Suddenly, up from the back yard, the (other) neighbor's dog rushed at Stan and they both raced toward me. In a split second, I thought, " I hope I can get to the front door in time to let Stan in and get in myself and keep the dog outside..." It was like I was moving in slow motion...There was no way I could get there in time. Stan and the dog plunged into the underbrush amid frightening noises. I zoomed in the house, put Aiden down in his swing and went outside to see if I could rescue my poor kitty. There were no more noises...the neighbors, who had been walking through the backyard with their dog, had removed their offending creature...I called Stan from the front door and the back porch... but there was no sign of him.
And then I heard an odd sound. A scritching, scraping sound. I looked across the back yard and there was Stan, slowly letting himself down the trunk of one of the larger trees. It's a good thing we didn't declaw him, that's all I can say. I don't know how far he had made it up that tree but when I saw him on the way down, he was probably a good eight feet off the ground...When he got down to the ground, I went over almost to where he was and he was just frozen in place- I think he was afraid that the dog might come back, because he could still hear him, barking from the neighbor's porch. I finally convinced him to come through the weeds to me - I didn't want to risk any poison ivy- and I carried him up to the house; I could feel his poor little heart beating like mad. He has definitely lost weight since we converted him to an outdoor/indoor kitty. Poor thing.
He had another wound. Sadness.
I don't think I would do very well making any nature documentaries. The harsh realities of nature, including seeing animals fight and/or chase each other, and/or, heaven forbid, EAT each other, are not my cup of tea.
4 comments:
Just in case you don't feel bad enough about it, poor little Stan!! Are you sure this whole outdoor cat thing is THAT necessary??
(Please don't hate me, I'm just one of those people who cries for the poor abused animals on tv. Not that Stan is abused, I just hate when animals are hurt, even when they're the ones that pick the fight.)
I wonder how many wounds the dog had, thanks to Stan's claws....hmmm...Poor kitty!
I have to tell you, Claire, we have two cats and our own dog chases them when they are outside....I am seriously thinking of getting one of those shock collars for the dog, to hopefully teach him that when he chases "Pippin and Emma", something bad will happen to him. I'm sure it would only take one, maybe two, times for him to connect the chase to the consequence....(maybe they rent those collars...because I don't want to spend any money on something I only intend to use once or twice!)
And I am one of the most compassionate animal lovers you will ever meet!
Hope poor Stan gets some confidence and can defend himself eventually...
It Stan has been an indoor cat since he was a kitten, you are not
doing him any favors to try and now make him an outdoor one.
Just watch him around Aiden for a few days, he'll adjust to baby far better than the outdoors.
A cat lover.
Poor baby Stan! You know, I've heard that cats really won't hurt babies. The whole cats smothering babies thing is a total myth. But Stan will probably adjust to being an outdoor cat. I just could never have an outdoor cat myself because of the trauma that they go through. My sis-in-law has had many outdoor cats and they all died very young. It's a dilemma.
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