#9 Healing Nicely

The next two weeks saw life for our furry family getting back to the way it was before the shooting. Although both dogs shook and shivered over the 4th, hiding anywhere they could that provided them extra shelter. Both of them like the bathroom, kind of reminded me of a tornado drill with both dogs hiding in our small bathroom, there's barely enough room in there for one person to turn around let alone two 100 pound dogs. Besides their reactions to the loud noises and the smell of gun power for that few days when every one and their brother was letting off fire crackers and other mini explosives, things were starting to get back to our form of normal. Wiley and Topaz were no longer skirting their way around Abby. Seems they understood that she was healing, her wound no longer posed a threat to them or her. Wiley was actually sniffing her incision and letting it be known that his cookie is his cookie when Abby would try to steal it. Topaz was no long hissing and hiding, he just went back to ignoring her. Jasper, who had been the only one sympathetic to Abby during all her surgeries, no longer stayed close to her. The routine of Jasper sneaking across the room and Abby, pretending she doesn't see him, laying in wait was returning. Just as Jasper goes by at the closest proximity, Abby jumps up and scares the living day lights out of him. Although still not moving as quickly as she did before at least the desire to scare the cat was back where it should be. Wiley was even joining in the fun. (Don't worry neither dog chases to catch our cats they just like to see them jump). Abby was able to walk well, wag her tail, sit, lie down and poop. The last one on that list still presents a small stance problem but she's just going to have to adjust to her new shape. The only thing she hasn't been able to do is jump up on the bed, which is ok because I really don't want the dogs on my bed anyway, they have their own beds and I don't jump up on those. Jumping up on the bed was difficult for her before because of the weight ratio, the height of the bed and the fact that her legs could be just a bit longer for the amount of weight she was caring around. (Uh yeah, that means she was probably a bit over weight, did I say probably?) I think that it's just the fact that what's left of her rear end is pulled a bit tighter than it used to be so jumping up may take some practice.

We went back as scheduled on July 14. Dr. Zimmer took a look and satisfied that everything was healing well asked Susie to clean some of the scabs off with a saline solution. It only took a few minutes and a Abby was ready to go home again. I still can't believe what Dr. Zimmer was able to accomplish with the mess he had to fix. I think back to the day she got shot and my awe is magnified. There is a God and He gave Dr. Zimmer the talent to sew a big hole on a dogs butt into a functioning, and not too hard to look at rear, wagging tail and all.


Harry calls Abby our miracle dog. We also have a miracle cat. Jasper. We decided to get the kittys a few months after my fat cat Romine had died. Romine had been the fat cat of the litter born into my house when my kids were still home and we had taken in one of my daughter's friend's pregnant cat. We had a huge kitchen in that house and the kitchen table was a horseshoe shaped booth complete with a horseshoe shaped bench with storage compartments under the seats. Momma kitty had made her nest under the seat, unknown to us, until one day we heard her mewing. I lifted the bench seat and Romine was in the process of being born, he was the last of the litter and rather than being the smallest he was twice the size of any of the other kittens. Well, to make an eleven year story short (I'll tell it another time) Romine lived those eleven years a very happy very fat cat.
Back to Jasper. We decided one day that we wanted another cat in the house. We had Abby and Wiley, but I missed having a purring cat so we went to the Steuben County Humane Shelter, same place we'd found Abby and then Wiley, to adopt a kitty. There were, I think three or more rooms full of cats. Old cats, kittens, some in separate cages and a some loose in the room, all sizes and colors and fur types. We felt it was probably best to get a kitten, it would be easier for a kitten to adjust to our dogs and a kitten was less likely to try to cover Romine's lingering scent with it's own. One of the cages had two little kittens in it, a multicolor albeit predominantly gray tiger kitten and a sickly looking little orange kitten. We picked the tiger. With our new kitten in a carrier kennel we introduced him to Abby and Wiley. We put the kennel in the middle of the living room and just let it sit there for a while. The dogs sniffed the kitten through the cage and he sniffed back. After the dogs curiosity waned a bit we opened the door to the carrier. Just opened it and left it that way. Abby stuck her head in and sniffed. Then Wiley did the same thing, when Wiley sniffed the kitten, the kitten rubbed his head on Wiley's nose, the beginning of a very strong bond between cat and dog began at that very moment. Slowly the kitten emerged from the carrier, he started following Wiley around and stuck very close. He pretty much ignored Abby even when she shoved him around a bit with her nose.

We couldn't forget about the poor little orange kitty back at that shelter. We wondered if it was this one's sibling. We talked about it and figured if we have two dogs, why not two cats so the following day we went back to get the other kitten. The folks at the shelter said he was sick but they gave us medicine to give him, seemed he had a cold. They gave me instructions on how much and when to give him his medicine and off we went. I made a mistake this time and instead of leaving the kitty in the carrier for a long enough time to let everyone sniff everyone I just took him out of the carrier to give him some medicine. I mixed it with a small amount of yogurt and fed it to him from a spoon, but because I hadn't let everyone introduce themselves there was some jealousy from Abby and fear on the new little kitty's part. The kittens' seemed to recognize each other and Wiley didn't really care but the beginning for Abby and this scrawny little orange piece of fluff didn't really go all that well. I was babying the kitten as well and that certainly didn't sit right with Abby, she, after all, was suppose to be my baby.



I had recently started making jewelry with natural stones and Harry is (as you already know) a collector of rocks, so it was decided that we would name the kittens after stones, the tiger became Topaz for his many colors and the orange kitty became Jasper. We nursed Jasper to health and had a happy furry family. Wiley and Topaz were a pair, that cat would love on that dog until the dog had to walk away. Topaz would clean Wiley's face, feet, ears, where ever he could lick him. Wiley was patient and let him do it but every dog has his limit. The cats acted like brothers even if they probably weren't. They played together well and would venture together discovering their world. A couple years went by and they would go separate ways. Topaz was the hunter of the two, always bringing in trophies that we would have rather he'd let live. Jasper was a more whimsical sort. He enjoyed chasing butterflies and maple keys. His own shadow would startle him where Topaz would sleep through just about anything. One day they both went out but only Topaz came home.

It wasn't unusual for one or the other of the cats to be gone for a number of hours but you could almost count on Jasper like clock work to meow at the bedroom window to be let in at about 3:30 am. If I wanted to get a full night's sleep, I'd make sure Jasper was already in when I went to bed other wise he'd be waking me up. He didn't wake me up that night, nor the next or the next. I prayed every night that my little kitty would come home. I missed him, he was my little cuddler and it was only me he would cuddle with. It had been the weekend before a holiday when he disappeared, I asked all the neighbors if they had seen him, everyone had been doing yard work that weekend. No one had seen him. I called the shelter, he hadn't been brought in. I looked along the road side, thank God I didn't find him there. I went for walks and called for him. No answer. Three weeks went by, every night as I went to bed I'd ask God to bring by little furry buddy back to me. Three weeks to the day, I was in the kitchen and I heard a faith meow. It was Jasper, I'd recognize his meow anywhere. I went out side and there he was. Poor thing was nothing but skin and bones, he could barely walk. It was very apparent he hadn't had any food. He'd been living off bugs and water. We figured he must have been shut in someone's yard barn or garage, the weather had been very dry so no one had done any yard work for three weeks! Now every night when I go to bed I thank God for my little reminder that He loves me, my lovable cuddler, Jasper.



So Harry and I have our miracle reminders. Abby and Jasper. Help someone provide medical care to their little miracle, donate to The Abby Fund, c/o Pokagon Veterinary Hospital. 2520 Hwy 20, Angola, IN 46703