While I’m on this TDY thing, Beautiful Wife has had her share of trials in the past couple of days. Gypsy and Miko cats have pretty much given up the upper floor of the house to Maximum Dawg, only venturing out at night and the early morning hour that Max is in the backyard kennel. That’s been working, they get fed and pet in the early morning and at night. Max has the daylight hours. Everyone seemed okay with that until lately.

Gypsy has never been the most friendly of felines. Beautiful Wife eventually became her human and she’s barely tolerated Boyo and myself. And she’s always, always, always wanted to be an only cat. She’s never got along with other cats, but she’s never really attacked them either.

Lately, that’s been changing. Miko has an agreement with Max. You leave me alone, and I won’t take your nose off. Miko’s adjusting to having the dog around. At first Gypsy just ignored Max but now, Gypsy has become even more dysfunctional than ever. We’ve noticed Miko’s been missing meals, hiding, and has had a couple of fur patches taken off. This is not Max’s doing, it’s Gypsy, we just haven’t caught her.

Yesterday, when Beautiful Wife was doing laundry she reached down to give “her cat” a pet and a cuddle and wound up in a doctor’s office for a very nasty cat bite. Two bags of IV antibiotics and a week’s worth of follow up oral tabs later, Gypsy is in a kennel for 10 days of quarantine and then further determination.

Beautiful Wife’s hand is shrinking down to normal from being swollen to about twice it’s normal size. Scarey stuff. Gypsy cat will not be coming home to us.

I’d like to feel worse about this, but besides my wife, I’ve got a 10 year old boy in the house and other animals to consider. Gypsy was near death’s door when we took her in, almost feral, but not quite over the edge. She’s now 15 pounds of fat tabby that’s been increasingly more difficult to live with, mellowing on occaission, but never quite fitting in with the rest of the house. I’m just not willing to risk us or the rest of our menagerie. We didn’t figure she’d “take” to Max, we never thought she’d turn on Miko and us.

I’ve never given up on a rescue before, especially one that’s been around for 7 years, but when it becomes a hazard, I’m quite done. Beautiful Wife isn’t one to give up either nor to be scared by any critter, but this has got her freaked. I can’t blame her.

Of course, when the catchers came to gather her up for quarantine, Gypsy turned into super suck up, purring and rubbing on the capture pole, letting the catchers give her all kinds of love. Beautiful Wife is kind of pissed. Her cat takes a bite from her but sucks up to complete strangers, which she NEVER does.

Maybe she just decided she didn’t want to live with us anymore. Cats do that. I do wish she’d chosen a less emphatic way to tell us.

And I have to admit, there’s a sense of relief knowing that she’s going to be gone. Most of the other critters in our home have come to one sort of agreement or another. Spirit the Cockatiel has Boyo’s room to himself, allowed into the living room only when we’re all around and out only when Max is kenneled and kitties are downstairs. Boyo was awesome at keeping his bedroom door closed for a year to show us he could do it, thus earning the right to keep a bird himself. Max has learned not to chase Miko, Miko just gives him that disdainful “Stupid dog” look. Max is learning to not try to catch the birdie. Spirit is new, this will take time. It’s chaos, but it’s a weirdly organized and non-hazardous to fur or feather chaos.