Saturday, July 9, 2011

Poor Old Geoffrey

The hot sun in OZ can be very damaging to us humans and Australia has one of the highest incidents of skin cancer in the world.  But at least we are well educated on the subject and are encouraged to "Slip Slop Slap" as in "slip on a shirt, slop on sunscreen, and slap on a hat" when venturing out in the sun.

Our poor old furry friends are not as smart, especially the cats, who love laying in the blazing sun at every opportunity.

Geoffrey our oldest puss has been doing this for the last 18 years and is now paying the price!  The problem is he is a ginger and white cat, making the sunburn problem much worse - especially on his ears and nose which don't have a lot of protective fur.

About 5 years ago he had the tips of both ears removed because of skin cancer but just recently it has come back with a vengeance to his starboard ear (nautical link).  Yesterday he had radical surgery to completely remove the said ear. The vet was very positive and reckons we should get another couple of years out of the old boy.  He was purring away when I picked him up from the vet, he is such a strong and lovely puss.

One thing is certain, he wont get burnt to a crisp in the English summer!
Geoffrey with a full set of ears

stbd ear gone

The fur will grow back

He is still a handsome boy
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