Sometimes They Break Your Heart

Wizard's abcess or wound or whatever it is just isn't getting any better, so it's off to the vet for some antibiotics. They'll probably irrigate his wound too, so he may have to be anesthetized. Poor baby. No food since last night. He's been running around the house like a crazy man this morning, twining around my legs and generally acting as cute as possible hoping that I might feed him.

Two of our cats are missing. Mistah-fluff aka Misty has been gone for over a months. Claire now is missing too, for just over a week. I'm hoping both cats are fine and have moved over to the neighbors, who feed strays at their back door. Knowing Misty's love of attention and her hatred of our other cats, she may have literally gone in there door and moved in where there are no other indoor cats around. This is my fantasy. I've asked the kids to ask Tony about it (he drives their bus) but I think they keep forgetting. Just as well. If he says no, poof, there goes my hope.

In other bad news, yesterday I found one of our chickens dead. She may have died of natural causes, or sickness. It's hard to tell. The water was pretty dirty. I talked with Andrea and found that the animal care situation wasn't as dire as I'd believed when I looked out there. The water was low because she'd been using a smaller bucket to carry it (we're out of 5 gallon buckets. They get used a lot and that busts them up.) She changes it every other day. It's still possible the hen died from drinking dirty water, which transmits a nasty little bug called coccidiosis (sp?) but it's also possible that she had an egg impaction or her heart gave out or any number of reasons. Anyway, I buried her near the old henhouse and struggled with guilt.

Sometimes keeping animals just breaks your heart. At least the dogs and goats all are doing great. Brian is gorgeous, and will probably end up on the dust jacket of Rory's book. Heh--not by himself. Though that would be funny.

Meditations on Violence by Brian Miller. Woof.
As for the culprit, Rory saw a fox the day before yesterday. I love foxes. They're so beautiful. But ... yeah.

So I've told the kids that if they want to adopt another animal, it's going to have to be a small companion dog. No more cats. It's just too dangerous. We did fine for years out here, but with the 'scaping of our garden we're increasing diversity in all the wildlife, and that has brought in much more than the racoons. My mom thought she might have seen a weasel when she was here last. They're pretty nasty customers too. Yes, we could have indoor only kitties but honestly our catboxes--ugh. Three is enough.

I miss our kitties so much. I'm praying they're safe. Three is enough, but I'd just soon have too many, thanks very much, and have our fluff and hairless Claireness back.