Swedish Fish & Fritz

Kelsey showed me this ad today and I laughed, and then I felt a little sad thinking about my furry babies at home. The day before I left I picked up Fritz to take him outside and felt a lump on his chest. I called the vet and they told me to come in asap. I sort of panicked thinking about tumors and cysts but I was hoping it was just an abscess. (He had a really small one last month on his rump shaker that was pretty much healed when we took him to the vet) The vet, who only specializes in cats, and who was a cat in her previous life, is a wonderful vet but when she started poking at my baby I felt like a mother lion who needed to protect her cub. (Rebecca I think I sort of know how you feel now!)
Dr. Larsen took one look at the lump and immediately said it was an abscess, and a bad one. She shaved around the area and it was huge! I felt like a terrible negligent mother to have not noticed it sooner. She said it was ready to open and it was right about that time Nate got there, which is a good thing because I really needed the support for when she cut it open. She gave him a sedative and numbed the area. We both stood there talking to Fritz trying to soothe him while the vet lanced and cleaned his wound. (I did really well at the time but had a mini-meltdown when we got home) She said that it was from a cat bite and for us to consider keeping him in at night since that is when they usually fight. Nate agreed completely, especially when we got the bill.
Poor Fritz! Then to make matter worse I left at 6:00am the next morning. Nate has been such a good dad!! He has been giving Fritz his antibiotics morning and night, applying a warm compress twice a day (which is so much easier than it sounds!), making sure he doesn't go outside, and just being a great nurse during his recovery.
Nate took him back for a check-up Tuesday and the vet said everything looked like it was healing really well. What a relief. Thank goodness for those nine lives.