Day 185 - Inexplicable

intruder fur

Some sort of animal drama occurred today, whilst we were out at work...

When we got home this evening, Jazz seemed a little stressed and desperate in his excitement when I got home...and there was some sort of poo on the floor in the door to the lounge.  It clearly wasn't dog poo - probably cat, although it wasn't obviously one of ours. 

And yes, you do become familiar with that kind of thing, as a pet owner!

Anyway, it then became noticeable that May-Z was conspicuous in her absence.  Anna found her hiding under the bed, very subdued.  Attempts to pet her were met with hisses - she's clearly sore down one side.   May-Z was a little unsteady on her feet, and whilst she would accept a light face and ear rub, she seemed able to bear it for only a few moments, before retreating under the bed again. 

It's typical of her behaviour after a fight...not that May-Z is a fighter - what I really mean is, after she's been beaten up by another cat. 

Upon looking around, we found scraps of white fur all over the place...at the top of the stairs...around the lounge, including on my foot stool...and in the garden, leading away from (or towards) the open front door. 

We usually leave a towel on the floor in the doorway, during the day, in case it rains...on the towel this evening, I found this incriminating claw:

tiny eagle beak?

Closer inspection of May-Z showed that she has a loose claw on one of her back legs too.   This is where she would have been on her back, her attacker on top of her, kicking with her back legs to defend herself...

With only one front leg, she can neither defend nor attack effectively when standing face to face - she can't both stand on and attack with her single leg at the same time.  So she rolls on her back and mostly just gets the shit kicked out of her. 

Loz, on the other hand, seemed fairly relaxed and composed.

So, it's a bit of a mystery as to what happened.  Did May-Z get mugged by a passing cat outside, run back into the house, the intruder following her in, only to come face to face with a territorial (and it has to be said, something of a hardcase) Loz? 

This seems feasible, and would explain the current physical and psychological state of all three of them, Jazz, Loz and May-Z (I so nearly typed Bluez into that...and look at all those Z's!)...

But what about the poo?!  That just doesn't fit into the story...

Was it a nervous, stressed reaction from MayZ, after the event?  If so, why in the lounge, when she would have been hiding upstairs?

Loz would never do it in the lounge, 3 feet from an open door into the garden - none of them would! 

So was it the intruder?  If so, how did they have time to do that, before being seen off by Loz, or even Jazz?  

Jazz wouldn't do anything, in truth - he'd have no idea what to do, so would pretend it wasn't happening...but he is a big black dog, which ought to scare off an encroaching cat, you would think.  But why would it poo in that place and time anyway?  To be deliberately provocative, knowing it was in another cat's den?!

It's a mystery, and no mistake.

It feels uncomfortable to me, the pieces don't quite fit and that offends my slightly OC sensibilities.  I expect I will be pondering it frustratedly, for as long as May-Z is showing the after effects...this will be 2 or 3 days - as she physically heals, she will psychologically recover, gradually find her confidence again, return slowly and somewhat tentatively back to normal.

It's a reminder to us all of the valuable role My Boy Bluez played as guardian of the den...we still miss him - painfully, on occasion.

Today is one of those occasions...

We miss you, Bloobs....

:'-(