Last week the clowder started to hiss at Taylor. Taylor has been with us since she was 2 weeks old. She is now almost a year old. They all got along great, but when the hissing started, that was my first clue. I missed it.

Then Taylor started to hide during the day. She would crouch down under the second computer desk in the living room. I missed that sign as well, well, I misread it. We were hitting triple digits in the temperature outside, and under the desk is cool tile. I thought she was just staying cool as she is a long haired kitty.

Then she started peeing out of the litter pan. I guess I needed a piano to fall on my head, but this sign I did not miss. I took her into the vet and he examined her. No UTI, but he did find a tear in her tail. Looks like she got it caught on a sharp piece of wire and it got infected. The cats were hissing at her because she was ill and their scent changes when they are not feeling well.

Taylor has been stitched back together and medicated. She is still hiding, but the clowder only hissed at her a few hours after she came home from the vet. I stopped that fairly quickly with pure vanilla extract.

If I hadn’t been so busy, I wouldn’t have missed the first sign that something was amiss. Thankfully, the problem was corrected and Taylor will be okay. We missed the wound because of all her long hair. Even when she shared lap time with Mike, he didn’t notice the tear in her tail.

Here are Sierra, Taylor, Everest, Rocky when they first arrived. They are up for adoption now, having grown up into strong, healthy and loving cats.

Twirl’s cancer has reappeared. At this point there is nothing that could be done short of expensive and heroic measures that might not matter more than a few days anyway. So instead of subjecting her to endless vet visits, stress and experimental treatments, we are just going to take it a day at a time.

After losing Tazzy, I swore to myself that I would never allow another critter to suffer just because I can’t make that important decision and let them go. I hold to that vow. I started holistic measures for Twirl, prefering a softer approach versus the harsh contempary meds available. I am feeding her aloe vera, a chinese herb and red clover. We will just have to see how it goes.

For now, she is upstairs with the kittens, away from the other group and away from the sun. She is not in pain- not right now anyway. The lesions forming are early lesions. I don’t know if she has a day, a week, a month. Time will tell.

This morning, I took Lei and Kodiak up into the trails. Even with my foot being injured, I know the dogs still need to be exercised. The trails are the easiest way for that to happen. They can be off leash, running free and there are so many scents for them to chase.

Because I couldn’t walk very far, I ended up throwing rocks into the woods at the side of the main trail. They had a fun time crashing through the underbrush trying to figure out just what mom threw anyway!

I couldn’t even think about going up the hills, so we turned around to go back to the truck. It was then I heard a noise behind us. At first, I thought it might be a horseman so I was hustling the dogs (as much as I could hustle) because they already chase my horses. God only knows what they would do with horses they didn’t know!

Turned out to be a hiker. A man who was out for his morning walk. Two interesting things happened; first Lei, who is known for jumping and lunging at people, she stood her ground around me and barked protectively. This is the FIRST time I have seen any shepherd tendencies from her. Kodiak, on the other hand took one look at the stranger and headed straight for the truck. She ran away so fast, I had no idea she could run like that! So much for her being protective! She beat feet like a rocket ship.

I shared the rest of the trail with the gentleman with Lei close by. He told me that two cougars had been spotted a few days ago near the trail. Not good news. I was glad to hear the warning. Next time, when I do go, I will be packing protection. Lei couldn’t stand her own next to a cougar, and Kody already showed me how much help she would be, so I guess I will resort to Smith & Wesson or Colt to protect me!

The cats are splayed out in all corners of the house that are cool. Two are laying in the shower, several are on the kitchen floor, some are sprawled under my desk. The others are in the cat enclosure inside the plastic pools that hold their toys. At 5:00 p.m. it is 101 degrees outside. Maybe the picture will tell the story better.

Dorothy Lathrop, author and artist, wrote in 1951,

“For all of us are
earth creatures and all must live here together. We are the strongest.
It is in our power either to destroy or to protect the weaker ones. We
have destroyed without mercy. Let us now protect with our strength
those creatures that are left, and save their food, their homes and
their lives from those who would selfishly take all these away. For
each creature loves its life as we do ours. It loves the earth, and
the sun and each new day.”

Henry Beston, American writer-naturalist, wrote:

“We need another and a wiser and perhaps a more mystical concept of
animals. Remote from universal nature and living by complicated
artifice, man in civilization surveys the creature through the glass
of his knowledge and sees thereby a feather magnified and the whole
image in distortion. We patronize them for their incompleteness, for
their tragic fate of having taken form so far below ourselves. And
therein we err, and greatly err. For the animal shall not be measured
by man. In a world older and more complete than ours they move
finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have
lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are
not brethren, they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught
with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendor and travail of the earth.”

It is so hard to stay immobile. I am supposed to stay off my foot for a week, but who do they think they are kidding? Mike’s health is such that just feeding the horses leaves him short of breath, so I am supposed to ask him to take care of the cats, the dogs, scoop litter pans and be sure the animals have food and water? I don’t think so. The cats are scared of the crutches, so it is hard to use them around the house. Besides, I am afraid that I will crush a paw or a tail even though I am careful.

I sit in my recliner, I have been doing a lot of sleeping, that’s about the extent of my day.

Last night during the noise and nonsense (otherwise known as fireworks) Cyclone shot up on the porch and slid under one of the cabinets. He stayed there most of the night, terrified by all the noise and the smoke in the air. I fail to understand why when there is a backyard burn ban, that Linn County allows people to set off fireworks? At least this year, one family near us didn’t buy the illegal stuff so no skyrockets landed in the pasture. Both the horses of course went nuts. I expected Racer to be a bit lamed up this morning. He was gimpy but it vanished in a few hours and he is now walking fine. I know from past experience that tonight there will be more fireworks. I haven’t seen Cleo, Tipster or Mercedes or the newest gray kitty. I did see squirrel though.

Had a bit of bad news today. Four days ago when Lei jumped off her doghouse and landed square on my foot, it wasn’t a bone bruise after all. My foot was really hurting this morning, so I went to Urgent Care. I broke my foot- or rather, Lei broke my foot! They put me in a splint and said if it doesn’t get right in 7 days they will have to cast it. 🙁

Ok, so it isn’t for the birds, it’s for the horses. But it sure is an ordeal to buck 6 tons of hay out of a field and into a hay barn in the hot summer sun!

The rumor this year is that there is going to be a hay shortage. The buzz in the Capital Press is that July/August is the time to buy your winter hay, because there isn’t going to be any left soon. My problem is, unless we take the roof off our hay barn and go up a few more stories, all it will hold is 6 tons. The horses will be through that way before wintertime.

So yesterday we went out to a field and bought up a farmer’s crop of hay bringing it home and storing it in the barn. Today I can hardly move. I do hope that Racer and Trav appreciate it. To bad horses aren’t as easy to care for as cats are!

This kitten is a hot bed of activity! His sister Rayne is so much more mellower than he is. His favorite trick is to lay in wait on the stairs, crouched down waiting for the unsuspecting cat to walk by. Then he leaps high into the air, usually crashing right into the back of his next victim. A merry chase down the stairs ensues until finally he dives for cover underneath the furnace. Silly kitty. I find the pattern of his tabby coat to be unlike any I have ever seen. With his large pointed ears, I wonder if somewhere in his heritage he has Bengal there? He certainly is as active as one!