"It give her cat bite fever
Cat bite fever "
Cat bite fever "
After work last night I stopped at Giant Eagle, picking up some groceries and prescriptions. I loaded up my car then went next door to the Hallmark store to pick up some birthday cards. My phone rings. I look at the caller id. "Restricted." I've had some recruiter calling me lately who has a "Restricted" number, and I also just don't appreciate people blocking their phone numbers when they call me, so I let it go to voice mail. I found a card I wanted to buy when the phone starts ringing again. "Restricted." I let it go to voice mail once again. I start down the card aisle when I start thinking. "That's kind of odd to get two 'Restricted' calls back to back like that, maybe I should listen to the voice mail" Turns out it's my mom. Calling from the hospital.
Time for a little back story. The winter after my dad passed away, a stray cat turned up at mom's house. We told ourselves at first that we were just going to let it go, but slowly over time we started to feed it, and put blankets out in the detached garage for him to sleep on. Then when the winter got really bad, we started letting him into the attached garage so he could be warm. He was a very loving cat, but he had a wild side to him and would nip at you if he got over excited. After I moved out of mom's house last august, she continued to feed and take care of the cat, as he was doing a fair job of keeping down the chipmunk population. He stayed outside during the day and mom would put out food for him and left the attached garage door open a crack so he could get in at night.
Flash back to present day. Mom was feeding the cat in the morning, like she always does, and he got over-excited and bit her, and she needed my help. I put the card back and ran out to my car, searched for the phone number to the hospital, and called the hospital. She got four decent puncture wounds and some scratches from his claws. Her arm was pretty swollen, red and sore. Since he was technically still a stray, they were going to keep her overnight for observation. I drove back home to the local hospital to check on her. We needed to catch the cat and get in touch with the Health Department, so I got a list of things mom needed from the house and headed over there. Luckily I found him in some bushes outside mom's house, and was able to coax him into the attached garage and close the door all the way on him. Since the Health Department was only open 8-4:30, I went back to the hospital with the things for mom and stayed with her until around 10 then drove back to the apartment.
This morning I went back to mom's. Took me a little while and a couple different pet carriers, but I was able to get the fella contained in a carrier. I talked to the Health Department who told me we could either quarantine him ourselves for 10 days or have him put down and sent down to Columbus for testing. After talking with mom, we decided the best course of action was just to put him down. After getting things coordinated with the Health Department and the Dog Warden, I loaded him in my car and headed off. He howled the majority of the way to the Dog Warden.
It was hard, because we really tried to give him a chance and came close to moving him into the house while I was still living with mom. I spent a lot of time sitting down in the garage with him, holding him in my lap, with a full winter coat and gloves on to "protect" myself in case he got too excited. And he would just sleep and purr in my lap. I doubt he ever got much in the way of love before he met us. I used to talk to him about Dad and just kind of vent a little, since I was still trying to cope with Dad's loss.
He stopped howling once I pulled up to the dog warden's, and he didn't make a sound when I took him inside and handed him over. I don't know if he knew what was going on or not. A couple minutes and $10 later, they came back out and gave me the empty pet carrier. I'm assuming he was gone before I left the parking lot.
I went back to the hospital and spent some time with mom. With only a handful of cable channels and not much else in the way of entertainment, I could tell she's already getting stir crazy. Her arm's still fairly swollen and red. Hopefully, if there is any infection, it doesn't get down into the muscles. Just a matter of wait and see and continued IV drugs for now.
So here I am, back at work now. Two "critical" issues on my desk when I came in, plus a phone call as soon as I sat down.
Such is life :)
Time for a little back story. The winter after my dad passed away, a stray cat turned up at mom's house. We told ourselves at first that we were just going to let it go, but slowly over time we started to feed it, and put blankets out in the detached garage for him to sleep on. Then when the winter got really bad, we started letting him into the attached garage so he could be warm. He was a very loving cat, but he had a wild side to him and would nip at you if he got over excited. After I moved out of mom's house last august, she continued to feed and take care of the cat, as he was doing a fair job of keeping down the chipmunk population. He stayed outside during the day and mom would put out food for him and left the attached garage door open a crack so he could get in at night.
Flash back to present day. Mom was feeding the cat in the morning, like she always does, and he got over-excited and bit her, and she needed my help. I put the card back and ran out to my car, searched for the phone number to the hospital, and called the hospital. She got four decent puncture wounds and some scratches from his claws. Her arm was pretty swollen, red and sore. Since he was technically still a stray, they were going to keep her overnight for observation. I drove back home to the local hospital to check on her. We needed to catch the cat and get in touch with the Health Department, so I got a list of things mom needed from the house and headed over there. Luckily I found him in some bushes outside mom's house, and was able to coax him into the attached garage and close the door all the way on him. Since the Health Department was only open 8-4:30, I went back to the hospital with the things for mom and stayed with her until around 10 then drove back to the apartment.
This morning I went back to mom's. Took me a little while and a couple different pet carriers, but I was able to get the fella contained in a carrier. I talked to the Health Department who told me we could either quarantine him ourselves for 10 days or have him put down and sent down to Columbus for testing. After talking with mom, we decided the best course of action was just to put him down. After getting things coordinated with the Health Department and the Dog Warden, I loaded him in my car and headed off. He howled the majority of the way to the Dog Warden.
It was hard, because we really tried to give him a chance and came close to moving him into the house while I was still living with mom. I spent a lot of time sitting down in the garage with him, holding him in my lap, with a full winter coat and gloves on to "protect" myself in case he got too excited. And he would just sleep and purr in my lap. I doubt he ever got much in the way of love before he met us. I used to talk to him about Dad and just kind of vent a little, since I was still trying to cope with Dad's loss.
He stopped howling once I pulled up to the dog warden's, and he didn't make a sound when I took him inside and handed him over. I don't know if he knew what was going on or not. A couple minutes and $10 later, they came back out and gave me the empty pet carrier. I'm assuming he was gone before I left the parking lot.
I went back to the hospital and spent some time with mom. With only a handful of cable channels and not much else in the way of entertainment, I could tell she's already getting stir crazy. Her arm's still fairly swollen and red. Hopefully, if there is any infection, it doesn't get down into the muscles. Just a matter of wait and see and continued IV drugs for now.
So here I am, back at work now. Two "critical" issues on my desk when I came in, plus a phone call as soon as I sat down.
Such is life :)
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