On Friday, July 24, 2009, Chris & I headed to Newnan for the weekend, and to hear my Preacher Pa preach his last sermon at Newnan FUMC. (Which, by the way, was amazing! I cried tears the whole way through!) We left Milledgeville around 6:30 Friday evening. Saturday morning, Christopher's mom came to feed Delilah around 11:30, didn't see her, but that wasn't a big deal - Delilah's always off wandering! However, when we came home around 7:00 Sunday evening, Delilah's food had not been touched! The food was still in it's perfect little pyramid form from when you pour it into the bowl. I thought this was strange, but Delilah is known for figuring out that since Chris & I are gone to vacation, she deserves a vacation too - and usually disappears until we come home. Monday night: still no sign of her. Tuesday night: she was still a no-show. By Wednesday night, I had counted her out and given up on her. I just cried like a baby! Chris and I had been all around the perimeter of our woods calling and looking for her. We were devastated! Delilah is our baby -- and I could not wrap my mind around the idea that something had killed her, because she is too tough!
It rained on Thursday. And on this day, Chris came home from work -- and like always, he honked his horn, and I went out on the porch to welcome him home from his hard day. Something caught my eye! I looked over, and there was Delilah sitting in her favorite chair on our porch! I really did not believe it, because all week long my ears had been playing tricks on me and I kept thinking I was hearing her meow or scratch at the door. This time, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me, too! Chris & I went over there immediately to love on her. She was very lethargic and really muddy. We quickly started searching for wounds, scratches, etc. and found dried blood on her side. We knew she was not acting herself, and since finding dried blood, we wasted no time getting her to the vet! It was 5:50 p.m. and they closed at 6:00! So, we scooped her up and took her to the vet just down the road.
They saw her right away! She had a 104 degree temperature (101 is normal for a cat) and was pretty dehydrated. They decided that since she was so long haired and matted from the dried blood, they needed to see what they were dealing with, wound wise --- so they shaved her beautiful, long fur! About 5 minutes later, they called us back in there. They had shaved her, if you can imagine on yourself -- from your under arm to your hip, and from your belly-button to your spine. I was in shock! They then showed us the MASSIVE bruise she had that covered about 80% of the area they had shaved. On that bruise were 5 bite marks -- that appeared to have come from a tom-cat. They kept her overnight, gave her morphine, and injected antibiotics. The next morning, they took x-rays to check for bleeding around her heart, and found none -- thank goodness! However, they did discover fractured ribs and nerve damage to her back right leg. Poor thing!
Ah, to be a cat... :)
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