Last Saturday, much to my distress, my cat came running towards me with a fledgling Cedar Waxwing in her mouth. Thank goodness I was able to get it away from her immediately. I called Joanne Rowley, the wonderful wildlife rehabilitator in Phoenicia. She said that I could release the bird unless it had puncture wounds from the cat's teeth. Unfortunately, she did, so I fed her (about every half hour) until Joanne could see her later in the day and give her antibiotics. It was lucky that she was easily identified because I knew exactly what she needed to eat. I took care of her all day Sunday too until Joanne could take her in Sunday night. See seems to be doing very well. She needs to stay on the antibiotics for about a week until the danger of infection passes. We plan to release her over the weekend. We would have done it Saturday but with the remnants of the hurricane passing through we have decided to wait.
We are lucky to have Joanne right here in our town. She does amazing work with creatures of all kinds. Right now she is also caring for 7 little flying squirrels that someone found in a tree they cut down. They were about a week old when they were brought to her. They are sooooo cute. She has to get up every few hours round the clock to feed them. What commitment!! At present she is caring for about 30 creatures of all kinds. When I go there I fell like I am visiting St. Francis.
I brought 2 nestlings to her last year when the tree with their nest came falling down onto WV road. I thought they were Blue Jays but they turned out to be Flickers. She and her network of rehabilitators raised them and they were released. Again, we (and all the injured and abandoned animals) are lucky to have such a caring person in our midst.
Doesn't she look like she is saying "Huh??"
PS - I want to take this opportunity to tell everyone that cat bites are EXTREMELY serious and almost always cause infection. I myself was 24 hours from being hospitalized with a bite from one of my own cats. When she bit me I cleaned the wound and put topical antibiotics on it for a full week but my leg got severely infected. Finally, I went to the doctor and he gave me a strong antibiotic but I had waited too long. Over the next four days my leg got progressively worse and I had to go to the emergency room and get a second even more powerful antibiotic. They told me at that time that if the infection did not start getting better in 24 hours that I would have to be checked in and given intravenous antibiotics. Thankfully, the second drug worked and it didn't come to that, but I am here to tell you that if you get bit by a cat seek medical attention immediately!
