On Cat Scratch Fever

Huckle's ear - it looks like a cut, but is actually dissected.

So even though pregnancy sucks and takes up a whole bunch of time with exhaustion, appointments and insanity, the rest of your life just keeps happening.  Including pet sagas.  I still haven't written about the neighbour-pitbull-trespass-saga (maybe another time - that will be a long rant), but we've had quite a few pet related incidents since we bought our house in the 'burbs.  The latest, and most costly one has been the Dash (ginger) vs Huckle (our ginger) saga.

When we first moved in we were cat-drama free.  Huckle settled in very quickly, Roux took a bit longer to come out from under the bed, but was soon fine.  Our cats are not the kind that have big territories, and can usually be spotted within a very short distance of our house, (or bed, or couch).  Roux now likes sleeping in the neighbours goat house.  To date, there have been no cat/goat issues.  In my head, he sleeps curled up on the goat.

Dash (and his owner) bought their house about a month or so before we bought our place, so when we moved in Dash was still settling in.  He'd lived indoors his entire life before moving here.  His owner decided that now they aren't on a busy main road, it was safe for him to venture outside.  Funnily,  the few times I'd spotted a lady walking a cat around Western Springs - that was our now neighbour, and that was Dash.  Small world.  I laughed at them numerous times. 

So maybe this is karmic retribution for the mockery - since Dash and Huckle have settled into their new homes, they have become mortal enemies.

Before the first signs of violence I was super nice to Dash.  He's quite an affectionate cat, and his owner is lovely, so I often gave him pats on our shared driveway.  I was stupid, and even patted him on our property.  As soon as he started coming in and intimidating our pets though, Murray and I did our best to shoo him away, and rewarded him from being near his house by patting him there.

A common thing to see on returning home from work/visits/adventures is Dash at our gate staring in, and Huckle at our doorstep staring out.  The epic stare-off is common, battling cats less so - but vicious when it does occur.  The first fight we broke up sent fur flying, and when I tried to shoo Dash he did something I've never seen a cat do before - he attacked ME.  My foot was bitten to bleeding point.  I was shocked at the audacity of this animal.  His owner is lovely, but she used to be a cat-breeder, so this led me to wonder if Dash is just a cat version of a very spoilt child used to getting his own way.

We thought after one epic fight maybe that'd be it.  We had a few good weeks where Dash didn't even venture near our house after Murray squirted him with the hose.  We soon realised we'd been lured into a false sense of security when we started arriving home to find stand-off's in our driveway once again.  There has been evidence of fighting on Huckle, and several of us on our shared driveway have broken up cat fights or shut down cat smack talk.

But the recent encounter was by far the worst.  I was chilling out after yoga, and staying up later than usual because Kindergarten Cop was on (best Arnie movie ever!).  Huckle came inside and hopped on the couch for a cuddle.  I was patting him, and it wasn't until I saw blood on my hands that I noticed his ear.  Initially it looked like he just had a bad cut on it, then Huckle flicked his head and I noticed that the top of his ear was almost hanging off.  Every time he flicked it, it hurt, so he flicked it again, and then the ear would start bleeding again.  It was freaky.

I wasn't sure what to do - a sliced ear isn't life threatening, but Huckle was distressed, and it was distressing me.  Growing up on farms has made me kinda like an animal MacGyver.  I have performed several basic home animal surgeries (nothing as serious as amputations, fret not).  But in this instance the only thing I could think to do was either:
a) tape his ear

b) do nothing

Both of which seemed to me that they would stress an already stressed animal further, so I did what I've never done before: I called the emergency vet to ask for advice.  Of course they told me to bring him in.

$245 later... Huckle was high as a kite and full of antibiotics.  Definitely not something I could have done myself.  The pain relief meant he wouldn't flick his ear, which would let his ear heal, and the AB's will (hopefully) prevent any infection.  REALLY wish it didn't cost so much, but glad we took him in when we did otherwise I'm pretty sure neither Huckle nor myself would have slept that night.

Our neighbour came over to talk to us the next day, as she had witnessed and broken up the fight.  She wanted to check on Huckle as when she found them Dash had been on top of him, so she thought he'd likely taken the most severe beating (Dash was also injured, cut ear and weepy eye).  When we told her about his ear, she cried (she really loves cats).  We told her it wasn't her fault, and we weren't upset, but hoped to formulate a plan to aid prevention of further incidence - cats will be cats.  The the best thing about having nice and reasonable neighbours is that you can do things like this.  So we have a plan and open communication to brainstorm further solutions should the need arise.

We're keeping Huckle inside for a few days until his ear is a bit better, and besides resenting his incarceration, he's doing just fine.  Because I felt bad, I bought some dental cat treats yesterday which he LOVES (Roux is much less impressed).  Even Murray has felt bad, so has been sneaking him extra Hucklicious treats.  He's getting lots of love and cuddles, and is being ever so slightly mollycoddled.  Now I'll have have to be careful not to turn him into a spoilt house cat...   

Huckle high on cat drugs.