Zada's Big Day
**** Warning this story and these pictures may be offensive to some people****
Yesterday we had beautiful weather. It actually hit +3C which was a nice break from the -20C we were having the few days prior. Since it was so nice I let Zada sit outside with the cats on the front steps. Its always nice and sunny there and better than being inside. I had to put her on her leash though since she will run off to investigate (aka finding frozen cat poop to dig up and eat)
After checking on her to make sure all was well and she wasn't too cold I went back to watch some t.v when all of a sudden I hear her chain hitting the railing on the steps. Nothing too uncommon as she does walk around, however this sound was soon accompanied by her growling, yelping and barking. I ran(fast walked) to the door to see what was going on only to find her in the space between the house and the steps fighting something. My first thought was that the cats (we have 7 now 3 adult 4 kittens) finally pissed her off and she was killing one of them. So I opened the door and went outside barefoot to start yelling at her. I quickly did a cat tally and they were all there. So I peaked over the railing to see what she was fighting and low and behold I thought it was a little beaver....lol I know I live in Canada and yes there are likely beavers within a 10km radius of our place, but we live in a hamlet so the chances would be EXTREMELY small.
I ran to the phone to call Mr.P to see what I should do. Should I pull her off of it (stupid idea for a pregnant lady), get the gun out and shoot(with my bad aim i would shoot the dog) or just wait and see what happens. Well by the time I got him on the phone she quickly snapped its neck and dragged it out to where I could get a better look.The whole fight was 2mins in total tops. Turns out it was a big nasty ole muskrat....YUCK. So it was beaver like and I wasn't totally crazy...LOL
The blood in both pictures is Zada's and not the muskrat.
No idea why a muskrat would be that close to the front of our house. Like I said there were 8 rodent hating animals sitting right there on the steps and it was stupid enough to get that close. You think it would be able to smell them and at least stay the distance the leash went away.
Zada came out of it with only a small injury. Her shots are up to date so we are not too worried. After she rolled all over the muskrat I made her roll in the snow for a good 10mins so I hope that got off anything that she could have caught from it.
I had to get a shovel and carry the muskrat out back otherwise Zada would chew on it and so would the cats, birds or whatever else wanted to come into the yard. I cursed the whole time because it was gross and I am girly. I yell at spiders and this was a lot bigger than a spider...LOL
So that was Zada's (and my) big adventure yesterday. Today I am hoping to have enough energy to get some sewing done!
Have a great day
Good job Zelda -- protecting mommy like that. that is pretty icky though. My in laws cat brought a squirrel to the house last weekend and perched it against the door -- equaly gross.
ReplyDeleteOh Yukk. I think you were brave moving it, I don't think I could have done!
ReplyDeleteOK OK, you've bested us with the snow. :/ Its quite clear here and sunny. BUT, more will come. Promise. :)
ReplyDeleteOk so I'm chuckling at you here just a tad little bit but thank goodness you have a great guard dog there.
ReplyDeletePoor puppy! My dog got something the other day... but by the time we found her the critter was to far eaten to figure out what it was! (Honeyman thinks it was a ground squirrel) hope she is better! But good dog! Just doing her job!
ReplyDeleteZelda sure took care of that problem!! How strange that it did come up so close to the house!
ReplyDeletePesky varmints! We live on a 50 acre farm and I know just how you feel. Racoons, groundhogs and skunks are not going to be extinct anytime soon! That is strange that a muskrat would wander that far from his own home and over to yours. Ferocious little thing!
ReplyDelete