I injected the 5-year-old spayed cat with a tranquiliser.  Then I gave her some anaesthetic gas through a face mask. This would be the safest method.

She showed her claws.
Tranquilisers don't knock out a cat. Just sedate it.

Finally she was anaesthesized. It took a few minutes to drain the pus from the swelling.

A malodorous smell would make the most seasoned veterinarian and veterinary nurse puke. Some sort of flesh rotting bacteria were multiplying inside the swelling.  

The next day, Mr Wong came back. A blackish discharge oozed from the backside wound.

Whitish and soft skin edges.  The cat would lick the wound obsessively.

This time, I gave the cat a general anaesthetic injection into its back muscle.

I seldom used this method as an injection is irreversible if the cat had reactions. The cat may die unlike gas anaesthetic which can be given in small amounts first.

Mr Wong was into the surgery room. The ceiling extractor fan could not remove the malodorous smell promptly.

Mr Wong stepped further away from the operating table and stood nearer the surgery door. 

The smell of the decay of rotting flesh was so much unpleasant. Nurse Ann and I had insensitive noses. We were conditioned to malodour over the ears.

"Do you want to wait at the waiting area?" I suggested.  I did not know whether he would faint as his work with beautiful music and movies would be a world of much more pleasant smells than a veterinary surgery. 

What sort of bacteria was so virulent as to cause tissue decay? The cat has an elastic skin and a bite from the tom cat had injected bacteria into the skin below.

Being elastic, the wound closed. The bacteria multiplied. The cat's defence white blood cells could not cope with the invasion. Cells die and a putrid odour wafted in the surgery room.

The wound was flushed and cleaned. It needed antibiotics and then another surgery to close the hole. The owner did not want the cat back yet.
as a table-tennis ball diameter.

His mother missed the cat but would not be able to clean the wound or give antibiotics. Nurse Ann gave antibiotics by mixing with the cat food.

Over the next 6 days, the wound was licked clean by the cat. All dead edges of skin were licked away all the dead skin creating a hole is as big

It is always a challenge to close up a big skin hole. I hate this type of surgery as failure would mean the cat would suffer from a much bigger hole.

Not as simple as you would think. It took more than one hour. Now, the mother wanted the cat home.



 "If the stitches break down, the hole would be 5 times bigger in area and there would be no second chance at stitching. At home, the cat would be walking about and rubbing its stitches against some walls. You have been informed of the risk."

Veterinary costs are most important for the owner. I understand what the mother was  thinking. She is from the baby-boomer generation where thrift is important.

It was not easy to earn money. She worked hard to earn a living to bring up a filial son.

And here, just a bite wound from a tom cat would cost money.

Mr Wong said, "How to get rid of this tom cat?"
 
"Well, you can contact the government's Veterinary Department," I mumbled, without volunteering him the phone number.

"Another tom cat will take over the territory."

He fingered his beard. Nodded his head. I was wondering why his mother let the cat out of the apartment in the first place but it was not my business to ask. Many older Singaporeans would feed but no keep the stray cat at home. Sometimes, the cat just wanted to go out daily. 

The veterinary expenses were high although this was just a cat bite wound.  The musician and writer owner understood that this was not a simple consultation.

Mr Wong visited the cat in the evening.  He saw the stitches, the long incisions of skin I had to pinch skin from further down the leg to seal just a 20-cm hole.

I had to get skin from every where just to close the gap. The right side of the anus had only 0.5 cm of skin left and I needed to make sure that the anal area be stitched up.

I remembered this uncommon surgery. A dark green blob of anal oil oozed out when I undermined the anal area to get the skin loosened to stitch to the other skin flap.

I cursed: Damn it, anal gland oil contaminating the wound. Would there be infection now?



I swabbed away the oil. I should have squeezed out the anal gland oil before surgery. But I had never thought of it.
 

"3 or 4 days later," he said. "I will bring the cat home."

"No," I said. "The skin wounds take at least 10 days to heal. 14 days preferred.

"There would be no second chance if the stitches break down, " I advised. "The cat would have a gigantic backside wound!"  

"Let me pay the outstanding fees now," he said. "Otherwise the total amount payable on discharge will give me a heart attack!"

Mr Wong gave Nurse Ann the Nets Card to debit the fees.

The surgery and anaesthesia was $250. It took over an hour just to stitch up a "small" wound in the backside. Preparation for surgery took another half an hour.

The man with the beard and left ear ring loves his mother without a doubt. 

Otherwise he would have just asked the humane shelter to take away this cat and saved him money. After all, she was just a stray cat!  

From this experience, all cats should be kept at home for their own safety.

It is still a cat-bite-cat jungle in Singapore. Not only from tom cats. But from the 2-legged ones.

Singapore cats seem to be becoming an endangered species, in my observation.

As they trusted people who feed them, they would be easily trapped. 

Stray cats are becoming extinct in modern Singapore in 2006. The few wise ones would not venture out during daytime as they observed the danger. Who the cat catchers were, I do not know. I have never seen them in action but I was told by cat lovers that they use nets on long poles to nap the stray cats.   

I hope the man with the beard and ear rings would be able to see his mother's cat for the next few years. I advised him not to let the cat out of the bag...

I mean not to let the cat out of the apartment.

It is a real cat napping jungle outside his apartment.