On Thursday night, as usual, I was playing ball with Abel in my backyard after my badminton game. Then I noticed that occasionally Abel would sit down and lick his hind leg. As I checked closer, I notice a small wound, about the size of a 5cents coin. Abel was not limping, in fact he was jumping around trying to catch the ball. So I decided to leave it till Saturday morning to bring him to the vet to check it out.
So first thing Saturday morning, I brought Abel to the vet. We waited for 45mins before the vet was free to see us. To my horror, the vet shone some light into the wound and I saw maggots moving inside! The vet gave me a few options. As I did not want to take the risk to have Abel sedated (because of his age), I decided to take a slower approach of clearing the maggots.
The vet then took a long tweezer (dont know what you call it), and removed the live maggots from Abel's hind leg. She took out more than 20 maggots! It makes all my hair stand seeing the maggots squirming around. Abel was such an angel and never protested to the process, he only flinched once during the whole process. After that the vet recommended that I leave Abel there for a few hours for her to clean up more maggots (Apparently some maggots buried deep into the flesh but need to come out to breath).
How did Abel gets maggots on his leg? Well, the vet said that Abel must have a wound (could be just a scratch) and as the wound was healing, the skin around the wound was dead. So that attract flies to come lay eggs. And because Abel LOVES soggy and muddy areas, the eggs hatched and thus the maggots!
This is how the wound looks like after bringing Abel home from the vet. The wound is so much bigger! The vet gotta removed the dead cells around the area and cleaned it. And because the wound is at the hind leg, the bandage wont stay intact.
A closer look at the wound, its very deep and painful! Its pretty amazing that Abel was not even limping and did not flinch everytime I clean or apply medication to his wound!
As the bandage wont stay intact, Cathy went to the vet for me and got a collar for Abel, to prevent him from licking the wound. Thanks Cathy! Don't know what I'll do without you :)
This is Abel with his collar. He did not complain about his collar. He was happily moving around the house, drinking water and wagging his tail.
Sunday morning, I brought Abel to another vet for a 2nd opinion and for a check up. The vet took out 2 dead maggots and 1 LIVE one! Another round of medication to flood the wound and kill the maggots. Abel didnt even flinch once. The vet praised him for being so cooperative.
At 1130am, I checked on Abel's wound, saw a dead maggot, used my eyebrow tweezer and took it out from Abel's wound. I then went out and left Abel alone at home for 3 hours. He did not destroy my house :)
Abel is house-bound until his wound recovers, should be about 10-14days. His wound looks a lot better this morning, its no longer swollen. He is behaving like normal, running after his balls, chasing after the cats occasionally (the cats have decided to stay upstairs), his appetite is also normal.
I think all the maggots have been removed. My parents have agreed to babysit him whenever I am at work. He is on antibiotics, cream are to be applied on the wound twice a day. I will also bring him to the vet again for another check-up tomorrow morning.
Garlic doesn't lick other kitties toes though, only the head.
But he is very thorough with it, making sure he covers the ears too.
Garlic : What? Its international knowledge that I have a licking addiction problem (yes, the whole world knows, thanks to Mummy). But who cares, everyone seems to love it! 
Garlic and Sesame took the best spot on the bed, where they can feel the aircon directly. And they stayed close to each other in case it gets too cold.
You can see the difference in their size. The Spice Cat baby is so much bigger than the other 3 Spice Cats.
Zzzzz.....zzzzz.....
We start with the big toe....
The we work it down to the small toe....
And of course, we NEVER forget to clean in between toes!
Mommy has been neglecting our blog and we are all not happy about it. In fact, she has been neglecting her camera as well. After taking up Salsa, she seems to have no more time for anything else. 
This is how the wound looks like after bringing Abel home from the vet. The wound is so much bigger! The vet gotta removed the dead cells around the area and cleaned it. And because the wound is at the hind leg, the bandage wont stay intact.
A closer look at the wound, its very deep and painful! Its pretty amazing that Abel was not even limping and did not flinch everytime I clean or apply medication to his wound!
This is Abel with his collar. He did not complain about his collar. He was happily moving around the house, drinking water and wagging his tail.
ROAR!
To my pleasant surprise, Garlic look very regal, as always.
A close-up, his fur is actually quite white on the inside.
Pepper looks like a mini-Sesame!
Ginger checking out the new Garlic.
Sesame, on the other hand, stayed away from Garlic and Pepper. He also hissed and growled whenever they come near him!
Sesame, keeping an eye on Pepper, and keeping a safe distance.
You know what you looking for.....
A closer look.....