On Sunday, I noticed a small sore on Jasper’s back. Monday, the sore looked worse. I decided to take him in to the vet “just to be safe.” I expected some hot spot ointment etc — but Dr Raja took one look at him and said they needed to do surgery immediately. (Oh and just by the way, I have the MOST AWESOME VETS, Dr Sodhi and Dr Raja – who practice Ayervedic, homeopathic and acupuncture modalities as well as traditional veterinary medicine).
An hour later, I returned to pick up…..
FrankenCat!
Well. Jasper didn’t like the cone very much. 
Deep in the night, he somehow unlatched the cat door and got himself outside with his cone on. I’ve never heard of a cat unlocking a cat door, have you?
He was missing for 24 hours; vulnerable to infection, crow attacks or raccoon and coyote encounters. I put up flyers all over the neighborhood, and handed them out at the block party that evening. I learned that many of my neighbors know my cat, even though some of us don’t know each other. One of my neighbors told me he’d seen the flyer on a telephone pole and had driven around the neighborhood looking for Jasper. That made me feel really good!
Around 10 pm Jasper came home: stitches, cone and drain tube intact. What a relief!
When it is time for his medication, we take the cone off. Which he LOVES. So now he’s decided that he likes getting his medicine. We leave the cone off for a while, but if he begins licking his stitches, we tell him, “no!” and he stops. We’re hoping to work up to longer periods of conelessness. Of course, he doesn’t get any unsupervised coneless time whatsoever!
This morning he used his clever paws to help me get ready for work:
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and remember: the Great Dog Shoppe is committed to building community in Pinehurst Please mention that you read the Pinehurst Pet of the Week in the blog and get a free treat for your pet!
Glad to hear Jasper is home again, safe and healing. I am a cat person, and can share your joy about Jasper.
Yolanda
Yolanda, thanks for your good wishes! Erica
Tell Jasper to sit still and LISTEN when he's wearing that cone…I bet he can pick up the Disney Channel!
–Aarene