wade's great escape

wade did not come home on thursday night, nor was he waiting on the porch on friday morning.  i cried when i approached our home on friday evening and saw the porch swing absolutely still (wade loves to swing on the porch swing).  when john came home we set out in search of wade.  we drove around the neighborhood calling out his name and scoping out all the black cats roaming the streets, but we still could not find him.  around 11:30 pm we returned home.  we were so sad.  then john noticed a black cat slowing limping his way towards our home...it was wade.  he was badly hurt and very scared.  we picked him up, but he cried in pain.  once inside, he would not eat and he could barely get himself up the stairs or onto the bed, so we decided to take him to the OSU veterinary hospital's emergency clinic.  after many, many hours of waiting we had little news to go on.  wade's outrageous behavior and apparently impressive ninja moves proved to the doctors that he had no broken bones.  this was again confirmed with radiographs once wade was under general anesthesia.  the radiographs also showed that wade's heart is too large for his little 7 lbs body and that a blood clot may have been lodged into his hind leg, thus causing his obvious limp.  his white blood count was also very low, which means that his immune system is weak and unable to fight infection.  we are still waiting for the results of his feline leukemia blood tests.  he is home now, but still very sick.  john and i are hoping that his pain is nothing more than soft tissue damage coupled with an infection and that a week of pain medication and antibiotics can help him return to his happy, healthy self.  though there is little to do for his heart condition, the doctor assured us that many cats with oversized hearts live long heathy lives with no major complications.  we are hopeful that wade will be so lucky.  

thanks to all who have been so interested in wade's homecoming and recovery.  we'll keep you posted.