A Bad Day

There were some unexpected changes in our neighborhood yesterday and I'd be hard pressed to say that I'm really all that sad about the more major of the changes. You see, our neighbor's maladjusted pit bull was playing a little too vigorously and accidentally broke the back of their old cat.

The old cat was close to 20 years old and was in declining health and had become less and less able to get out of the way. The other three dogs were pretty respectful of the old cat. But the pit bull had, well, it had attitude issues.

I learned last night that the pit had accidentally bitten one of the other dogs a couple of days prior. The bite was bad enough to need some surgery and a drainage tube installed.

The pit bull always creeped me out, it always looked at me with an expression of "Yeah, I could probably kill you if I wanted to" and would skulk around. I don't doubt that the dog was badly treated very, very early on its life and, as a result, had permanent issues. But that doesn't mean I enjoyed being around him. The pic there is of him as a puppy, already kind of spooked by much of his new world. But he was a pretty cute pup.

Oh yeah, side note, it probably didn't help that he hadn't been fixed and was swaggering around with a set of balls.

Anyway, the cat got its back broken and had to be taken to the vet to put him down and out of his misery. Already a really tough day. And then the mother next door made the decision that the pit had to go as well. Which, I think was the right thing to do.

But that doesn't make their hearts any lighter or their house any less emptier for the dual loss of both a long cherished cat and a dog that they had come to love but knew things were not going to improve and could get much, much worse.

I should also note now that the pit bull was not, as was first reported (and I posted here about) to me, responsible for the death of the other neighbor's chihuahua. The chi pup was accidentally stepped on by the largest of the four dogs next door and its back was accidentally broken. Which is a tragic accident for all concerned since the big black lab next door is just an over-sized sweetheart.

For my own part, I'm kind of relieved that this dangerous dog is no longer next door. That there will be no more battles through the fence with my dog. That I won't have to keep a close eye on my kids when we happened to be out front when the pit was around. I feel bad for my neighbors but I am happy that the maladjusted and unpleasant dog is no longer around.

Kitty Update

Our cat, Abby, came home from the vet's last night with a rather rough looking freshly cut front paw. No bandage over it but she did get the lampshade protector/maddifier (something that makes someone mad). For the first couple of hours she was pretty wobbly on her feet, overshadowed by the fact that she hadn't eaten in about 18 hours.

It took a little practice for her to get the bottom of the cone up over the lip of the bowl so she could access her food but she got there and was able to eat reasonably well. When she tried to go use her cat box, she was stymied by the cone and couldn't get in easily. I helped her in and back out and then back in again (did I mention she was wobbly?).

She was also pretty needy of some attention and pets and scratches so my wife and I took turns giving her lots of love.

The oddest thing about the whole ordeal is that she didn't come home with any pain killers or a prescription for any. This cat had one of her fingers removed and they didn't think to send her home with a little something for when the local anesthesia wears off. But nope. Can't say I'd like to be her this morning though she didn't seem unduly distressed.

Plus, the total bill for the surgery was about a hundred less than the top estimate, so that was a little relief in an otherwise expensive day.