"Momma, Euphrates has been missing for two days!" said Magpie, nearly breathless with emotion on the eve of my return to the Middle Kingdom.
"Did you leave any doors open to the balconies? To the hallway?"
"No Momma, we are always so careful! But, today I saw that the screen had ripped away from the corner of the frame in the door!"
I assured her that perhaps he was just "hiding" somewhere in the house as the big tomcat sometimes likes to do.
When I arrived more than 24 hours later, he was still missing. Full of excitement to see the kids, organize the house, and prepare for the reunification events when Daddy returned from Beijing...I thought only a bit about poor, missing Euphrates. His mate, Tigris, meowed and continued to search the apartment for her love. (We got the kitties while we were doing a unit in World History on Mesopotamia, thus the names.)
Daddy and the kids had canvased the 12 stories of our apartment building, door to door, and had gone around the outside of the building looking for any sign of him in the days following his initial disappearance. But, he had, quite literally, vanished.
Just as I was posting my last post here, an excited Nai Nai (grandmother) in our building came to the door exclaiming that she thought she had seen our "big cat." She informed us that they had seen him outside and that he had crawled up into a tight spot in the building, but that one of his legs was definitely hurt.
With our fears confirmed that he had indeed fallen eight stories, we went down immediately to try to confirm that it was our cat.
He had crawled up into a cement housing where the huge industrial air conditioners are located on the building. He had gotten behind a slatted covering for the cement alcove and we could not see him. We heard him growling a bit and hurriedly opened a can of clams in an attempt to draw him out. He did not respond to the food.
Daddy was to return that afternoon from Beijing so here I was, all seven kids in the pajamas, outside at 7 am, trying to figure out how to get our injured cat out of his hiding place. The kids were alternating between excitement, fear, and tears as I tried to get them to settle down enough so that I could think.
Luckily, the slatted covering, while having some 25 holes where it should have been affixed to the building...only had 4 Phillips-head screws holding it in place. Unable to find a Phillips-head in the mayhem, I settled for a regular screwdriver that could manage about a half a turn of the screw before it would fall out (the head of screw was smaller than my screwdriver.)
By the time I got to the fourth screw, a crowd had gathered and one of my students brought me a proper Phillips-head which dispatched the remaining screw in record time.
As we drew nearer to the cat, I realized that it could be a scene of gore...or perhaps the cat was a great flight risk...and I could have 7 screaming kids to contend with as well. My cooler head prevailed and I sent two of the H Fam knocking on one of our new teammates' door. Mr. & Mrs. S, from our hometown, graciously answered the door and Mr. S hurriedly came to our aid. Upon moving the air conditioner slightly and he and I making a positive ID of the cat...our next concern was that his back was in fact, broken, as he was folded up in a very awkward position. Given that it was now the 5th day since he had gone missing, I assumed that we were in for a very sad day for the children.
Mr. S swooped in with a towel and brought out our half-dead cat into the light. We put him in a box and called our school bus driver and prevailed upon him to come pick us up so that we could take the cat to the vet.
With bizarre clothing selections, a pair of mismatched shoes, and un-brushed teeth, we loaded all the H family (minus the traveling Daddy) into the yellow school bus with our half-dead cat...and another student who lives in the apartments who could not resist the draw of being a part of our sideshow.
The vet clinic, ripe with the odor of urine and sickness, was just coming alive for the day. An enormous, I mean, ENORMOUS barking German Shepherd greeted us at the door. (I am certain that The Singer and The Bruiser were the perfect size for a scooby-snack for that beast.) The young "vet" (who probably went to a veterinary training program at a technical college of sorts) greeted us with his plan of action. X-rays first, then we would decide if there was anything that could be done for poor Euphrates.
When I touched that poor cat he felt like a hairy prune. There was absolutely no water left in that poor guy...5 days with no food or water had taken a terrible toll on him. I wanted them to give him an IV immediately, but no, the x-rays HAD to be done first. (Here, when you have any illness, even the common cold, you go to the hospital and EVERYONE gets an IV. The joke is that we foreigners are always trying to avoid the hospital because we KNOW that we will be given an IV for treatment. The irony of this event is that I actually was ASKING for an IV for Euphrates and couldn't get it!)
The x-rays revealed that there was a bad break in his left back leg. His back was spared any damage, but the vet said that the x-ray revealed an "enlarged heart." Hmmmmm....
I then had to sign a waiver that the IV might cause sudden death of the cat due to his enlarged heart...but I reasoned that given the 5 days no food or water and the glassy, unfocused stare of the poor guy...he was on his way out anyway...what did we have to lose?
The IV did not kill him.
Some 4 hours later, the cat showed interest in eating and drinking and so we gave him soft food and water that he lapped up vigorously.
The leg has still not been set. The thinking Here is that we need to get him "balanced" with his health before we cause him to endure the surgery to set the leg. Today is 7 days since the break. It doesn't really go with the Western medical thought I'm accustomed to...but then...I'm not in the West, am I?
Each day we must go to the hospital and pay for his daily IV, food, and Ibuprofen injection for the inflammation and pain (about $10 USD). His cage has no bedding (the thought Here is that it is better for him to sleep on the hard surface for his health) and he is next to a pig (that someone apparently decided that they don't want and the vet keeps asking ME TO TAKE HOME!)
We hope that surgery will be tomorrow. Then they may want to keep him in the
torture chamber pet hospital for 15 days. (I think I may assert my opinion at that point and bring him home to convalesce in a more comfortable surrounding.)
It is likely that he will never really be able to use that leg again. I can't imagine that with the break as bad as it is (involving a joint that punctured through the skin) that this vet will possess the skill to really "save" the use of the leg.
Daddy, when considering the situation and the cost to repair the cat (which by Western standards is really slight, but a great deal for our budget nonetheless) suggested that perhaps Euphrates just not come home. (His suggestion was really in jest as he would never dream of such a thing) But we both agreed that such a position is not really congruent with our family's position on those with special needs...so what...he'll only have three legs... he'll fit in better with our tribe anyway. (I am smiling as I type that.)
I promise to have some photos of the above drama posted here soon...I did get some taken on the student's phone who accompanied us to the vet hospital.
On a stroke of good favor...the vet clinic turned out to be next door to the glasses shop that we had to go to that day to replace Brownie's red glasses that were flushed down the toilet the night before...
Ah yes, life is finally getting back to normal...
