it would be a visit to the vet.

The next day we got Percy in to see the vet right away. They were going to do xrays and said they would splint the leg to see if it would heal on his own. We could pick him up later that same day.

When we arrived back to pick Percy up, we were brought into one of the examination rooms. The vet we met with earlier had some unfortunate news. The xrays revealed that Percy had fractured his leg in two places. She said it had to be a result of some kind of trauma. All I could think of was some people had traps set out to capture skunks in the area. Maybe he got caught in one of those? That would explain why he was away so long.

Having the double fracture wasn't the worst part, though. The vet set the splint wouldn't work in Percy's case. Which meant amputating the entire leg.

My poor baby kitty! I was beside myself. Not only was it horrifying to learn his leg had to be removed, the dollar signs just exploded in my head. The next thing I knew, the vet suggested surrendering Percy to them if we couldn't afford the surgery and they would adopt him out once he had healed. What?! Surrender him? Did I have a choice?

The wheels in my brain started turning, calculating what I could sell to come up with the surgery costs. I was still short. Then a couple of friends messaged me that they would contribute to Percy's vet bills. Then more people contributed! Finally, I had to enough to cover the surgery expense. I sold a fairly new exercise bike that I hadn't really used, but having the exercise bike or having my Percy back home was a no-brainer.

The surgery was a success, but I hadn't realized they were removing the shoulder as well. My poor fluffy baby was shaved all around the surgery area and all bandaged up. We brought him home and he immediately ran off to hide. He was absolutely terrified. To make matters worse, Nova would hiss at him now.

It took some time, but Percy eventually came around to acting like his old self again. Nothing could stop this cat! He could leap and run and play with Nova without any issues. Percy was actually able to leap higher than Nova. Nova would leap up onto a shelf and have to scramble her back legs up onto it. Percy would leap right up on the shelf and land all three feet on it.

We love our fur babies and can never fully protect them from the unknown. Percy, however, no longer wanted to go outside. He prefers the pampered life of an indoor cat now and just waits for Nova to come in from her nightly jaunts.