What's a father to do?

Jezibel in one of her favorite places, with her dad

We appreciate the kind words we are receiving about Taz. He had so many relatives and friends who loved him. Most of them have pets that they love too, so we know that they understand how we feel.

This morning Jezibel was in fine form. After her breakfast she came down and went to the door, expecting to get her "dress" (collar) on to go out. I needed a hug so I, to her, "rudely" had the nerve to pick her up and hold her for a minute. She immediately started growling and then hissing at me. I held on to her though because she expected me to. I never just put her down just because she demands it! It's a mother/daughter thing I guess.

We had a very bad scare with her last year. It was in June. She was outside and sometimes she goes over the front fence and likes to sit in our neighbor's yard, under the bush.

It was about 6:00pm and Charlie and I had just had dinner. We were sitting in the family room, which is at the back of the house. Then we heard a commotion outside in the front of the house. I got up to go and check on it. My neighbors on either side were out near our driveway. I walked out and before I could ask what was going on, someone said that they thought one of my cats was hurt.

I walked down towards the neighbor's yard and up against the house by their garage door was Jezibel. She was hurt and crying. I didn't have a blanket so I ran back to the house yelling for Charlie to come out and get her while I got my purse and car keys. He took a blanket and scooped her up. We rushed her to the local emergency hospital.

She had been attacked by two dogs who none of us had seen before. One was a Pit Bull and the other was a Beagle. My neighbor managed to catch them and since there was a phone number on their collar, she called the owner. He lived up on one of the streets that ran behind us on the hill. She said that the dogs had been down on our street before. They had been picked up by animal control one time before. Since they were licensed and the Pit Bull was not spayed, the owner had to pay a heavier fine for that. Still these dogs got out again and this time they could have killed Jezibel.

When the doctor examined Jezibel, she was in lots of pain. One of her legs was bitten through. The X-rays showed no breakage though. She was in shock. The doctor gave her a pain injection and started fluids. There was a chance of severe muscle damage, nerve damage and infection from the dog bite. The prognosis was "fair". That's what we knew when we left her there for the night.

The next day her care was transferred to our regular vet. We called and they told us that we could pick her up later in the day. We brought her home and the poor little thing was so sore. She couldn't stand on her leg. We made her an area to stay in so she could get better. She had antibiotics to take and we'd take her back in about a week for follow up.

The cost of this emergency was close to $1,004. Even though we have pet insurance on Jezibel, we were definitely planning on getting the owner of those dogs to reimburse vet costs.

I can tell you that there's nothing like a dad whose daughter has been attacked. Someone was going to pay! Charlie and I found out where "Joe" lived and walked up to his house. He wasn't home, but a room mate gave us Joe's cell phone number. Charlie called him and left a message.

Later Joe called back and Charlie talked to him about the dog attack and that he expected to be reimbursed. Joe said he could work out some way of paying. The agreement was $300 every two weeks until the $1,000 was paid. Joe gave Charlie a date he would start.

That date came and went and no money from Joe. Charlie called him again and again.

One morning while I was walking, I decided to turn up Joe's street and walk by his house to see if he was home. We didn't know what he looked like because we had only talked to him by phone. When I walked by, the garage door was open and someone was sitting in the garage watching a big screen TV.

I went home and told Charlie that someone was home and the garage door was open and there was a guy watching TV. Charlie said "I think I'll pay Joe a visit" and away he went to Joe's house.

Later Charlie told me that when he got to Joe's house, the garage door was still open so he walked in. The guy had his back to the door. Charlie said "Are you Joe?" Before he could think, Joe responded "Yes".

So Charlie proceeded to have what he calls "a heart to heart" talk with Joe. He pinned him down on when he would make payments and he told him that he would be back if Joe didn't pay on time. After all, our cat was in her own yard, minding her own business and Joe's dogs attacked her and could have killed her. Joe gave him $100.

Joe was true to his word. He paid back every dollar he owed.

I've been by the house several times either walking or driving. Joe doesn't live there anymore. The dogs are also gone. At the time of the attack, Joe had just moved here from Ohio with his dogs. He was living with his son, who still lives there I think.

Jezibel healed nicely. She went through loss of appetite and we had to give Mirtazapine to get her eating again. She lost some weight and actually looked pretty good (she has gained all of it and more back now!).

So Charlie defended his daughter's "honor" and Joe learned a lesson. Don't mess with one of the Bell cats--especially one of dad's girls. We don't take kindly to dogs running wild in our neighborhood.

More later..........