OOOOPS!!!!!!

Doesn't look like a Happy Camper does he? Believe me, he wasn't & isn't. Two nights ago we set the traps as usual. Later I checked the one on the back porch & it had been sprung. John went to cover it up, came back in & said "we don't have a skunk". What we had was a large very unhappy tom cat. When you have lemons you make lemonade, right? There was no way I was going to let him go, without having a little corrective surgery done on him, first. We got him in a cage, which wasn't easy. In the process I named him Striker, for cause.....!!! (G) Yesterday morning I called the vet clinic & of course they were busy, busy, busy & were going to be until next week, when the vet was going to be gone for a long week-end.

Not all vets will neuter wild cats. To say your patient is ungrateful & will make you pay, if he can, is an understatement. Our local vet puts them in a small crate, puts the crate in a plastic bag & gases them long enough for the cat to go to sleep. Then they can run a line in a vein & proceed as usual. But not all vets are willing to make the effort & take a chance on getting hurt.

But they took pity on us & said they would do it after hours last night. Got a call this morning to come & pick him up. He hasn't lost any of his attack mode, I'm sorry to say. We put him in the 2 x 4 cage we had been using to move the chickens to the garage every night & put him in the hay barn. The first thing he did was turn the food, water & litter box upside down & fling everything everywhere in the cage. Then he hid in the big pile of straw we had put in for a bed. At least he knows how to use that.........!!! (G)

We'll try to keep him in for 5 days before we turn him loose, I'm sure we'll never see him again.......!!!! Hobo the female will not even walk close to the trap, so John is trying to get her tamed enough to hopefully get her in a crate., for a trip to the vet. Then there is a big yellow tom cat that could use a little corrective surgery, if we ever catch him......!!!

John reset the trap that night, & caught a skunk. Caught another one last night, but haven't caught any in the chicken pens for days. We really don't care if they are around here as long as they leave the chickens alone. He will continue setting a trap in the chicken pen for awhile. If we put something smelly & tasty in the trap, if one gets in there, maybe the trap will be more interesting than a chicken.

The donkeys are all doing pretty good right now. I'm still soaking Judy's foot, although she isn't limping very much at all. Never have seen any openings where an abscess broke, so still don't know for sure what was wrong with her. Haven't heard the results of her ACTH test for Cushings yet. Hopefully the lab gets it right this time.