My 7 year old barn cat Axle has been missing for about a month. This morning, when I went into one of the enclosures where the cats have access 24/7 to the outside world- I found him lying on his side. He didn’t look right and when I went to pick him up carefully, my hand slid inside of him! He had a large gash on the inside of his back right leg. He also had multiple puncture wounds on the outside of his leg and it was hot and swollen. Temp 103.8. Normally, I can treat wounds but not this time. I had to take Mike to the doctor’s office at 8:45 so Axle went for an early morning ride and after picking Mike up, I stopped in at the vet’s office and dropped Axle off to be seen.

They flushed his wounds and cleaned him up. They thought I had shaved him down, but either he pulled all the hair out of the rear of his leg and his stomach area or he lost it in whatever he battled. I thought he had gotten hit by a car- but the vet said no, it was bite marks that had abscessed and been percolating for sometime until it blew out of his inner thigh. Poor kitty. He got a shot of covenia and a lot of loving from me. He is now in the house under my watchful eye. He’s a lover not a fighter and I have to wonder if Merlin has again made an appearance here. Merlin is a beautiful cat- but he is an older tomcat and trap savvy enough to elude capture for three years now. I think he belongs to someone who is mean to him because he is as mean as dirt. I’ve almost gotten to the point of when I see him- to just chase him off our land to discourage him from returning. I couldn’t even snare him with my drop trap. He’s just one of those. I would love to grab him and snap his gonads right off- he’s attacked four of my cats in the past- Axle would be the fifth victim.

Mike is still anemic so they are talking about giving him a blood transfusion. The problem is under the new managed care plans, transfusions are extremely hard to get. His doctor told us today that even some of her patients getting chemo can’t get blood transfusions. Mike said no problem, he will just stop at a hardware store and buy some roofing nails and add them to his diet! Always the jokester.

I’ve been taking Zara with us on these trips and she is charming the socks off of all she meets. She is so darn smart! She picks up training so quickly and then looks me like, okay mom- what’s next? She now follows me everywhere and I can take her outside the back without a leash. She doesn’t chase the cats, she does try to sneak their food if I am not watching, but she is only 11 weeks old. When I vacuum, she follows the vacuum! Most of the dogs we’ve had either bark at the darn thing or they are scared of it. Not her- she just follows me along. She is getting so big in her back rear legs- you can really see the collie in her now. I need to post some photos of her soon.

Tomorrow, she will accompany me to the coast. I have a hopeful double adoption tomorrow morning. The family wants Penny, my 2 year old Mack Tabby and they also really want Darby- I told them about Darby’s shyness and challenges and they said no problem, they will leave him alone until he figures out they are good people! YAY!!

So wish us luck- it’s a bit of a drive and both cats aren’t going to be happy being cooped up in a carrier for two hours. I will have to remember to take Ms. Zara’s squeaky frog away from her before she gets in the truck. She’s so funny- she has a lot of squeaky toys now, but this one green frog, she talks to it every time it squeaks!  It squeaks, she squeaks- Mike was laughing this morning listening to her in her crate behind his seat. I leave the crate door open if we are in the truck, and she lays back there and has a conversation with her frog. It’s like she is trying to match the pitch. Oh I wish I had a video camera- putting that on YouTube I bet it would go viral! Oh well, she’s good for entertainment purposes but I doubt Penny and Darby would be pleased to listen to her! LOL

Here are Darby and Penny’s photos