The other night, I came home and Thunder was acting odd. Instead of our normal greeting routine, he was acting like something was bothering him--as if he just threw up a hairball. He wanted me to console him. It was a little dark in the dining room, so it took me a few minutes to figure out the problem. I saw something on his chin. I quickly turned on the light and saw a drop of blood!
Panic time! I asked him if he could eat. He immediately walked over to one of the Temptations I have "hidden" on an upturned coffee cup and ate it. Then he went to the next one. That was a good sign. I couldn't get a real good look at it, though.
I got him some canned food and gave it to him. He tried to take a bite and pulled away a little--then took the bite. He did that several times. I then knew the blood had to have come from his mouth. This went on, but since he ate a lot, I felt a little better.
After he ate, I put him in front of me and looked at his mouth. He didn't like that and struggled a little. I still saw enough to know that whatever it was, it wasn't something obvious. I noticed a bunch of the cat obstacles I had set up for him were scattered. Most particularly, the 2x4 jump was knocked down. I then formed my suspicions--it was Maggie, aka Dumb Dog.
I think that she must have been on a barking rampage and scattered things. Thunder bolted, and hurt himself somehow when he did. Often he runs up the circular metal stairs--and sometimes he will slip if he goes too fast. I don't think Maggie did anything to him, but his panic did.
I hope that all he did was bite his lip or tongue.
I took him up to bed, and he immediately went to eat some of the dry food I have set up for him in my bedroom. Then he drank. He did both of these things tentatively. When he was done, he came to visit me, and I could see that the water washed all the blood off his chin--proving to me the injury was in his mouth.
The next day, there was no more blood and he ate a lot--and with confidence. Unfortunately, whenever Maggie barked, he would go in hiding and not come out for a long time. And Maggie barked a lot. She always does. Every time she hears a noise outside or sees a deer in the yard.
We didn't do any playing or cuddling. I barely got to pet him all day. When I left in the evening to see Kevin, I put Maggie in lockdown in her room. She could bark all she liked from there, but maybe Thunder wouldn't be so scared when she did.
When I got home, he was much more confident, but he still didn't want to play. We just went up to bed and cuddled and cuddled.
Maggie might be going in lockdown for a while when I'm not home. I hope they can work things out. I think he needs to chase her around to reassert his dominance, She just makes us crazy...
