[Gpdd] Misc: Cats & Pigs & Alyssa's Injury
Guineapigfilms at aol.com
Guineapigfilms at aol.com
Tue Feb 13 15:56:34 EST 2007
I wanted first of all to address the cats and pigs issue. Up until a couple
of months ago, we had a very sweet, timid Manx cat, Precious. He was very
submissive and, although not declawed (he loved to spend time outside), he never
clawed our dogs or anything else, not even our rambunctious Westie puppy who
delighted in trying to get the cat "to play." (The cat DID respond on
occasions and they played many games together. The cat was afraid of our "alpha"
Yorkie and would run away when he appeared.) When Alyssa was about nine years
old, she actually taught this cat (who originally was a stray and had kidney
disease) to "sit," "come," "stay," and "shake hands." (Alyssa soon learned that
you need to wear heavy gloves if you want to shake hands with a clawed
cat!!!!)
Alyssa has had many small pets, including rats, gerbils, hamsters, and mice,
and she'd supervise introductions to Precious. Precious was either afraid of
the small rodents or would touch noses with them. He never seemed to see them
as prey, although he DID catch birds outdoors! He also tried to catch wild
rabbits outdoors.
We never left Precious alone with the guinea pigs, but he really showed no
interest at all in them. He'd sometimes glance disinterestedly in their cages
on his way past them, but never stopped to peer in. Alyssa sometimes thought
that the cat KNEW the piggies were OURS, not HIS. Maybe he even thought they
were our food! He never bothered them, and I think he was a little afraid of
him. He died of cancer recently, and our Westie misses him terribly. They
would sleep in the sun on the backyard deck, curled up together.
I also wanted to let GPDDers who are fans of CARROT WARS know that my
daughter Alyssa is having a horrible time at the moment. On January 24, she was
driving to her work at the local Humane Society and her car was hit by a driver
who reached down to retrieve a cell phone and ran a red light. Alyssa's car
was totalled and her back, neck, chest, and shoulder were badly injured. Her
rear-view mirror flew off upon impact and hit her on the head, knocking her hat
off. She has no memory of the accident, and may have suffered a concussion.
Twice in the past two weeks she has had to go to the hospital emergency room
in the middle of the night, feeling as if she were dying. Her shoulder may be
dislocated, as it pops in and out. She is still trying to go to her classes,
but is really struggling, as she is in too much pain to even carry her
books. Her doctor won't allow her to work at the moment, and she is worried about
bills. (She moved out to a little apartment on campus this year. She
couldn't live in the dorm, because she wanted to keep her ferret, gerbils, rat,
fish, and guinea pigs with her. She also "fosters" cats and other sick or dying
animals from the Humane Society, so that she can give them fluids all night and
sit up with them so they won't die alone.) As you can imagine, my
stress-level is sky-high.
Alyssa loves animals more than anyone I've ever known. In fact, she has wild
mice (field mice?) running around her apartment and eating her food, but she
hesitates to even capture them in a "no kill" trap. She was thrilled when
she was "allowed" to pet five of the "new baby" mice. Because she is afraid that
they will freeze if she lets them go outdoors, she has gotten cages for them
to live in until the weather gets warmer, when she'll let them go.
I'm sorry for this rambling post. I know that Alyssa has many friends (and
fans of her guinea pig movies) on this site, and I felt that they might want to
know her situation.
Thanks so much.
Nancy (Alyssa's mom)
_http://hometown.aol.com/guineapigfilms_
(http://hometown.aol.com/guineapigfilms)
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