Bosco

Bosco, or the B-man, or just plain ol' "B" for short, came into my life after I'd had "the girls" a couple of years. Those pre-B days are fondly referred to as "The Quiet Years," as in those days all my cats were well behaved and there were no disagreements. A simple snap of the finger would cause any cat to cease their undesirable actions. Noone EVER got on the kitchen counter- stuff like that.

Anyway, I digress. A co-worker brought Bosco to me, as she didn't know what to do with him. He had wandered up to her house over the weekend and her kids fed him, but she knew he was sick and didn't have a way to take care of him, financially or otherwise. Knowing that my heart was bigger than my pocketbook, she did the best thing for him- she brought him to the "Soft-hearted chump."

Bosco stayed in my office all day until I was able to leave early to take him to the vet. He stunk, as he had thrown up in my friend's car, and he had diarrhea as well. I cleaned him off as best I could, but had to be careful, as he had a wound on one of his back legs and a really swollen infected tail. I had no intention of adopting a fourth cat, as I couldn't afford it, but I was willing to take him to vet, get him better, pay for shots/neuter/spay, and find him a good home.

That afternoon I took him to Dr. Ledbury, the best vet in the world, and we began to get him fixed up- bloodwork, exam, etc. Dr. Ledbury said that I had to leave him overnight, because his tail was going to have to be I&Ded (incised and drained for you non-medical folks). I thought he would do it in the morning, but he said, no, he was staying late to do it. That told me that it was bad. Since the clinic was closed by the time we reached that point, I asked if I could stay and watch.

Well, Bosco's tail was not infected, it was dead and had to be removed. I now have a manx cat- but he wasn't born that way. He was a very sick little cat, and Dr. Ledbury warned me that he might not make it. But, obviously he did! And guess what? I kept him. I figured after going through that whole ordeal with him, there was no way I could ever give him away.

Life changed with Bosco, but I have no regrets. My house has not been calm since I brought him home, but not in a bad way, he's just a miscevious little boy. And he is the most loving, sweet little man. I had heard that boy cats were not as "good" as girl cats- they sprayed, fought, etc. Nothing could be further from the truth.

He has chronic colitis, brought about by food allergies and stress, but other than that? He has no problems. We solved those allergies with prescription diet food (can we say "expensive?"). Now just about the only time he has a flare-up is when he has to go to the vet. Although, the last few times he's not had one.

And he still has no idea that he does not have a tail.