Welcome to another Animal Connection Monday! Today, it’s a Conversation with a Bad Cat.
Considering the number of animals (lots) that we have here at Dragonfly Pond Farm, it’s incredible how well everyone gets along. Yes, we have a couple of bullies and a ‘fraidy cat or two among the cat population. Other than that, it’s all very copacetic. The dogs love the cats and the cats love the dogs (except for Glenn, who only tolerates them).
Riku-Robin is a handsome bobtail bully who instigates insurrection among the cats. I’ve asked him to be sweet, and he claims he is, but it’s just not in him to be good all the time. Last week, I heard a kerfuffle outside and caught him chasing Blue Kitten through the garden. Blue weighs 18 pounds and has four-inch long fur, so there wasn’t much point in the undertaking other than pure devilment. There was no way RR was going to win that fight, but he knew that BK would rather run than fight, and RR liked the chase.
When RR showed up a few days ago looking miserable and with a swollen back leg, I asked him what happened. Most cats’ humans would suspect a cat-fight abscess. But I know my cats. RR might earn an abscess on his face, but never on his foot. He’s always the aggressor.
I asked him what happened, and he showed an image of himself running through a grassy field (we have a few) and of something he didn’t see snagging him. It hurt, but he kept going.
That could be two things: snakebite, or buckshot. Either is plausible because it’s springtime in swampland, and we have plenty of trigger-happy neighbors who’ll shoot anything that moves. After an x-ray, the vet ruled out buckshot.
Snake bite it is. I knew it for sure yesterday, when the fur finally fell out around those two fang marks.
It’s been calm around here during RR’s convalescence because he hasn’t felt like bullying anyone.
I asked him today if he’d continue to be sweet once he feels better. His answer: “I’m always sweet.”
Look out, Blue Kitten. Your days of lazing on the porch unmolested are numbered.
