The other night, after we'd had Miss Daisy at the vet because of her kidney condition, Christine brought her home while I went back to work and then to work out.Oliver, our indoor outdoor cat, was inside when she got home, but he insisted he be allowed to go out.
Christine obliged, her attentions focused more on Miss Daisy, and Oliver went bounding out into the back yard.
A few minutes later, after offering Miss Daisy some food and heaving a sigh, Christine looked out the back window to see Ollie pawing at something.
"Oh no, she thought. He has a rabbit cornered." When that happens, we try to grab him and let the rabbits make a break for it.
Christine went out, planning to help out any hapless cottontail, only to find it was no rabbit Oliver was battling.
Now the serpent was more subtle
It was a snake. Not the same one that poked its head through the French doors a while back but a larger one.
It was twisting about and generally flicking its tongue and doing its share of snake posturing."For the love of God, Oliver," she cried and when she was sure the serpent wasn't about to lunge, she snatched Ollie up and hauled him back indoors.
I came home about then to find her checking his legs and coat for signs of viper fangs. He didn't see to bothered and didn't seem to have signs of swelling, but he was yawning a lot. She was not sure what kind of snake it was, not having taken time to get his business card.
"I can't believe we're going to have to go back to the vet and tell him Oliver got a snake bite," Christine said. "He'll think we're terrible pet owners."
I wasn't looking forward to sucking out the poison on my own, but there is an emergency vet. Fortunately we decided Oliver was OK, but it was a little scary.
And Jabez prayed please enlarge my territory
His position was that the snake was in his territory. Cats are all about territory as you probably know.
And that is as true an accurate account of his latest ramble as I can type, with him sitting on my lap.
Daisy is napping in the other room, having taken to a new Hill's kidney diet dry cat food and having endured a subcutaneous treatment from Dr. Sid. In her mind that's a little like being in a Mad Scientist's Lair.
9 comments:
"most" of the snakes Oliver is likely to encounter are probably not poisonous. However, this treatment from Dr. Sid sure gives me the heebie jeebies.
Your lack of confidence disturbs me. ;-)
What did the snake look like?
I'm pretty sure it was some kind of king snake. I googled snake photos the next day, and there was a photo of a speckled king snake that looked pretty close to it. It was a dark brownish black color with a bit of whitish "speckling" on it. It didn't have a very pronounced pattern or stripes or anything that made me think it was a rattlesnake or a coral snake or anything like that. (Not that I was thinking about much other than getting the heck out of there at the time!) It was curled up, but it was probably about a foot to 18 inches long. It's just one of the joys of having woods behind our house. Usually, that's a really nice thing.
Yikes!
"It's a snake, ain't it?" (-- Illustrated Man)
Sounds like a kingsnake. Was the head diamond shaped? Cottonmouths/water moccasins are black, but you'd have smelled it.
I would say the head was somewhat diamond shaped, although it was about the same width as the rest of its body. If it had been a water moccasin, wouldn't the head have been pretty big in relation to the rest of its body? And I don't recall that it smelled.
What a brave boy! Give Oliver some extra scritching behind the ears for me.
hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
you are fantastic!!!
a kiss for you, my dear friend!
god bless u dear
can we exchange our link
r u ready to do?
Post a Comment