| Pip |
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| aka. "Pippers", "Pippens", and "Pipcheck" |
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| Pip's first big kill. Female grey squirrel, est. 2 years of age. Roughly 13 inches from nose to tip of tail. Not nursing, not visibly pregnant. Even teeth, healthy gums. Glossy eyes for the first five minutes, and no outward signs of illness. Typical, even coloring throughout body. Coat exceptionally healthy and glossy. Healthy, unbroken skin. Clean, unbroken pads on all 4 feet. Healthy, even nails with no chipping or discoloring.. No signs of parasites in ears; minimal parasites on body (few fleas). Muscles limber and no visible signs of abnormalities/deformities in musculature or skeletal system. No outward bleeding. No abnormal subcutaneous growths. By the time I reached it, it had a thready pulse and was already too far gone for respiratory assistance. Rigor mortis set in approx. 20 minutes after death, and front limbs drew in towards the chest. Neck vertebrae intact. Probable cause of death -- suffocation. |
| We chained him up one night, but it did little good. He broke right through like some speedy feline Houdini. (To all those ASPCA nuts out there, I'm an animal activist, too, and I made certain that the chain was only loosely and carefully draped across his forelimbs... and he didn't mind a whit as shortly thereafter we fed him cheese for his stunning performance during the photo shoot.) |
| I don't know what it is about cats that makes them so eager to get into whatever spots you have deemed off-limits. Here is Pipcheck, happily atop my cd player in my room, even though I had removed him from this spot more than a few times before this picture was taken. See that big bunch of dried grass he's sitting beside/behind? I must have moved that thing twenty times before I found a place that I thought safe from Pip's lovelorn advances. As you can see from the picture, it wasn't safe. He tracks that bucket of grass around my room like a bloodhound, then pulls out all the grass blades one by one and chews on them. That group of dried grasses used to be twice as large, and due to Pipper's loving care it has been reduced to half its former size. Ah, cats. |
| Here's Pip, the cat that we got as a kitten from the local veterinary clinic. He was an abandoned little runt, and he and his sister were turned in to the vet. His sister was taken almost immediately. He was not, simply because he was black. He is the singlemost loving animal I've ever known in all my years of being a pet owner. He loves everyone and everything, including the dogs, and demands attention from even the strangest stranger. If such attention is not immediately given, Pip will crawl up onto the offending person's lap and forcefully kiss them on the lips until they pay him heed. |