Topic: Sanguinary cat!

[Palustris]

Last evening about an hour after had come in from his usual evening hunting trip, our cat was sat in the Dining room while I was playing on the computer. For some reason I happened to glance at him, mainly because he rarely sits in here when the fire is lit and the settee is empty.  The fur under his bottom lip looked a bit red so I had a closer look. Within seconds the blood was pouring out of his mouth. Try as we might we could not see where it was coming from. And he was not for co-operating either.
Fortunately the Vets is only just at the bottom of the lane, so down we went. After cleaning his mouth up she found a cut in the roof of his mouth. A dab with adrenaline was enough to seal the wound.
£40 that was!
BUT why did it take an hour to start bleeding after he came in? As far as we can remember he did not eat when he came in, and he had sat on my lap for a while and surely I would have noticed him bleeding as much as he was doing. Very odd.
He has spent the day sleeping it off in the front garden in the sun after eating soft food instead of his usual biscuits.

[eileen]

Eric we once had the same sort of thing happen here but not with a cat's mouth but with a dog's gum. I put it down to the fact that it was really cold and frosty outside at the time that the injury happened and that the cold was stopping it from bleeding heavily by keeping the wound partially closed. It was only after approx 1/2 hour that the blood began to flow freely.

[Kerry]

well whatever it was, i am glad you and cat are ok, even if you are somewhat lighter of wallet!
did you inquire of the cat what s/he had done to get a cut mouth? i don't suppose s/he was co-operating there either ;). the least s/he could do is explain themselves!
Kerry, a fellow cat -was going to say owner, but perhaps will amend to employee.

[Palustris]

The only thing we can think off, is that he had had a mouse bone stuck and when he worked it loose it left a hole in his gum. Worked out that so far in his 13 years he has cost us around £1000 in Vets fees and medication and operations.
Today I can find no sign of anything in the roof of his mouth so I have to assume it has healed very quickly. At least he is back to eating biscuits rather than soft food.
He may have done himself no favour though, there was a stray cat needing a home so we may be getting that, will know on Monday.