The Old Lion

Woke up this morning to the sounds of our cat gettin' his brawl on...we went looking for him, cueing to the yowls...by the time we found him out in the midst of the "savannah" (read: the old overgrown orchard in our back yard), he was slinking away from the scene of the crime. Not too many minutes later, he appeared on the back doorstep...in the worst state I've ever seen him.

(FYI the following pictures were NOT taken this morning...just wanted to let you have a look at the big fella himself. This is a 17 pound animal we're talking about here. Loves his hunting.)


Nasty gash on the back of his left ear, bleeding from a hole in his right ear, bleeding from a gash in his nose (right in the middle of that white stripe) bleeding from his left rear paw...came onto the back porch, shook his head like a boxer trying to clear his vision and splattered blood all over the tile floor...tufts of fur pulled out from various places on his left side...

He did let us compress his ear, and wipe off some of the blood...ate a few scoops of his favorite kibbles, and then went and curled up under a bed to sleep it off. We're trying to find a bottle of Clavamox to stave off the near certain imminent infection(s).



Reminds me of one of the saddest IMAX presentations I've ever seen. When we were in Victoria BC earlier in the year, we went to see "ROAR: Lions of the Kalahari" (which, my comments here notwithstanding, is a very worthy film to see). The story line revolves around an older lion and his harem who has fought for squatting rights at a water hole in the desert. Over the course of the film, a young lion comes and challenges the old lion for rights to his water and his women. In the beginning, the old lion emerges from their scrapes victorious...but eventually, the young lion perseveres and drives him away, out into the desert to die.


I know it's the way nature works, and I know that Monty is doing what God made him to do, but I do worry about him. He's a good cat, even if he is an attitude with fur most of the time.

The vet says that if his wounds are on his face, ears or front (as opposed to his butt), that means that he was the winner. And I do wonder what condition the other cat is in.


But I still wish that our old lion would learn the ways of peace...somehow.