From: saavik@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (Marla Belzowski (K-9's))
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
Subject: Cleo
Date: 14 Apr 92 04:30:13 GMT
Article-I.D.: mentor.45278
Organization: Purdue University


Well, I'm been kinda bumed out-lately.

We had to put Cleo to sleep on Sunday.  We don't really know how it
happened, but at far as we can tell this is what occurred.

We guess that Cleo and Mildred were play fighting just inside the back door
to our garage.  Of course, they were play meowing and tumbling about as
usual, and this really tends to get our two collies excited.  They
usually come charging to see what is "getting" the cats (they sleep with
the cats usually and let the cats lick their paws off so they never
indicated any agresson towards them.)

Appearently Wolfie either came charging into the garage to see what was
happening or tried to break it up by stomping he foot in between the
two cats.  Cleo got stepped-on and her jaw compound fractured in the process.   
(that or she ran into the brick wall trying to get out of the way,
we just don't know).

At first we thought that Wolfie grabbed her by the head, and crunched
her, and she got away and up on the bench.  He didn't have
any blood on him anywhere and didn't appear to realize that he even hurt
her.  I later found blood on the floor under the car and all the 
way over to the work bench, but she had just started bleeding under the
car, not by the door, so that indicates that the break was not initiated
by biting, because that would cause her to bleed immediately.  

My mom ran out and grabbed Wolfie and screemed at him while my dad
searched for Cleo.  We found her on the bench in shock and she looked
really bad.  Her tounge was hanging out and she had blood all around
her mouth.  We though she was probably going to die quickly so we
let her sit there for just a bit while I grabbed Wolfie and gave him
a very good shaking by the scruff and stuffed his head into the ground.
Poor Wolfie got up shaking all over and chattering his teeth like he
was freezing to death (It was the first time I really let lose on
him for anything so I think he was convinced that he was going to die).

We let Cleo crawl into her cat box while I went in and called
the vet on emergency call (this was Sunday morning at 9:00 am).

We found a vet and took her in in the box.  We were sure she had
been grabbed and shaken by Wolfie, and we guess that she had internal 
injuries.

The vet looked at her and there really wasn't any other visable
damage but her jaw was terribly fractured.  She had been picking
at her fur all down her back recently (she was looking really bad),
and she was only eating wet food because of tooth loose.   Her jaws
were initially weak and the vet didn't think that she would ever
heal with her age and the severity of the fracture.  We couldn't
leave her jaw like that because she would have starved to death.
She was always a very thin cat.

So we had her put down.  We buried her out under the Bur-Oak
along with her one brother, Smokie, our old Golden/Lab mix, Mandy
and Ace, our old black long-haired cat.

She is survived by her other brother, Simon, who is also 16.
And close acquaintance, Mildred, who is 13.

Wolfie really didn't mean to hurt her, but accidents happen and old
bones break easily.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Marla Belzowski  saavik@mentor.cc.purdue.edu
Mauii Nikki Belzowski CD CGC TDI CERF
Brittish Legend of Beowulf (1leg CD) CGC TDI CERF (currently in the dog house!)
						   tri-color collies
and the cats:  Simon and Mildred
gone but not forgetten:  Cleo  4/12/92
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats