Allergies

I think I'm allergic to Tigers. Just one bite would most likely kill me.

There are many very brave people who work with and care for all kinds of dangerous animals, some large, some small. Lions and tigers and bears, oh my.. Then there are the venomous snakes. I think they're all great to look at from a safe distance.

Every year, it seems someone wants a picture taken close to an animal that could tear them to pieces in a matter of seconds. Panda bears are cute - on TV. We watched in horror about ten years ago when a woman did just that, got close enough to a Panda bear at a zoo, to get a nice picture. I guess she thought the bars would keep the panda bear from reaching out. She was dead in a matter of seconds.

I am an animal lover. Dogs, cats, birds, moose, elk, deer, etc., but it doesn't mean I'm going to hug them all. They may look cute, but just like a mail order bride, you just never know what they're going to turn on you.

My favorite animals are dogs. Schnauzers, dachshunds, basset hounds, beagles, st. bernards, rottweilers, even pit bulls. All domestic dogs are wonderful companions if they are trained well and loved. The horror stories we've all heard about pit bulls make many people very scared of these wonderful animals.

I have encountered many of these dogs and have only had one bad experience. Our mini schnauzer was out on our deck one day, when we heard a horrible scream. I ran out back and saw a pit bull with a death grip on our dog's neck. I instinctively charged the pit bull.

I've always heard that once a pit bull gets its jaws locked on its prey, it's over. They won't let go. I must look more menacing than I imagine because the pit bull let our dog go and ran away. It turns out that the pit bull wasn't owned by anyone, so was just running freely around the neighborhood. The dog catcher must have caught up with him because we never saw him again.

Cats can be dangerous too. One time, there was a giant stray cat that lived in our neighborhood. My wife is a sucker for cats, so she would feed this feline from hell. We had a female cat too and one day we were packing the car for a trip, with the front door open, when two male cats, including the malicious stray came in the house and started to do that freaky sounding call to battle that cats do.

I held one down by applying pressure on the back of his neck, while my wife did the same with the other cat. The thought then struck me, "What do I do now"? I turned my head for an instant and the cat I was holding made a ninja move and bit my hand deeply.

Off we went to the ER, where the doctor checked me out, applied some medicine and said I'd be fine.

We drove to our destination, a quaint little B&B and spent the night. The next morning, my hand resembled an inflated rubber glove. At breakfast, a doctor was there with his wife and asked me what happened. When I told him about the cat bite, he told me to get to an ER right away. Apparently, the first ER doctor got his degree off of the Internet, because this doctor not only treated the wound, but gave me an injection which did the trick.

There is more to say about this devil cat in a future blog. I learned a couple of lessons that day. Always have a spray bottle handy to scare the cats and keep body parts in tact and cat bites are dangerous.

See you tomorrow.