Farm Manager is Grounded!

Allow me to fill you in on my last 2 days. I guess it was getting pretty dull around here with no chaotic tales from the farm. So, let me change that for you right.now!

Wednesday morning we discovered that somehow [please don't ask] my husband locked every key we have for our back garage, in the garage!! At 6:30 in the morning, this is not a welcoming revelation. Especially when one of those key rings included his car keys and the garage houses the horse feed. Let me also preface by saying the security light post that provides us light in this area - at 6:30am - had/has a burned out bulb. All my husband could say, amongst a slew of other profanities was, "We're lame - just lame", in reference to the fact that the light post bulb was still burnt out and we had no more spare keys hiding under a rock.

After attempting to pick the door lock in every fashion possible...credit cards, crow bars and the likes, nothing worked. So, hubby had the pull the trim off around the door - something we really didn't want to have to do. After about a half hour, he still couldn't get in. I believe it was now approaching 7am, and still pitch black outside. He had to move onto the little window...and pull the trim off of it. And then push out the plexi-glass. At least it wasn't your regular glass window. Then he crawled through it. Amen. He was in. And now we have a busted out window (that he had to board up before he left for work so we didn't come home to an empty garage!) and torn down trim. I must say, it could probably pass for a set on the Beverly Hillbillies if you also take into account Apollo's sliding window/door that he tore slats off of in a state of boredom.

Now, we move to the evening. We are home from work and I am in the barn cleaning stalls. I noticed Savannah laying in the hay. I then notice Savannah laying in the hay, motionless, as the horses walk all over. Usually she'd find a new spot to chill. So upon closer inspection, I notice she looks half dead and has blood marks on here. I call Allen into the barn and he attempts to pick her up. She makes the most god awful noises. Clearly, she was in a fight with something and, at that point, we thought she lost the battle. We got her into the garage in better light and she was moaning in pain at any touch. Her eyes were barely open and it looked like maybe she had a broken leg :/

There was no where we could get her that night so we made her as comfortable as possible, tucked her into her winter cabana house and then laid awake all night with anxiety. In the morning, she seemed about the same, but it did look like she ate some food. I made a call to my vet to try and get her in and of course they could only see her in the middle of the day when neither myself or hubby could get off work. We made the decision to try and get her seen at another vet who was open late, on a whim walking in, once we got home. I agonized, as did Allen, all day about what would happen to her and if we'd have to make the hard decision to put her down depending what the verdict was. I was so sick all day of hearing everyone say things about how she is 'just the barn cat' and that's what you have to do. If she was 'just the barn cat', I wouldn't have even given her a second look when I saw her laying in the hay. But those of you who have been reading my blog long enough know that Allen & I are huge animal advocates with soft hearts and Savannah is not just a barn cat. She is 'the farm manager'! She is Allen's 'right-hand man' whenever he is outside. She guards our farm better than any 200 pound guard dog. She is not just a barn cat.

I made arrangements for the babe to stay with my mom since I wasn't sure what would happen when I got home. I quickly fed and walked the dogs and threw the horses their hay. Then I said a prayer, took a deep breath, and went in to check on Savannah. I was praying I didn't find her worse off than when I left her in the morning. And of course, I walked in to the tough Savannah I know - purring, stretching and sauntering around (with a limp, of course!) waiting to be let outside.

THAT DAMN CAT!!

I was in tears half the day thinking she was going to die!! How dare she!! Allen came home shortly after and came running to the garage asking me if she was dead! I gave him a 'fake' sad face and let him look for himself :) And she ran, limping, right up to him weaving herself around his legs.

So, we did as thorough of a check-over on her as we could. She had no open wounds so the blood on her must have been from her opponent. She had nothing stuck in the paw she was limping on and her eyes were bright and alert. But, she is grounded for the winter. No more gallivanting around until Spring time. My nerves can't handle another episode like this!!

The Farm Manager, Savannah

October 2012