Hello all...

It was a little less than 5 years ago that I first posted here, and I'd
since wandered away, but I still drop by and read. But I haven't had much to
say, either.

Until this morning. I was awakened to the sound of my husband shouting
things like "Let go of it!" and animal scuffling sounds from outdoors.

Since my husband never shouts and "Let go of it!" isn't a valid command and
the scuffling sounds were unusual, I figured it wasn't going to be a good
morning. It wasn't any better when I found myself outdoors, barefoot, not
quite dressed, and not wearing my contacts, so I couldn't see very clearly.
The ruckus was coming from the far side of the garage, so I wouldn't have
seen anything anyway. And DH was still shouting. From the sounds of it, it
was obvious that my dogs had gotten hold of something, not that something
had gotten hold of them.

Dax just likes to chase things, she doesn't really try very had to catch.
Foxy, on the other hand is a good hunter. She's caught a number of birds,
and a month or so ago, she snagged a squirrel. The only thing that saved the
squirrel was DH's interference.

Anyway, the next thing I see is the neighbor's cat fleeing across the yard.
Uh oh.

The story goes that the neighbor's cat was up our tree, and decided to come
down when it saw the dogs. Stupid move #1. Foxy caught it, DH freed it, cat
took off over the fence. Dogs rush around the other side of the garage, and
Foxy's got a cat in her mouth. Either it's the same cat who leapt the fence
and came back into the yard (stupid move#2) or it's a different cat. This is
where I came into the picture.

DH goes and tells the neighbor, and says we'll pay for the vet, if needed. I
am growling inwardly about this because these cats have been harassing the
dogs for months, not to mention digging in my flowers, etc., and I certainly
didn't invite the cat(s) in to our yard. And although the dogs have no
obvious wounds, I don't know what might show up on later inspection. Who's
gonna pay for that, huh? The cat is now waaaaaay up in another one of our
trees. I figure it will be there forever.

Couple hours later, neighbor knocks on the door and asks if I want to go to
the vet with her. No, not really, but I guess I'd better, since we've
obligated ourselves to pay. She shows me the cat and tells me the cat won't
let her look at or clean the wound. I don't volunteer to help because a) I'm
allergic to cats in the sneezing and wheezing sense, and b) the one and only
time a cat scratched me, the not-breaking-the-skin scratch swelled up in a
nasty way and I had flu-like symptoms for 3 days. Not something I want to go
through again.

First odd thing is that neighbor doesn't know where a vet is. She's got two
dogs, 2 or 3 cats, and some hamsters or something, and she doesn't know
where a vet is, or giving her the benefit of the doubt maybe she doesn't
know one that's open on Sunday afternoon.

I know one that's open on Sunday, so off we go. Clinic is open, but no vet.
She makes an appointment for the next day. Another oddity. Why not make an
appointment with her own vet? Heck, I can call my vet during off-hours, and
he calls me back. So then neighbor suggests we visit a nearby wildlife
sanctuary where they may be willing to help her clean the wound. Oddly
enough they do, and she's now thinking the wound may not be serious enough
to warrant further medical attention.

Here are the clinchers, and I can't figure out which is worse:

1) she's surprised that my dogs haven't gotten used to her cats yet, because
they see them so much.
2) the wildlife clinic asked why she hadn't fixed the cat yet, and she told
me that it's too expensive, and that if she was going to get one of them
fixed, she'd get the female done and not the male.

Now DH is reconsidering his rash offer to pay for vet bills. My worry is
that what could be a minor need for antibiotics could end up being serious
and expensive if she doesn't take care of it. And, if this cat hasn't seen a
vet before, there are probably vaccinations that would need to be done,
general checkup, whatever, that I don't want to end up paying for.

Oh yeah, the dogs are fine. Not a mark. The cat scratched my husband,
though.

--
Donna