I'm still here to write this because somehow the kitten and I survived my stupidity but I am truly a deserving nominee.
About 10 days ago, I noticed that little princess pictured above had a lump under her jaw which kept growing although she was acting normal and didn't seem to be in pain but I mentioned it to my vet. I was told to take her temperature so: thermometer up the butt time and the reading was 39.3C, which is right at the upper end of normal, adding to my suspicion that she had an abscess. By Monday, it was even bigger and the vet told me to bring her in the next day and to put her in a little box inside the carrier to help her feel less fear during the trip.
Looking for boxes on Tuesday, one was a little small and the other too big for the carrier so I decided to use the larger box instead of the carrier.
Here comes the heartbreaking work of staggering genius
A little voice in my head said: Maybe you should tape the box closed as well? I thought: Nah, it'll be fine. Set off on the scooter and once I reached the main road and had travelled about 100m, I glanced down at the box. Fuck me: kitten was no longer inside, but on top. I was in the outer lane with cars behind me so the best thing was to get to the side of the road as soon as possible and then try to slow and stop. In my panic, I misjudged the turn and sideswiped the kerb. Scooter down, rearview mirror busted and I'm looking around frantically for the kitten with my heart in my shoes. I spot her running around on the corner a few meters away, near some people waiting for public transport and asked them to please catch her, hoping like hell that she wasn't about to run into the traffic. The nearest ones just looked at me like I was mad and moved away from her. Luckily she approached a kinder gent who scooped her up, handed her to me and helped me pick the bike up, asked how the hell that had all just happened and then left when his minibus arrived. Kitten back in box, I walked 2 blocks to the hardware store, bought packing tape and taped the box tightly closed and rode home.
Dumbness makes me sad
Miraculously, little kitty was frightened but fine on examination, so later that afternoon, I stuffed a cat bed into the carrier to make it smaller inside (why couldn't I think of this sooner?) and off to the vet we went.
My vet clipped her neck and stuck a needle into the lump to draw out whatever fluid was inside to see what we were dealing with. Pure pus... Since said lump was large and reddish in one spot and the skin thin, the vet decided to lance it then and there. Lots of disgusting goop came out, the cavity got flushed and I was sent home with aftercare instructions. She really has been the most obliging patient and today it seems to have healed although you never know with abscesses, they can sometimes form again although so far, so good.
The lump was easily the size of the first joint of my thumb before it was lanced
By this time, I was feeling the physical effects of slamming into the roadside - the top of my left hipbone was well bruised, the knee hurt and scraped and my ribs felt like they had taken a beating, I probably pulled the intercostal muscles. Three days later, I'm still in pain but it's starting to ease.
This is not the first time I have had a cat escape from a makeshift carrier but hopefully the lesson has finally been learned. I would have found it very hard to forgive myself for that act of stupidity had kitty been killed and it's a miracle that she wasn't.