Stories from My Backyard: The Cat with the Hairless Leg

 Don’t worry, you read that right.

My cat currently has a hairless leg. Why, you ask? This prompts a long story.

The Adventures of a Cat

Kili has always been very adventurous. He’s the kind of cat that falls in the pool, attacks trees for seemingly no reason, and chased people around the backyard for fun.

He has a fun life.

At a young age, not even a year, he managed to get one of his front fangs partially ripped out. We took him to the vet and had it removed. It was an adult fang, so Kili is down to one fang. When he is annoyed, he has this habit of curling his lip, right where the fang is missing.

It's rather funny to look at, especially when his ears are laid back. It's similar to Elvis’ lip, except when you see that look, you need to proceed with caution and run when eye contact is made.

Then he contracted ear mites. We took care of that with an ear solution and poured down his ear. You can imagine how that went.

After this, we sat back with a gusty sigh, hoping this was the end of feline troubles. But no, the worst was yet to come.

The Incident

One day, Kili shows up, limping and exhausted. I noticed matted fur on the back of his leg but didn’t think much of it. A week later, that matted clump fell off and revealed an angry, gaping wound. Needless to say, I freaked out and had it looked at. The vet was puzzled but what could have chewed his leg up so horribly.

We brought him home, babied him, fed him, and put him in his bed. Every day for two weeks, I did hydrotherapy, which is fancy for "I ran water directly into the wound" twice a day.

After two weeks, the infection had died out and the wound was clean and scabbing. I permitted him to go outdoors, only for him to show up the next day with the wound re-opened.

Again, the hydrotherapy. Also, raw honey in the wound.

After a week, he goes back out. Again, the wound is re-opened.

I despair at this point. The dramatic in me envisions his tiny, hairless leg being chopped off and him a cripple for life.

Fast forward a month and it completely scabbed over. Cautiously, I released him and breathed a sigh of relief when he showed up at my doorstep the next morning unscathed.

Only to find he had injured the other leg!!!

Luckily, this was a minor scratch and healed quickly.

It has been two months now and he is completely healed, with a little scar on the back of his leg.

But the leg is still hairless..?

I have no explanation for what could have possibly done this to his leg, or why the hair apparently never wants to come back.

He appears to be proud of the leg; while basking in the sun he stretched the hairless limb in front of him and looks quite happy.

Happy and healthy!

*Breathes a sigh of relief*