The Eye of the Tabby.

Higgins the 16-ish (his age is estimated because we adopted him as a young adult) cat now lives with Bride and Groom. He came with the house. I didn't think it was fair to a senior cat who is a rather nervous guy to start with to uproot him to a new world at this stage of his life, and he worships Bride. So, it seemed like an easy plan - leave the healthy old cat in his familiar environment with people he liked and dogs he gets along with, because cats of a certain age are not really into major lifestyle changes.

So. The movers picked up my stuff on Friday the 12th. Higgins spent the day rocketing from hiding place to hiding place. The movers were super-careful about him and concerned for him, and we guided him from under my bed into the master bedroom closet, where he stayed until the truck left. He then resumed his preferred spot in the garage, where he lurked and sulked. We saw him Friday night and he looked distressed, but physically normal.

I didn't see him Saturday morning, but figured he was snubbing me for disrupting his comfortable world and wasn't too concerned. It wasn't the first time I've been snubbed by a cat, and he had food and water and could sulk to his heart's content. I was busy with last minute cleaning and packing and getting ready to get on the road Sunday morning, as Bride and Groom had a U-Haul aimed at the house on Sunday afternoon.

So, Saturday morning I went into the garage and saw Higgins in his bed, which is one of those kitty-hut affairs with a roof and walls, and his back was turned, and I though nothing of it. I kept working and ran my errands and grabbed a fast food lunch to eat standing up, and after lunch I went into the garage for something else, and tried to get his attention again. I called him, and Higgins lifted his head and looked at me.

I have a strong stomach and have served my time doing wound care, and still nearly threw up my fast food lunch. His left eye was a black hole, a horrifying pool of bloody discharge, and a stream of it ran down his face. It was unbelievably scary, like something created for a scream-worthy moment in a horror movie. His eye was just this black mass, surrounded by red and black streaming fluids.

I abandoned my plans for packing and grabbed the phone, and within 15 minutes we were on our way to the emergency vet (our vet is closed Saturday afternoon). The staff there first assumed he was an outdoor cat who had been maimed in a fight - when I said he was an indoor cat who looked totally normal the afternoon before, they were baffled too.

Long story shorter - his eye is intact. It was severely and suddenly infected somehow, and it's not clear how or why. He came home from the emergency vet in a Buster collar and spent an unhappy night in the hall bathroom, with me squirting a serum made from his blood into his eye to lubricate it every hour or so, along with a gooey antibiotic. I came home over $300 poorer, and had lost an afternoon of cleaning and packing time.

I had to be out of the house Sunday morning because Bride and Groom were moving in that afternoon. Bride took over Higgins health care, and as of a day or so ago he's out of his Buster collar and on the mend. His eye is still messed up but appears to be improving. The dogs and I spent the afternoon and night at Cousin C's and went on to Asheville on Monday. Apparently Florida wasn't willing to let me go without a last bit of Drama.