Lachlan.Rogers.name » corbett

Corbett’s recovery

Lachlan — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 05:28:11 +0000

Its been a week now since Corbett underwent surgery on his knees. He went into the vet on a Wednesday morning with a planned pick up of Thursday evening or Friday morning.

According to the vet, Corbett had shown model behaviour after his admission, happily letting the vet nurses clip his pelt and administer anesthetic. While he was unconscious the vet was able to deepen his knee groove and tighten his cruciate ligaments making sure that his patellae (knee-caps) would stay in the proper place.

Then he woke up from anaesthetic.

Clansi received multiple phone calls from the head nurse at the animal hospital asking if Corbett sometimes got “a little excited”. Apparently they were having a bit of trouble with him hissing and swiping at anyone who came near his cage and were concerned that the opiate painkillers could be affecting his personality. Corbett can get pretty excited sometimes but it sounded like he just wanted to come home, so pick up was changed from Friday morning to Thursday afternoon

Clansi brought him home and placed his carrier on the floor. Expecting some sort of limping demon I gingerly unzipped the mesh door; only to find a cute, clumsy, loving kitten wanting to rub his head against my hand. He meowed and chirped and settled nicely into his isolation room, purring away happily.

Clansi and I shrugged off this report of bad behaviour as we know just how excitable our little tame leopard can get!

When Clansi took Corbett back a couple of days later for a scheduled check up, the vet wasn’t game to even open the carrier. When a gentle, shy, quiet kitten emerged and let himself be examined with no murmer of protest the vet almost couldn’t believe it! Apparently it had not just been a few swipes and hisses but all out war in the recovery room! To get Corbett into a cage just after full anesthetic they had needed leather gauntlets AND a towl, and no one had been game to go near the cage to check his stiches.

The vet expected us to have difficulty administering Corbett’s anti-inflammatries. Metacam needs to be either put on the cats food OR in the cats mouth right after eating. The first night, Corbett took only a few bites of his drugged food and so we decided to try the syringe method. The first time was a little difficult, but on the third night he went for the syringe like it was filled with cream! Corbett’s interest in the medicine became a problem as he would go for the syringe as soon as he saw it. Clansi had to hide it behind her back so Corbett would eat some of his food first!

His hair is starting to grow back and every day he is walking with more confidance. Two more weeks of confinement and then he is allowed to frolic freely once more, but as he is already honing his escape skills they look like being two long weeks!

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The alert faces of Corbett

Lachlan — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:35:53 +0000

Its been quite a while since I shared any updates about Corbett, our Bengal kitten. Today seems a particularly appropriate time to do so, however, as he is at the vet having surgery. Over the last few weeks he has displayed quite a serious onset of “luxating patella“, which means that his kneecap dislocates and makes it difficult for him to walk.

It is a common malady in small dog breeds and some cats, and I remember hearing somewhere that Bengals have a higher propensity to develop it. The vet informed us that it was probably not painful for Corbett, but it was obviously very frustrating. He is an extremely alert little cat, and very much likes to be able to bound around.

So today they are opening his knees to tighten ligaments and do whatever else they do to prevent his patella from luxating (yes, that is a fun word to use). It will be interesting to see how quickly he recovers, and I’ll keep you informed about that process.

For now, though, here are a selection of the best photos we’ve taken of Corbett lately. I really love the way that they portray his alert, intelligent and inquisitive personality.

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Reckless antics of a playful kitten

Lachlan — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 14:35:00 +0000

Corbett (our Bengal Cat) is four and a half months old, and has recently been refining his version of what Bengal owners call “The Zooms”. The name is extremely appropriate, as the activity involves copious amounts of speed. Corbett prefers to cover not only as much distance, but also as much vertical height range as he can in the shortest time possible. This makes our lounge room, where there are couch backrests and windowsills to bounce off, his favourite Zooming environment.

A good Zoom gets Corbett in just the right mood for some impressive antics. He can do a standing jump up to waist height, which is more than double his body length above the ground. He loves the opportunity to rampage in confined spaces, such as underneath our coffee table and inside my uni backpack.

His universally favourite toy is anything made of rustling paper, whether its a snake-like strip or a scrunched up ball. He enjoys all the toys we’ve given him (and quite a few that he’s claimed for himself without our consent); but paper has just the right blend of noisiness, irregular movement, and non-toxicity. An added bonus with paper is that it is just so much fun to tear apart and destroy!

Here are a few photos of Corbett that manage to capture some of the antics that he has been up to lately. A few of them also show off his increasingly spectacularly marked coat.

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Corbett is a growing cat

Lachlan — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:50:59 +0000

Corbett is now 1.3 kg, which is more than double what he weighed when we brought him to Canberra. Although he is still very small, his growth over the last 2 months has been noticable. He can no longer sit on a lap under the office desk while we work, unless we let our chairs down a bit. He hasn’t quite worked this out for himself, though, and still trys to climb up our shins.

Another indication that he is growing quickly is the confidence that he has gained about his favourite perch – the human shoulder. He is also a lot more confident about nooks and crannies around the house, and loves ferreting in the scrap paper bin. Pleasantly, he is becomming more and more content to sit on the backrest of the couch and absorb sunlight streaming in the window.

There is no chance, however, of Corbett growing out of his cuteness anytime soon. Enjoy these photos.

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Sharing the house with Corbett

Lachlan — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 12:21:04 +0000

For her birthday 2 weeks ago, Clansi was given a kitten by her parents and brothers. Last night we picked him up from Sydney and brought him home to live with us. His name is Corbett, and he is a Bengal Cat.

The Bengal breed has been derived from crossing the wild Asian Leopard Cat with domestic cats, and has a characteristic spotted coat. We chose the name “Corbett” in honour of Jim Corbett, a British hunter of man-eating tigers and leopards in India. Corbett was also a conservationist and one of the first to raise alarm about the declining numbers of jungle cats.

Our Corbett is a solid little boy with spectacular markings and a fierce curiosity about the world around him. He’s still fuzzy and a bit uncoordinated, but incredibly cute.

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