About a year ago, a cat showed up at our door, hungry and wanting attention. The kids fed him and named him Seymour. He stayed outside, and would come and go, and I guess you could say he's become our "adopted" pet. Over the winter, with it being so cold, we started letting him in the house. He would cuddle and we kept him in until it warmed up or he drove us nuts wanting to go out. Then he started bringing back "trophies" of his hunts, mostly baby bunnies and birds, and we would watch him chase groundhogs out of our yard. He often came back bruised and scratched up, with a chunk out of his ears here and there. He's a scapper, and a tough cat.

Well, yesterday I went to go out, and Seymour was laying in our foray like he does when he wants to come in and eat. Only this time, he didn't jump down from the shelf  where he likes to perch. He just looked at me and meowed, which seemed really strange. I went over to pet him, and noticed a huge patch of blood on his right front shoulder area, and saw he had a giant chunk taken out.
Paige was in tears. Seymour is pretty much "her" cat. I said the fact he had to jump up there, and just that he came back, was good signs he would be okay. Krystal called the animal hospital, and they took him in quickly.

After checking it out, seems he was bitten by something, either a big dog, a bear, or another animal. Whatever bit him tho' was big! After surgery to repair some torn muscle and tissue, he is back home tonite. Like I said, he's a scrapper! He has a tube sticking out for drainage, and he won't be able to walk as well as he did before, but it looks like he'll pull through just fine.

We always joked about his "other" family (if he has one), since he would spend days with us, and if they worried when he wouldn't show up. But since he is an outdoor cat, we figure they're used to it. But I wonder how they'll react if he shows up after being gone a few months (since we're not allowed to let him out for awhile) with lots of stitches and a limp. And the fact that while he was in, we had him neutered.

But at least Seymour is well, and Paige is relieved.