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| Horatio enjoys being upside down in Alec's arms! |
Many of you have been reading about the exploits of Horatio...he bears many titles: The Magnificent, the Horrible, The Big, Red Cat...Sigh...
A few mornings ago (I should probably say "afternoons ago") I awoke at my usual time of...late...and began my routine of scanning through my email, facebook updates, and twitter postings. All this I do from my bed. I call it "getting my news and information," as I don't watch any other forms of news, local, state, national, or world. I prefer my own bubble, thank you.
Well, my bubble was rudely intruded upon when I heard a mournful mewing from somewhere in the house...I quickly looked up to see which cat was in dire need of attention--they are all so starved in that area! I noticed that Maddie and Sophie were both in my room with me...and quiet. So that left Horatio. And it's unlike him to cry from a different floor for attention...Uh oh. He was trapped somewhere.
I dashed downstairs to see what was up, and realized he was in the pantry, closed in. Poor thing. I "opened" the door about the three inches it was able to open before encountering the overturned trash can and spilled trash, knocked over broom, mop and pulled out wrapping paper and gift bags...Sweet thing hopped out and into the kitchen so insulted at having been forgotten and ignored for I don't know how long!
I messaged Michael immediately to let him know that however long he'd been gone, that's how long Horatio had been locked in the pantry. I still don't know how long that is...but told him that he'd best do a head count on the cats before he leaves from now on!
I noticed that Horatio seemed to be favoring one of his paws, but that he was able to put his full weight on it, so I didn't worry about it. The next day, he seemed to be favoring the other, which I found to be odd...So I had Alec try to hold him (his head and back legs, yeah right) while I checked out his front paws. I wanted to see if he had something stuck in between the pads or something. What I saw broke my heart. The pads of his paws were worn raw from scratching the door during his captivity, trying to get someone's attention. He was trapped for so long that he actually had time to wear his paws raw :'(
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| You can see his raw little paddy paws starting to heal in this pic :( |
Now, Horatio is a brat, a troublemaker, & a rapscallion. But he is 18 pounds of sweetness when he wants to be, and that is more often than not these days, as he reaches 2 yrs old.
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| That's just a big cat... |
I was so devastated to see his injuries, I wished I could do something for him. But, of course, he's a cat, and there is nothing I can do. Time will heal the wounds, and time will erase the memory, and time will take him right back into the pantry, where no doubt he will get trapped again, make a huge mess, and possibly injure himself again...Thank God he still has a few lives left!
