Goodbye Sticker

Blake and I had a very hard day yesterday.  Our cat Sticker died.  We found her Sunday morning in our garage when we were on our way to church.  I noticed her when we pulled out of the garage.  She was laying up against the side wall and I thought that was odd because I've not ever seen her lay there.  I got out to check on her and discovered she was torn up by some animal attack, probably a coyote.  She was very bloody on her back end and had puncture wounds in her side.  We took her to the Emergency Vet praying she wouldn't die before we got there.  She was very weary but would raise her head to look at me while Blake was driving.  We sped all the way there.  We got there and handed her over to the tech.  They took her and gave her a big dose of pain medicine and then proceeded to examine her.  They came out and said they could sew her up but she had a very badly broken hind leg that they wouldn't know until they x-rayed it if they could cast it or if they'd have to amputate.  They said I could wait to make the decision until her bloodwork was ready from testing and I said I'd wait 10 minutes for those results and then decide.  They came back and told me she was negative for Feline Leukemia Virus, but positive for Cat AIDS.  This meant that her recovery would be very hard since she wouldn't really be able to fight off any infections, and that ultimately she was terminal anyway.  This took the decision out of our hands, really.  We were (and are) so broken up.  They wrapped her in a towel and met us in a private room so we could say goodbye for a while and hold her.  She was crying when they brought her in but calmed immediately when they put her in my arms.  Blake and I petted her and loved on her and we each got to hold her for several minutes.  Then we let the vet give her the shots.  Blake got to hold her as the shots took effect. 

I am so broken hearted about her.  Every time I go outside I'm used to looking for her and checking on her throughout the day.  It feels like a big void right now.  We loved her very much and will miss her so much.

On our roof

Watching Blake rehearse

In my brother's coat

In our tree, getting on to the roof

Crazy Day Just Kept Going Yesterday

So you saw the post about my car and the stolen wallet. Well, my crazy day yesterday just kept on going. I made it to 5:00 without incident (other than the massive tornado and golf ball sized hail up here near Edmond where I work) and I went home during a break in the rain. I make fiesta soup for dinner without incident. I popped in sweet bread in the oven without incident. Then I turn on American Idol and I look over toward my gerbil's cage and I noticed they're on opposite ends of the cage which is weird because they've been inseparable since Blake got them for my birthday in June 2006. So I go over and notice Lenny (the light red one) is on top of his house not moving and George (the light grey one) is in the far corner sitting quietly. I take off the top of the cage to peer in and see what's up and they both are covered in blood. Their muzzles and necks and paws are just deep red with blood. I reached in to pick up Lenny and he jumped off the house and George charged at him, so I quickly scooped Lenny up and checked him all over to see if the blood was still coming out. It looked like it had stopped so I put him in his ball to keep him somewhere safe for the moment and I checked out George. He was in shock and was confused so I just left George in the aquarium and went back to Lenny. Holy cow they were trying to kill each other! After almost 3 years of no fights at all! I called the animal hospital down the street and the lady was really nice (even though I felt silly calling about gerbils) and said that it was normal and rodents are prone to fight and especially litter mates (which Lenny and George are) and to just keep them separated.

I don't have another cage so I had to make one. I got a box that holds reams of paper and poked holes in the top and put the box in one of those big rubbermaid tubs. And I put Lenny in there since he's better with change and I kept George in the normal cage. I was pretty worried about George, he was lethargic and shaky and pretty traumatized. I think he got it the worst, but I noticed blood on Lenny's rump so George probably instigated it and chased Lenny around.

All that to say I ran in to check on them both this morning and they were fine! They washed themselves of the blood during the night so now they don't look like killer rodents anymore. George was running around his cage happily moving bedding and digging. Lenny however (I should have gotten a picture) was completely rumpled and bed-head and fur every which way from sleeping in his new place. But he perked up quickly and I'm hoping the temporary home will hold him because he's pretty crafty and acrobatic.

I'm ready for Blake to come home and things to go back to normal!!

Here's pics of my gerbils when we first got them and they didn't go crazy. And yes, they're named after the brothers Lenny and George from John Steinbeck's book "Of Mice and Men." I know, I'm clever.

This is George:

This is Lenny. He doesn't have red eyes,
he just had massive red-eye with the camera flash.