**disclaimer** beware, this is not for the faint of heart **

We just got Scooter about 4 weeks ago.  She used to be the Wagner’s cat, but they weren’t going to take her down to Arizona with them, so I convinced Royal to let us keep her so she wouldn’t get put to sleep at some stupid cat shelter.  Scooter has never been the smartest of cats, she has a snaggle tooth, and she drools when you pet her.  Royal kept saying the Scooter had to be an outside cat, she could sleep in the garage, but there was no way she was ever going to be let in the house.  I agreed so that Royal would let me bring her home, but I figured that when Royal was at work, I’d let her in the house to play with me and Jayden and I’d make sure she went back outside before Royal came home.  Well, we picked up Scooter on Friday, April 13th, when we were saying good-bye to the Wagner’s as they packed up their U-haul.  We were going to keep her in the garage (and the house when Royal wasn’t looking) for at least a week or two to make sure she knew this was her new home and didn’t run away.  Well in the next 24 hours, everything in our life changed, and all the sudden we were living out at my parents house at the lake.  Luckily we got our neighbor, Ed, to give her food and water, but poor Scooter was just locked up.  Royal ended up going back to our home during the week because he had to work, and this is where we find out what a softy Royal is.  Scooter would sit out in the garage and meow and meow, so Royal finally let her in the house and she sat on his lap and he pet her and pet her until he pretty much had a pile of drool on his lap. (he’s so nice)  When I finally left my parents house 2 weeks later and came back home, Scooter had had plenty of time indoors and that’s pretty much where she wanted to be.  She would go outside when I went outside and would follow me around the yard, but that’s about it.  We made her stay outside for a little bit one time and this is where we find out that Scooter may not be cut out for the outdoors.   She was sitting on our rock wall, looking around, and one of the roaming neighborhood cats starts sneaking up behind her.  Does Scooter notice, or even flinch?  Nope, she just sits there.  So right before the cat pounced on her, I opened the door and scared it away. 

At the beginning of this week, Royal and I noticed that Scooter was acting funny.  When she came in the house, she would run right upstairs and sleep on our bed all day.  Then Royal noticed that she would hardley let him pick her up, and she would freak out if he touched her back.  So we took a closer look and noticed she had this huge bump forming on her back right between her hips.   We figured she must of finally be caught by one of the roaming cats in our area.  The next day I make an appointment with a vet so they can check her out.  They pin her down so they can touch it and the vet is like, ‘well it looks like she got scratched or bit by something’ and she shows me where it has kind of scabbed over.  She told me that Scooter had an absess and they were going to have to drain it.  So, I leave her there because they were going to put her under so that they could clean it up.  They call me afterwards and say that the absess ruptured as they were taking her to the procedure table.  All I can say is, hallelujia that didn’t happen in my house.  :)  But they put her under anyways to make sure it was completely drained and all the dead skin got removed.  The vet said that it was the biggest absess she had ever seen (way to go Scooter), and figured it must of been a racoon or something and she doens’t think that Scooter is very good at defending herself.  She said where the absess was, was square on her back so it didn’t look like she was really trying to get away.  So, Joanna goes with me to pick her up, and they bring Scooter to us and we could not believe what we saw.  Her hind quarters are all shaved, and she has a huge row of stiches across her back, and 2 gauze drains running out of her.  They tell me that I have to shove anti-biotics down her throat and hot compress her back twice a day and wiggle the drains around so they don’t get plugged.  I just can’t believe it.  It is so gross.  They said that Scooter has to stay indoors for 2 weeks and that until we have her drains taken out, she’ll need to be somewhere that doesn’t matter if it gets messy because her drains are going to be leaking blood and puss.  Yea, say it with me, ’sick’.  And on top of it all, she has to wear a cone around her neck, for up to 2 weeks, so she doesn’t try to get at the stitches or drains.  Yea, say it with me, ‘oh, sad’.  So, for the moment, Scooter is trapped in our laundry room, which is right next to the family room and when you are in there, she just meows and meows and then you can hear her running her little cone into the door, or along the wall.  It’s just really sad.  Poor little Scooter.

Here is an angry Scooter

Here is her big owie