cats

Last night this 5’2″ mother of three chased, wrestled and rolled with a pit bull. My body hurts. I wasn’t cut out for this sort of thing.  I had the first asthma attack I’d had in years and a few of my cats have post traumatic stress syndrome.

I’m a cooking in the kitchen, hanging out at the coffee shop kind of gal – decidedly not a pit bull tamer.

The dog in question – (during the ruckus I named him “Dang Dog!”) – somehow found our very quiet, fence-enclosed bird, raccoon, possum, rabbit, cat and deaf dog (little Wednesday‘s hearing isn’t what it once was) sanctuary. Normally, it’s just the 5 of us humans, a small, almost totally deaf and nearsighted, older dog and five precious cats. We have plenty of wildlife visitors but DangDog! was particularly interested in the cats.

It’s puzzling how he even got back here. We live on the outskirts of town, behind a business that’s protected by a metal, password-protected gate. He either knew the code or has discovered a LARGE hole in one of the fences.  Or he can fly.

We first saw him when a few of my girls and I got back from the store. Wednesday (our little dog) came out of the garage, par usual, to greet us. Then something par unusual happened – out came a large, muscular dog behind him. None of the cats were around at the time – and D.D. really didn’t seem interested in causing problems for Wednesday….until my smart little boy growled up at him. The pit bull wasn’t too happy about that. He was, however, happy about me – he wanted to be my best friend.

He kept standing up with his paws on my shoulders licking my face. Fortunately, of all the things I’m scared of, dogs aren’t one of them. He was a sweetheart to me and never posed a danger at all (to me).  I’m the biggest animal lover in the world and I think animals pick up on that.

But, like I said, we have 5 cats and a much smaller, disadvantaged dog, so my oldest daughter and I lured him away – on the other side of the mechanical gate. I took a package of hot dogs for him which he ate before we even got out of our driveway.

Big ol’ mouth.

I couldn’t help noticing that mouth. I finally got him on one side of the gate and me on the other…which took some doing because he was convinced that he was my dog and I was his… I dunno…. mom?

After a while, when I looked way up at the main gate, I didn’t see him – so I thought “Good, he went home.” I wanted more than anything for him to get somewhere safe – I felt for sure he was someone’s dog. He was the picture of health and wasn’t the least bit afraid of anything.  Or anyone.

So, much later I’m out in the yard in the pitch black darkness – putting Wednesday’s sweater back on him, fresh from being washed in Woolite.

I have some lovely pink pajamas and pink fuzzy house-shoes on – just in case you’re trying to picture the scene – there’s lots of pink.

I saw our smallest cat, Alexa (she was an outdoor cat at the time) in the driveway and was I walking toward her to oooh and ahhhh, tell her how beautiful she is…you know that sort of thing. Then, out of nowhere Dang Dog! comes flying at Alexa (this is where I name him) and like a scene from a nature show… or a nightmare…. he chases her, snapping at her tail. Of course, I’m running after them, in pink fuzzy house-shoes that really sort of “complete” the picture, through the wet, cold yard –  screaming his new name, which he refuses to answer to.

Off come the fuzzy shoes and my bare feet meet the cold wet ground.

I launch onto the dog’s back and down we go.  Alexa takes flight up a tree, reasoning that she still has 8 lives left.  D.D! starts licking my face – it at least lets me know I’m still alive. By now, my asthma’s pretty angry and breathing isn’t coming easily. I put my arms around his neck and try to convince him to let me help him along – to my van. I figure I’ll drive to every house within a mile and ask if they’re missing a large, cat chasing bundle of strength.

Man was this dog strong.

Just as we’re edging along in the dark, with Alexa watching from on high – another of our youngest cats, Bo,  thinks it’s the perfect time to come creeping over to see what all the fuss is about. He sees Double D at the same time Double D sees him….and wer’e off again!

Once again, the dog is right on the home team’s butt….once again I dive onto the dog’s butt and Bo propels himself up yet another tree. Thankfully, God’s a cat lover and we live in a yard with lots of trees. Bo scampers up a tree and I just lay there with everything I have TO wrap wrapped around this crazy dog.

By now, I’m totally amazed that this dog hasn’t eaten my face off yet.  He just kept licking it – and doing the paws on the shoulder thing that really didn’t amuse me much anymore. Fortunately, my husband heard the yelling from inside the house and came out to help. We put him (the dog, not the husband) into the van and off we went to find his home.

Bo and Alexa are pretty jumpy today, and I can hardly move.  Seriously, every bone in my body hurts. The knees and elbows are understandable – crashing onto a hard cold ground will do that.  The back is understandable, too, since this was a very heavy and strong dog.  But my chin?!  I don’t even remember hitting it.  Oh, well. My babies are all okay and the dog’s safe. He has quite a story to tell about a crazy cat lady with coffee on her breath and pink house-shoes.

The picture at the top of the post is Bo looking up at the tree that saved his life.  He’s nothing if not dramatic.  Alexa’s eyes seem fixed in a wide stare.  She jumps at every little sound – convinced that evil’s lurking behind each tree.  My little buddy Wednesday doesn’t seem to know anything went on – he’s pretty much in his own little. oblivious world. But I’ve given him strict orders, no more entertaining friends while were away.