Julio Was in a Fight

The other day, when I was away, it was reported that Polly had escaped the confines of the garden by squeezing under the gate. She was playing with some unknown border collie. This collie has been spotted near the house a couple of times. It is shy and won't come near. I don't know whose dog it is but it looks to be a working dog rather than a pet. As you know the chickens had also escaped and had their evil way with my vegetable plants.

Wil of Paradise Driver had said in the comments that nobody knew what Julio got up to while I was away. He is right, we don't know for sure but we have uncovered evidence that Julio has been in a scrap. Some people in this house had said that it might have been Polly. I've never seen anything other than play between those two, so I am sceptical of this theory. My suspicions initially lay at the feet of that roving collie.

On Thursday when The Man of the Place and I went off to work, Julio was asleep on our bed. Nothing odd there, this often happens. When I returned however, many hours later, Julio hadn't left his spot on the bed. I sat down next to our cat and gave him a couple of strokes. There was a bit of dried blood in his nose and there was a big bite mark on his face. He wasn't looking or acting well. After a quick phone to the vet TMOTP, George, me and Julio were making the 14 minute trip back into Lockerbie. The vet met us at the surgery and proceeded to examine our dear cat.

There are all sorts of visiting animals here at Whitelees. In addition to Polly's border collie friends, we get cows, sheep, foxes, badgers, weasels, stoats, hedgehogs and the occasional feral cat. The vet stated that the injuries on our cat were very typical of a cat fight. This means that Polly and this other dog are off the hook.

Julio had a temperature and more bite marks were discovered. He was given antibiotics and an appointment to come back on Saturday morning. By Saturday he was back to his old self, moving normally and eating. We still made the appointment where Julio was given another dose of antibiotic PLUS his annual booster shots that were due to be given.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, I am surprised that we don't have bald pink pets. You should SEE the amount of pet hair we clean up this time of year! I had emptied the vaccuum cleaner before I started and THIS is the amount that was in there afterward!

The weather has been glorious this weekend. I've spent a number of hours mowing the lawn and planting out flowers.

The Man of the Place has been pointing up the stonework on the house in preparation for a fresh coat of paint. The neighbours look over the fence to see what we're up to and to offer occasional bits of advice.