28 March 2017

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

The morning and afternoon walks go on. (And on and on and on...) Now that the weather has improved again — we recently had a couple of weeks of chilly, unsettled weather — I've been trying to go farther out and stay out longer than I was doing during wintertime. The photos here are some that I took last Saturday. That's when milder, sunny days returned.


Callie the collie, at age 10, has slow days and frisky days. The poor dog has also been completely freaked out by all the commotion and turmoil up in the loft, with the arrival of the new sofa. We've been doing a lot of spring cleaning, and that means moving furniture around so that we can clean under and behind it. The dog hates it when familiar furniture gets moved around. I think it's like the canine equivalent of the earthquake experience.


A couple of weeks ago, Bertie the black cat was injured pretty badly in, apparently, a fight with another cat. Whatever caused it, Bert ended up with a large patch of furless, bare skin on his chest, and a nasty, oozing abscess in the middle of it. He took too his bed for 3 or 4 days.


When I took him to see the vet, the prescription was for a shot and a week of antibiotics. Walt and I had great fun pushing pills down his throat every morning, and we have the scars to prove it.  Bertie, who's 11 now, is doing better, but he's not eating nearly as much as he used to. Maybe he's out hunting more now that the weather is conducive and small rodents have come out of hibernation.

8 comments:

  1. Even though they are about the same age, cats are supposed to live longer than dogs, so Bertie is probably more energetic than Callie.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The cat may well live to be 20, while Callie probably won't make it to 15. It will be interesting to see if and how things change when we bring the new puppy home in about a month's time. Bertie the black cat lived the first 4 or 5 years of his life with a small dog. They slept together in the same bed. So I think Bertie and Nana (spoiler!) will get along just fine. As for Callie, only time will tell.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Those shots are good things. I'm glad that Bertie is getting better. Nana- love her already.

    ReplyDelete
  4. We used to wrap one cat up tightly in a towel with only her head out to give pills..saves ur skin. Poor Bertie.....maybe he was picked up by an owl and when he struggled free the fur ripped off....wish they could tell us what happens to them. New Nana dog hopefully will be sweet to Mr B

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wrapping the cat in a towel is a great idea. I wish we had thought of it. Next time...

      Delete
    2. You will laugh .. they look so comical, all big eyed and angry with their head sticking out of one end and the tail out the other :)
      My dad would roll our cat up in the towel, which just made the cat more angry. They had a love / hate relationship.
      He loved to tease my cat, the cat hated him.

      Delete
  5. NotesFromAbroad­ has left a new comme­nt on your post "Meanwhile, back at th­e ranch...": ­

    When we lived in NC,­ when I was very youn­g, we lost 2 cats to ­animals in the outdoo­rs. From then on my m­om kept our cats indo­ors with us. Nowadays­, here in the US ..in­ towns.. an outdoor c­at has little chance ­of living long .. Min­e are spoiled, fat an­d happy indoor cats :­)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Nana -- is this one going to be like the dog in Peter Pan?

    ReplyDelete

What's on your mind? Qu'avez-vous à me dire ?