Bat 2, Day 4

At about 8:15 this evening, the cats were on the back patio, the back door was open about 5 inches and Jerry was sitting by the door talking on the phone. A bat flew in the door, through the living room, through the kitchen and into the study ~ where it circled furiously for about 10 minutes.

It began to circle lower and lower and we were hopeful that we could get it out the front door. Unfortunately, when it left the study it headed up the stairs and I wasn't quick enough with my umbrella to deflect it. I had already secured the cats in the bedroom while it was flying around downstairs, so our only worry was if it decided to dive under one of the bedroom doors.

After banging into the walls and doors up on the 2nd floor, it couldn't take the bright lights after a little while and took a dive for the opening under the hall closet door. Luckily it hit the bottom of the ironing board and couldn't get all the way inside the closet.

The photo was taken just before the "safe bat transfer" and this one was even trickier than climbing over the deep side of the bathtub. Jerry had to get in position and then I opened the closet door and Jerry covered it with a Cole Haan box before it could take flight. The first one didn't make noise, but this one made this strange clicking/buzzing/whining noise. I guess it was calling for help.

I had called Rusty when it was out of control upstairs and he called back just as we had sealed the box. He's called in an entomologist to write a letter to the Association Board ~ this must be dealt with. I have an email out to my Animal Control contact and I guess they'll come for this one in the morning. Hope to hear good news tomorrow about the bathtub bat.

On a much happier note, before the bat incident, Elvis and Little were napping together this afternoon. I think they look like the white/black peace symbol the way they're sleeping in a big circle!

Too Many Patients & Not Enough Nurses!

I'm glad that my big patient is mobile again ~ Jerry's foot is healing nicely after the orthoplasty (sp?) and he's back driving around and walking with a limp. Still swollen but that's normal for many months. My next patient is IKE and he had surgery today to remove his remaining "canine teeth" along with two others that were in terrible shape.

If you're squeamish STOP reading.

It seems that the sinus drainage and periodic bloody discharge from his nose was never related to the FIV ... it was caused by the upper canine & root that was so infected it had eaten through to his sinus cavity, causing a massive infection.

Much flushing of the sinus cavity, then stitching of his gums, continued antibiotics and pain meds and once he recovers he should be in good shape. The good news is that the FIV is just sort of living in the background and not causing any symptoms.

Knowing that I like to see everything, Dr. Rose had the vet tech take a photo of her flushing his tooth cavity after the extraction and water shooting out Ike's nose. Nice.

Knowing his personality and how happy and cooperative he has been, it is unbelievable that he has been enduring this level of pain. Honestly, he is a very special cat. Just think of all he has been through in his life ~ which, by the way ~ is MUCH longer than we had estimated. Dr. Rose says he's WELL OVER TEN!

He's happy to be back in his room and is still a little glassy eyed. He has to eat baby food for a few days before resuming a soft diet. Dr. Rose said he'll probably go back to eating some crunchy food in a few weeks and will just gum it or grind it up with his remaining back teeth. She wasn't concerned about him not having teeth.

Here's something to think about ... what costs more?

• A pedigreed Maine Coon who's grandfather was the #2 Maine Coon in the nation and who has lived with us for 5 years
• OR a geriatric street cat from Galveston who has only been with us for 11 months

Well, I guess none of them can top Little after his thyroid surgery and 7 day stay at Gulf Coast Veterinary Specialists. It was a jolt, but they're worth every penny!

It's alive!

So our City of Houston "bite control" contact from Kitty's bat incident back in May, responded to my early morning email and sent a nice woman ~ officer Scott ~ over to pick up our dead bat. Except he wasn't.

When I got the container out of the Tide box and handed it to her she said "oh, he's still alive ... that's good." And I said he had probably died in the night from suffocation because he wasn't moving. She popped the lid on the container, shook it around a bit and he started squirming and stretching his rubbery wings around. She said "I told you he was alive."

Since the bat was INSIDE, they'll rush the testing and results will be in on Wednesday. She said if they do not call me it means the bat did not have rabies. If they call ... it's bad news. She gave me the control number and said I could call them if I just couldn't stand it and wanted to hear them say it wasn't a sick bat. She was pretty pleased that he wasn't dead because they could get better results that way. Eeeee-gads!

More later as "bat-gate 2009" continues.

BAT in the BATHTUB!

Yep, it's August, so the bats are back in the house. This is the THIRD year in a row one of these wretched creatures has made it's way into our house and it's always in August.

The first incident was on August 21, 2007 when about 10pm one night Elvis woke up from a dead sleep and launched himself off the end of the bed. Minutes later a bat flew through the door into the bedroom with Elvis right behind. He jumped about 6 feet in the air and knocked the bat into their "toy basket". We searched and searched ~ ended up spending the night in the bedroom, lights blazing, with the bat still in the toy basket. As a novice bat woman, we set the basket out on the balcony and it flew away.

On August 24, 2008, we returned from a weekend in Galveston and after unloading the car, Jerry sat down to look through the mail. Suddenly there was "a bird" in the house ... turned out to be a bat. Since this was about 5pm, we know the bat had been in the house all night. After some careful maneuvering, the bat ended up in the extra bedroom where Jerry managed to open a window and get it out.

After "strike two", we hired EnviroPest to seal our house to help keep Harry's bats outside. This wasn't cheap. Harry said he wasn't interested in sharing the cost of sealing our common firewall as "he isn't bothered by the bats."

In late-March/early-April of 2009 I discovered a dead bat in a bag of Christmas decorations while cleaning out the attic. No longer shocked by the experience, we threw it away. In May another downed, but not dead, bat was found on my neighbors patio by her dog. It was tested and determined to be rabies free. Rusty came back to update the sealant between our house and Harry's. Still no action from Harry or the Homeowners Association.

Our maintenance manager reported having found about a dozen dead bats around our end of the townhouse complex. No action by anyone.

So on Thursday night, about 10pm, Elvis and Denny were "paws up" on the bed and suddenly I notice that both of them ~ in perfectly choreographed movements ~ were surveying the ceiling of the bedroom. This went on for quite some time. I left the lamp on all night.

Last night, I finished my evening duties and came upstairs to brush my teeth & go to bed. I flipped on the light in the bathroom, walked to the cabinet to get the toothpaste and saw a dark blob in the bathtub. Yep ... a live bat ... cowering in fear under the bright lights. I shot these photos while Jerry was trying to figure out what to use for the "safe bat transfer method" to get him out of the house.

I wonder what would have happened if I had not gone into the bathroom at that exact moment.

I'm waiting on a call back from Animal Control and the now dead bat is in a plastic container inside a Tide box on the front porch. I'm supposed to be in a car on my way to Winnsboro for a memorial service honoring my late mother-in-law, but I'm here waiting on Rusty "bat man" Jenny to arrive at 8pm to observe the "flight of the bats" at sundown and try again to determine their path of entry.

This has gotten very OLD and someone other than Jerry and I need to be taking action on the bat colony of 150 living next door in Harry's tile roof/attic!