glad your family is ok, sounds like a heck of an adventure!
You are lucky you are so prepared!

LF and RJ,

Sorry to hear what a tough time you've had. I hate those wind storms... talk about scary! I'm glad you came through it as well as you did. My sympathies to the geese (who must have been scared... Be prepared for them to be sucky for awhile) and especially to Nuisance, who sounds like anything but a nuisance. Give him some turkey and my best wishes tomorrow for Christmas.

I really admire how you stood up to the challenge. That's the stuff our pioneer ancestors were made of! Well done!

Merry Christmas and Best Wishes for an Easier New Year!
Maggie_J

Congratulations on pulling through this awful experience LF/RJ! You were obviously well-prepared and fortunate to be so! I hope poor Nuisance heals well. I will give you one word of advice (which I'm sure your vet already did): watch the cat's leg carefully; check it every day for irritation around the edge of the cast. One of our cats broke a front leg a couple of years ago and had a cast as well. We WERE watching her, but not close enough maybe? The cast irritated the leg so badly that after three weeks it was obvious she had infection so we rushed her back to the vet. He removed the cast and also part of the now/dead flesh around the upper leg, re-Xrayed, and gave her antibiotics. She recovered fully and is now healthy and has no problems with the leg and you can't see any damage on the leg, but we were lucky to have noticed it quickly. She might have lost the leg (our vet told us) because she couldn't tell us there was something wrong! I don't mean to scare you - just keep an eye on your kitty :)

Hope life is returning to normal for you after this terrible storm. I'm glad you had some power restored in time for the Holidays! Take care.

Balsam

Thanks Balsam. I went right over and checked his leg immediatly after reading your post. Looks good! What more, we have an excellent vet who wanted to see him again in one week for assesment (that's tomorrow).

One week behind us, five to go....
So far it's not going as badly as I feared. He's grumbly, but not destructive. While we'll all be glad when he can get back to outside business, he's defintely learned the utility of a warm sofa, and rather seems to enjoy watching the snow fall from the inside this year.

Hoooww Sweeeet iT IS!!

If cat needs to be restrained, you might put him in a dog crate. Being loose in house may irritate cast on body with moving around.

Our cat had to have surgery after being bitten, not cleaned immediately. HUGE stomach opening with stitches. We had the dog crate already, from our past Bouvier puppies. We put cat, litter box, dishes of food and water, plus a milk crate on it's side, blanket inside, with a handtowel covering on top side. Cat settled in fine, not much area to move about, especially with her cone collar to prevent licking stitches. Small area prevented her jumping about, though milk crate with towel cover allowed her some height to perch up, and look around. I figured towel and polar fleece blanket would catch any drainage and was changed daily. Both fabrics were easily washed and disinfected. She liked the textures to lay on as well. She was washed twice daily, since she could not clean herself, let me check the stitches for infection or problems. With such a large opening, we had to leave stitches in longer, then she needed to be restitched when some tissue died.

She was in there about 6 weeks, has since healed completely with a VERY NICE scar closure. Hair has grown back. Dr. said later he really didn't have much hope for her, was pleased when she did so well. He was sure that cage helped her get better by containing her activity, allowing us to keep such a close eye on her.

She was a barn cat for about 12 years, but is now the house cat. With that time and money invested, leaving her loose again would be a guarantee to have her hit by a car! Has made the transition to house very well. No accidents and still uses the dog cage for her litter box and milk crate to sit on. Daughter found cat as a kitten when DD was very small. Cat DOES appreciate being a house animal now!! Loves laying on the beds, sleeping with daughter every night.

She was always such a nice cat, the main reason we worked so hard to save her. Tolerated the pain and medicating with no argument, even purred when being cared for. Had to hurt a lot. She can enjoy the benefits of niceness on into her old age.