TheBanyanTree: Whew

[Barb Edlen]

So very glad for the happy ending. You and Barbara are so compassionate to keep looking for the injured cat. 

I empathize with the neighbor situation. I have repeatedly warned our new neighbors to keep their yappy/peeing-on-my-motorcycle-wheels dogs off of our property. I've explained that Cissy & Willow will be very upset. And with both at 120 pounds vs his 15 pound dog and his goofy lab, you'd think he'd listen. 

All we can do is explain to the foolish humans that our pets will act protectively on what they know to be their property to guard and protect. 

I am sure that I will have a similar story to share. 

Right now I am sending our badass Russian Blue out to scare them off. He LOVES being on dog patrol. He takes no prisoners. And if our neighbor complains of wounds, I can smile and say.....Yeah, my cat doesn't like your dogs. Imagine what his pack can do. 

✿*ﾟ‘ﾟ･.｡.:*

> On Dec 6, 2015, at 10:49 AM, Tom Smith <trsmith44 at cox.net> wrote:
> 
> I let our two dogs out in the orchard, mid-day.  It's the next best thing to a walk. They had more enthusiasm than usual that time of day, but I didn't pay it any attention.  Almost immediately after clearing the gate, they picked up a scent and started running -after the next-door neighbor's young  black cat that was hunting lizards in a woodpile.  Our dogs had gone after cats in the orchard before, but the cats always escaped up a tree.  Not this time.  As soon as I saw the dogs chasing the cat, I ran as fast as I could to intervene, but I got there too late. Ginger, a big adopted short-haired pointer, had the cat in or on her mouth and was shaking her head vigorously side to side.  I'd never seen an animal survive that.  Zero time to think. I just grabbed Ginger by the collar and yanked, and to my amazement, she dropped the cat. To my greater amazement, the cat just looked at me, a little out of breath.
> 
> I got the dogs out of there and went back to check on the cat.  It had disappeared. Encouraging.  It could move.  Barbara and I couldn't find it.  Went back and put a leash on Ginger, and took her to where she had dropped the cat. Ginger sniffed and followed a scent trail -there was no blood.  She showed a lot of interest in a near-by stack of wood panels leaning against the side of a shed.  I was sure the cat had hidden there.
> 
> I traded Ginger for a carrier and flashlight and returned.  The cat was at the far end of the panels.  We tried patience and slowness.  It was ourselves that actually needed the calming.  The cat looked like cats usually do, kind of indifferent and unperturbed, but we couldn't believe that.  Barbara was able to pick it up put it in the carrier.  We took the carrier next door.
> 
> Nobody was home.
> 
> We had no cellphone number for the neighbor.  The only veterinary facility open on a Sunday was an emergency hospital that charged a fortune.  Because the cat looked OK we opted to just wait.  Thank goodness the neighbor returned home not long after.  We handed her the cat and carrier and told told her the story.  We had mentioned before that her cat was going in our yard and driving our dogs nuts.  Cats will be cats and dogs will be dogs, so it was bound to happen sooner or later.  
> 
> She took her cat to the vet the next day.  There was a  puncture wound on his rear end.  He is fine now.  Ginger had 3 or 4 cat claw or teeth marks on her nose, one very near one of her eyes.  They swelled up and looked infected, so we took her to the vet.  Now I have to check the orchard before I let the dogs loose down there.  Haven't seen the neighbor's cat since then. I think she decided to have a house cat.  She also decided to make him an "it."
> 
> Whew..