Cat attack

The phrase "Fighting like cats and dogs" has new meaning for this beagle. My humans and I were walking back home after our long evening walk yesterday. We took a short cut home and saw a stray cat sitting in the middle of the pavement. Now, we were just minding our own business, walking by the side to pass this cat. I was very well behaved and did not even try to sniff at the cat.

As we were passing by, the cat suddenly lunged at us, hissing and swiping its claws. We immediately retreated. I was terrified! My human quickly grabbed a fallen palm leaf on the ground and using that as a "shield", managed to get the cat to move to the side. We then quickly walked pass, with my humans keeping an eye out to make sure the cat did not come after us. Once we were safely away from the cat, my humans examined me and found that my ear was bleeding. The cat had managed to swipe my ear. Luckily my humans had a pack of wet wipes in their doggie bag, so they did their best to clean up the blood and stop the bleeding. When we got home, they used some mild antiseptic solution to clean it further. Thankfully, my rabies jab is up to date...Anyway, here I am recovering from the unprovoked attack. The wound didn't look so bad after the blood was wiped off.


This morning, my human recounted the story of the cat attack to some of the regular dog-walkers during our walk. It turns out that this nasty cat has tried to attack other dogs that have walked past as well. Looks like we have to be more careful if we encounter the cat again.

Cats and this beagle just don't get along. I got swiped on my cheek by a cat before when I was on border patrol. However, that was perhaps understandable since it was a confrontational situation. This time, it was totally unprovoked. I think I'm going to stay clear of cats from now on...

Casualty of Border Patrol

We have a lovely bamboo tree in our back garden. For reasons beyond this beagle's comprehension, other animals seem to love this bamboo tree. Remember my January post about the pesky squirrel that hid in the tree? Anyway, this beagle always checks this tree out every time I do border patrol.


Guess, what I found one morning? A cat and her kitten, hidden behind the bamboo tree! Naturally, I barked loudly to alert my humans about the intruders. Before they could run to the back yard, the mommy cat made a dash across the pathway with this beagle in frantic pursuit. In her panic, she could not climb the wall in time and there was a confrontation between this beagle and a hissing she-cat. She finally made her escape, leaving muddied prints on the wall.


Knowing that this beagle would not be able to resist checking out the poor kitty, my human dad decided to remove the kitten, careful to avoid leaving a human scent on the little one. He placed the kitten in a box filled with newspapers and left it on the back alley for the mommy to rescue. Thankfully, the mommy cat did come back for her kitten.

And what about this beagle? Naturally, I had to check out the area again and again. My humans placed a plastic pot to prevent any univited guests of the feline breed from making a home there.


That's not the end of the story. Later, my humans discovered a wound on my cheek. The angry she-cat had scratched my face during our encounter. Well, a beagle has to do what a beagle has to do. Even if it means suffering a nasty wound from a hissing she-cat during border patrol. It's been 2 weeks since that incident. There is still a mark on my cheek. My humans hope that the scar will completely fade away with time.


P.S. Remember my last post on which did treat I ate first? It's baguette, followed by beef pattie and carrots. Looks like Martha and Bailey, as well as Honey share my taste bud!

A Dog, A Cat and A Rat

It was a day like any other. Mum opened the back door to hang out the laundry. As usual, she gave this beagle the "Sit" command before allowing me to go out. I waited patiently for the "OK" signal so that I could dash out to the backyard to sniff out any intruders since this beagle last patrolled the perimeter. The release command never came. Instead, mum shrieked with horror and quickly closed the door.

"What on earth is wrong with this woman?", I thought. I see her sending an sms to dad. Then she's on the phone with grandma. Shortly thereafter, grandpa and grandma arrive. Now, usually, I get to hang out with gramps when they come. But not this morning. Instead, mum locks me out from the house as she and gramps go into the house and head towards the backyard. I strained my short beagle neck to see what they're up to...

It was not a pretty sight and mum wanted to spare me. It was like a scene out of CSI Vegas. The mangled remains of a body laid on the backyard floor. The guts were spilled out and the severed head laid inches away from the bloodied body. The victim was...




....A RAT! No wonder mum shrieked with horror. She is squeamish (she can't even watch when the doctor gives her a jab, but is a big fan of CSI Vegas ...go figure!). That's why she enlisted gramps' help to clear up the crime scene. There was no way in the world she was going to touch the dead, mangled rat. Why, she couldn't even bear to see the rat again! To cut a gory story short, gramps, supplied with gloves, a make-shift spade, lots of newspapers and a bag, cleared the rat and its remains. The body was gone but the bloody trail of the foul crime remained. Mum summoned all her courage, got out the broom and a big bottle of disinfectant to wash away the remaining evidence.

It doesn't take a Grissom (even though he's no longer on the show) to figure out who the perpetrator is. It was the CAT! It's bad enough that the cat poops in our back garden from time to time. But this was really too much! Leaving a mangled rat in our backyard after such a savage attack is despicable. Unfortunately, we'll never know which cat did it as there are quite a lot of them hanging out in the back alley. So, it looks like this will be one of those unsolved cold crime cases.

Mum is now very cautious whenever she needs to go the backyard. But, she is thankful that she made me sit that day before letting me dash out. She knows that I won't be able to resist sniffing at the rat. It would have been a disaster. But, this beagle thinks "Darn, I missed out on a chance to investigate a real life crime scene!"

Fighting Like Cats and Dogs

Who could believe the gall of this young cat? It actually came into MY back yard. Initially mum let me out to chase the cat thinking that this cat would be smart enough to quickly climb out of my garden. I don't know who was sillier, mum or the cat, coz the cat did not leave. And so, there we were, a beagle barking frantically at the cat, and the feline intruder trying to "make" itself bigger and hissing away.

Finally mum had to drag a very unhappy beagle into the house and closed the gate, hoping that the cat would finally go away. When she didn't see the cat, she let me out the second time. The silly cat still had not climbed out. Instead, it was hiding behind a flower pot. Duh! It didn't even take this beagle a nano second to sniff it out. At this stage, mum finally clued in that this cat was probably too frightened to climb out. So, she secured me in the house again (but why?), opened the door leading to the back alley, and prodded the cat so that it would emerge from the hiding place and leave via the open door. It worked!

That cat had better not come back again coz this beagle is on fence patrol from now on.

P.S. Now you know why the phrase "Fighting like cats and dogs" is so apt!

Kitty on our roof...

Our back alley is littered with stray cats, literally! They love to walk on the ledge of our back garden walls and occasionally, even dare to spend the night in our back garden! Grr...Don't they know there is a dog in this house??? Despite my loud bark warnings, they continue to taunt me from the their place on the ledge. I get so upset!

Last Sunday, one kitty found its way up to the airwell on our roof. The silly thing couldn't get out. It was bad enough when they were loitering in the back garden wall, now, a cat is in my house? That's it! I've had enough. Time to call in for reinforcement! I would have loved to call my neighbourhood doggie pals but mum vetoed that suggestion as all it would have done was cause a din. Instead, she called the fire department! And to add salt to the injury, she wouldn't allow me stay at home whilst the kitty removal took place! I was banished to Aunty C's home next door. My hurt feelings were soothed a little by the treats that Aunty C gave me...only a little. I was still upset that I couldn't be there to tell the kitty off and show it "who's the boss!".

I had to spend a couple of hours at Aunty C's home. Mum had to clean the floor with disinfectant as the frightened kitty left a trail of poo during the rescue (Mum was not happy!). Then she called the pest control to fumigate the roof against fleas and ticks. One of our neighbour's home was infested with fleas when a cat gave birth to kittens on their roof (why are cats so fascinated with roofs?), so mum didn't want to take the risk. More than half a day was wasted dealing with the kitty problem. Another problem we have with stray cats is the prolific multiplication of these cats who rummage through rubbish bins, cause a mess and poo indiscriminately in other people's houses! Now you know why I'm upset!

P.S. If you want to read mum's account of the story, read her blog.