Hugo's story

Here is the story of Hugo, our fluffy grey pussy cat. He has been boating with us since we got him as a kitten in 2004, and he is very active for a thirteen year old cat. He runs very fast and enjoys the outdoor life. His usual pattern is to lie on our bed all day, sit on our laps in the evening, and go out at night.  He is usually asleep on our dinette by the time we get up in the morning. He is very playful, often ambushing us as we walk near the boat. He knows when we are changing the strings on one of the instruments and he comes to watch as he loves to play with the discarded strings. He is also fascinated by the printer when it is producing copies.

Hugo and the guitar string

Outside the window looking in

Apart from his annual inoculations, we have only had to take him to the vets once, when he had a run-in with a fox just north of Leicester.

On 18^th January we had a very high wind, and the rear doors of the boat were banging shut and then opening again in the gale.  James got up at around 4am to go and fix bungees on the doors to stop them swinging. As he walked to the stern from our bedroom in the bows, he noticed that Hugo wasn’t on the dinette, so he guessed he must be outside somewhere.

The he discovered that Hugo was lying in an unusual place, in front of the fridge. Sadly, by then, James had trodden on him.  Hugo must have been asleep, because he didn’t make a sound. He just got up and tried to jump onto the dinette seat. James helped him up, sorted out the rear doors, and went back to bed.

In the morning, Hugo was just where James had left him, and he meowed pathetically.  We took him to the vets, where they x-rayed him and found he had four broken bones in what we would call his leg, but it is really his foot. They bound his foot with a bandage and a splint, in the hope that it would heal in about six weeks.

Hugo with his first bandage

Thus began a weekly ritual of taking him to the vets in his carrying basket.  The basket is very heavy with him inside, so we would put him in a wheelbarrow for the journey from the boat to the car, and then drive him to the vets to have his bandage changed. The bandages came in various colours – green, blue, camouflage, and one with paw prints on it.  Each time we went he had to be sedated for them to change the bandage without him struggling.

With bandage number 3

He spent some time in the office

Then he plugged himself in :-) 

Watching the printing

Bandage number 4

Bandage number 5

Then came the day when we took him to have his final bandage removed, and the leg x-rayed again.

The devastating news was that, even after six weeks, the bones had not lined up properly.  We were given four choices.

1)    We could continue for a further six weeks in the hope that the bones would form a bond and set.

2)    We could have his leg amputated

3)    We could have him put down

4)    He could have an operation to have the bones pinned in place.

The six week x-ray

We didn’t think a further six weeks would get the bones to join. We are fond of our pussy cat and didn’t want him put down. We were concerned about having a three-legged cat on a boat, so we opted for the fourth alternative, which, in hindsight, we should have had done at the outset.

So a few days later, on 8^th March, he went in for an operation. We collected him the next day, and the vet was very pleased with how the procedure had gone. He had taken some bone from Hugo’s pelvis and put it in his foot to encourage the calcification. This left a large bare patch on his upper leg and back.   He had inserted four rods to connect the bones, and he said Hugo should be fine in six weeks.  There was a bandage to cover the wounds, and that was removed the following week.

After the operation

The x-ray after the operation

With no further bandages, Hugo had to wear a cone-shaped collar to stop him worrying the operation scars.  He hated that collar and was almost in a panic for the first 24 hours.  Now he has got used to it, and doesn’t seem to mind when we put it on him.  We have to remove it for him to feed, but then we have to watch him carefully to make sure he doesn’t have a go at his foot.

The collar

He is now running around, wanting to play games, and he is very hungry. We think that he was eating more mice than we had realised before, but now that he is still shut in, he needs more cat food.  Hopefully when the vet next sees him on 20^th April he will be given the all clear, and we can let him out.

We were originally planning to leave on Easter Monday 2^nd April.  Our revise departure date is now Monday 30^th April.

Next: plans are further changed by unexpected events.  What are the route choices?