This past week was a rough week overall for me, the Anti-Johnny. This post is a rare step away from the dealings and mis-dealings of Johnny Northside & Company in North Minneapolis.
About 1000 miles south of the corruption in NoMi, I decided to tell the story of the utter, emotional and physical roller coaster week I just endured.
Most people who have followed this blog or knows me personally know that one of my life-long interests has been my owning dogs. They are so much more reliable and trustworthy (and loyal) than any one person I have ever met. So, when something happens with one of my dogs, everything in my day to day life gets put on hold until the issue is tended to.
This past Tuesday, December 21, 2010, I decided it was time to take my golden retriever, Sam (he and his late brother Alex are referred to as the "Bumbling Brothers"), to the vet after he had gone several days without being able to keep anything he ate down.
I am telling people what happened with Sam this past week to lead into the main story.
The vet diagnosed Sam as being in kidney failure and needed to be left there if I chose to have them treat him versus putting him to sleep (which was suggested due to the advanced stage of the illness).
The vet sent me home after telling me to prepare for putting him to sleep when I come back the next day because, Sam's blood test revealed lethal levels of toxins in his blood stream and that he was stunned Sam was alive with such high levels of toxins present.
That was hard for me to face and I still have a hard time dealing with the loss of Sam's brother who passed away this past summer. I have had three dogs now for years and within a 6 month period, I was faced with having only one still with me.
I got a bit of a Christmas present this morning when I got a call from the vet who has been treating Sam all week (after I asked him to) and he told me that the blood test results he took this morning shows there has been little improvement but, he has continued to eat and he suggested I bring Sam home as he will be more comfortable with me and my other dog for the short amount of time he has left. As long as he is not in pain and is not suffering, I refuse to put him to sleep when I can spend that time with him and make his last days as nice as possible.
Before I got to today, I went to the vet's office on Thursday (23rd) to visit Sam and when I got out of my car, I saw three older people trying to get a kitten to come out from under a car. I offered to help and when I got down on the ground to reach for it.... The Cat took off!
The owner of the cat (looked to be in her mid-70's) watched frantic as it ran towards a 45 degree, concrete drainage wall that led to the creek about 15 feet down from where we were in the parking lot.
I was the only one there who was in shape enough to take off after the cat. It ran down the wall and jumped to the other side of the creek where it narrowed. This was about 9:30 in the morning and it had been in the lower 30's the night before and had not warmed up much at all. The creek water was freezing cold and I just hoped that the cat wouldn't fall in as it was running right at the edge of the water.
About 150 yards from where we started from, I saw some huge rocks ahead of us that the cat wouldn't be able to get past. Either I would catch it or it would have to jump over the water about 6-7 feet to the other side. As I got closer to it, the cat jumped toward the other side. It landed in the middle of the creek where the current swept it further away and pushed the cat under several fallen branches near the shore but, it was clearly trapped.
With the cat being about the size of an adult squirrel, I knew it would not take long for the cold water to render the cat unable to move and would die soon after. I jumped over the water but, landed about a foot from the shore (yes it was COLD) and reached for the kitten's tail. I pulled it out from under the branches and picked it up by the rough of its neck and out of the water.
The other people were walking along the top of the wall to get to where I was and I yelled for them to get the cat carrier and to throw it down to me. The wall had leaves all over it and with one hand holding the cat, there was no way I could climb up that wall.
A few seconds later the cat started to wriggle around trying to get away and it made me use my free hand to adjust the cat when.... The little kitten, with razor sharp claws and equally sharp baby fangs, BIT ME!
I jerked the cat and it let go but, it was only to get a better grip and I could only stand there (screaming from the pain as well) as I watched its fangs dig into my middle finger down to the bone!
To make the pain even worse... It didn't let go for more than 10 seconds. That pain was intense!
I wanted to slap the cat against the rocks I was standing on but, with the owner looking on in panic, I decided to not let go of the cat.
A minute later the carrier was tossed down to me, I got the cat in it and pushed it up the wall and carried it inside the vet's office. When I set the carrier down, several employee's came to me and took me to a sink to clean the bites and stop the bleeding. About 10 minutes after they had it cleaned and poured iodine on it (THAT hurt like hell also), I pulled out my phone and took a picture of my hand.
The old woman was overly thankful for me saving the cat and even told me that it was a very sweet, loving cat. Of course, I held up my hand to protest her opinion. The vet told me that cat bites can become infected easily and told me to go to a doctor as soon as I left. The owner offered me some money for the medical costs but, I refused it since, she never asked me to chase after her cat and it was my choice to go after it.
She thanked me and left. When I was leaving myself, the receptionist gave me a $100 bill and told me that the old woman had left it with her to give to me so, I would have to take it.
So far the bites have not become infected and the pain has mostly gone away but.... Being that I am a dog person and never cared for cats before... I don't think I will be so quick to take off chasing another cat that gets loose anytime soon.
I did wonder after all of this happened if Johnny Northside would ever even think of doing something like I did? My vote is that John would rather blog about a courageous cat that was lost after "getting away" from him and blah blah blah lol.
I made a fun-to-follow map (thank you Google earth) that shows the area the cat chase happened in.
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