No, this isn't some twisted elephant stuffed animal, this is Bepo's butt after a near death experience. All I know is that she is the mother cat of Princess, Stripes, Blanco, Puff, and Mars and was the original cat on the property. She usually sticks around for a week or so and then takes off for 3 or 4 days so it wasn't odd that she was gone for a couple nights and 3 days. When she did show up she appeared inside the porch (they have sneakily pulled back the screen for quick inside access) and was just laying there. She didn't move when I approached and she had that "death smell."
I touched her and a pool of green severely stinky stuff pooled out of her and I couldn't see anything due to the long hair. I knew this was not your average abscess and figured it was perforated intestines or something so I got her into a carrier and off to the vet we went.
Yes it was definitely infected to the point of her being dead if I hadn't brought her in. Dog? Other cat? None of our 11 fight with each other. Could an intruder have attacked her? The vet says dogs will usually break the tail or a leg bone, but the spacing says it could very well have been a dog. Whatever it was it was not pleasant and still isn't pleasant. Bepo is the friendliest of the cats - she will come up to us and let us pet her - but still doesn't like being contained and is not happy about wound cleansing time (gross). I wasn't sure I'd be able to give her the antibiotics by mouth so they gave her a shot. She is living in the totally outdated shower and not loving it. Meow meow meow. When I let her out for supervised stretches and cone removal she jumps on the screen door and tries to get out the window.
This is a hard week. We are trying to finish up the solar. Sounds like it would be simple, but retrofitting an old house to accommodate all the wiring and stuff requires planning and then some rethinking. Jeff wants to finish and I want things to look as good as they can. All this and we've got a recovering Bepo meowzing and Tuca - not-yet-spayed living in the house and wanting out. Tuca will be the only cat that is a pet besides Dakota our WA cat and come and go Chicken. Tuca just jumped and scaled the screens to the top and catapulted down onto the printer. Yes - finishing solar (Sunday) and spaying Tuca (monday) and releasing Bepo (sooner the better but not when she is still oozing will make things peaceful again!
So the story gets more interesting. We haven't seen dogs in the yard since we put cyclone fence on the bottom and up the side where they had easy access. I am sleeping (Bepo has been hurt already) and at 3 in the morning I hear panting (in my sleep) and I run out and find 3 dogs in a pack running down the property. I have Jeff get the BB gun and when they are trapped at the bottom I chase them back up. I have not seen these dogs before but we decide the only way to be free of them is fencing. I know the cats will wander. I know cats fight. I just don't want dog packs or hungry/mean dogs on my property and the only thing to do it fence it. Cyclone is the only way to do it. On our drive out to the highway we often see 30 or 40 goats in the road, cows in the road, horses. All of these could eat my arboretum in an instant. Trouble is that it is expensive - $84 for 50 feet. We already have barbed wire up so we will attach it to that and to the bordering trees. It will be a slow and expensive project but we need to do at least three sides. The back is all forest land so I doubt dogs would come from there (horses will). Trouble is that with 3/4 fenced already it things get in they are trapped.
So yet another big project. Of course it has to be weed whacked first (grass if 4 1/2 feet tall). The weed whacking has been on hold. I have had to water new tree plantings (no rain here in forever - was hoping it would rain today, the Tuca kitty, finishing painting. I just want to read a book in the hammock and rest!
No comments:
Post a Comment