Our pet-sitter leaves a daily report of when she visited and what occurred during the visit. Here’s a snippet of what she wrote:

9/19: The kitties all greeted me at the door with Pu’Yi acting as main guard! Everyone got treats. I turned the sink on for Juju and everyone got lots of petting!

9/20: Everyone, even the birds, were napping as I arrived. Zephyie and Pu’Yi competed for attention, with Pu (of course) being more vocal.

9/21: After the kitties got their treats, I headed downstairs to take care of the birds and [litter] boxes. The racing from one end of the house to the other was noisy — Juju and Pu’Yi were having quite the race.

9/22: This morning your steps were carpeted! [the cats pull the rugs down the stairs] Pu’Yi won the purring contest, but Zephyra was a close 2nd.

9/23: Pu’Yi made himself very scarce today and Annie was a bit grouchy (do not pet me)! Juju got his water facet fix in twice and Zephie enjoyed the catnip most of all

9/24: Pu’Yi was not going to miss out on treats today! he was front and center when I went into the kitchen. Jujube got his water fix, of course. Z. was needing lots of love. Birds are noisy!

9/25: The rugs were creatively rearranged and everyone got catnip along with their treats today. Someone vomited in the laundry [room]. Your kitties will be so glad to see you!

Last night, after several nights of vigilance, we were able to capture the baby raccoon that we’d seen the week before, struggling to get up onto our upper deck. It appeared that it’s back was broken because it was dragging its feet.

Last Saturday afternoon, Rich and I spent a couple of hours building the contraption below and testing it on Pu’Yi, our placid Siamese. The concept was to put a bowl of food in the middle of the tarp. Ropes were secured to the four corners of the tarp then threaded through a hoop. The hoop was attached to a rope that lead up to a pulley that was at the top of the ladder (we had to use two ladders). The other end of the rope went over the top of our french doors and into the house.

The contraption worked perfectly. Once I spotted the injured baby, around 8:30 at night, Rich put a bowl of food on the tarp. Usually, the raccoons return within a few minutes of the food being put out. Last night, however, we waited 20-30 minutes, inside the house, before they showed up.

The mother raccoon showed up first, followed by the injured baby and another baby. Fortunately, Rich is very patient, because it took a while before the mother and the healthy baby bound off the tarp, leaving the injured baby to continue feeding. Rich saw his opportunity and yanked on the card. I then rushed outside with gloved hands and grabbed the corners of the tarp to make sure the baby didn’t escape. I was surprised at how light the baby felt.

We then lowered the tarp into a large trash can with a flannel sheet on the bottom. We then placed the trash can in one of our bathrooms so we could observe the baby. It was surprisingly calm and happy to munch on the food that had tumbled into the trash can along with it. Throughout the night, we could hear it munching!

The next morning, we drove the to the rehabilitation center. It was a shock, however, when we took the trash can out of the truck, looked inside and saw that the sheet was covered with blood (right). Rich reasoned that the racoon had open sores from dragging its feet.

We were already prepared for the reality that the raccoon would probably be euthanized if its back had broken. What we didn’t expect to hear – a few hours later – was that the baby had been shot with a bullet, which severed its spine.

We are horrified. Horrified that in a neighborhood of families, someone with a gun and an obvious lack of conscience shot a baby raccoon. Horrified at the pain and suffering the raccoon had to endure. Horrified that if the gun-bearing imbecile had missed or the bullet bounced off a rock, it could have gone through a window and struck a sleeping child.

Our trust and naivety has been shattered. We’re going to be more carefully about having our cats outside after dark and we’re going to hope that the other raccoons in the area don’t become the next victims.

Rumors abound that Rich and I have been feeding raccoons. There’s no evidence however that this is occurring.

We do admit to  feeding the handful of wild cats that often visit our backyard. And no doubt, they’re fairly large cats with fluffy tails and black masks. And yes it’s peculiar that they pick the food out with their paws then place it in their mouths. But they’re not raccoons!

Here are our "domestic" cats enjoying the sunshine under our blueberry bushes, which are temporarily in buckets until we can build planter boxes for them in Anacortes… and install rain barrels to collect water for a drip system.

To the far left is Lunetta who came from Texas. She was dropped off at our house during the full moon (lunar) when she was 3-4 weeks old. She’s a rather haughty cat so it’s no wonder that she’s sleeping by herself!

At the top, right is Zephyra who was also left at our Texas house a few months before Lunetta. There was a light breeze (zephyr) the night I heard her weak cries outside from our open bedroom windows.

Pu’Yi, my amazing silver-point male Siamese is in the middle. Jujube is Texas trailer trash. He came from a litter of eight kittens, born across the street from our house. He’s the rough-neck of the bunch and was recently spotted, along with Zephyra, on a neighbor’s balcony. They evidentially jumped onto the our fence, walked along it until they got opposite the roof of a neighbor’s house, jumped onto the roof then easily walked across the roof and climbed onto the balcony!

Several months ago, Jujube started to favor one of his front paws. As the weeks passed, he started to limp and shake the paw. When a lump formed on the top of the paw, we realized that he might have a serious issue.

Sure enough, the vet took multiple x-rays and determined that Jujube had a growth on his foot that could be bone cancer. Amazingly, one of the vets where we take our cats is considered an expert on such an ailment. He wanted to immediately amputate two of Jujube’s toes! The cost? Don’t ask!

Rich and I were torn as to what to do. In the end, we decided to go ahead with the surgery since Jujube is only five years old and the vet assured us that the growth was only on his fourth toe. They planned to remove his “pinkie” toe too to ensure that they got the entire growth.

If you’ve ever seen an x-ray or skeleton of a cat’s foot, you’ll know that only the last knuckle of the toe is separate from the main foot. The rest of the toe extends up to the ankle. Humans, in comparisons, have longer “fingers” with two knuckles and three sections of bone that join the palm.

When you remove a cat’s toes, you remove 1.5 to 2 inches of bone. In Jujube’s case, half of his front foot was removed!

Happily, we made the right decision!

The biopsy indicated that a growth was “eating” the bone and would undoubtedly, spread up the foot.

Since his surgery, Jujube has learned how to walk on half a foot. He certainly has enough energy to chase the female cats around the house and strike a macho pose on our deck!

My name is Lunetta. The night I was found under Rich’s and Julie’s motor home the moon was full. Lunar. Get it?

They call me Looney or Loose Nuts. Even though I’m three years old, they also refer to me as the "baby." And they wonder why I don’t like to associate with them! I prefer to hang-out with Pu’Yi or Zephyra.

Last night, I chased a squirrel up a tree and got stuck. I cried and cried, but only Julie could hear me and she kept looking on the ground and in the neighbors’ backyards for me. The whole time I was 25 feet above her in the tree!

Rich was no better. He kept saying that I’d come home when I got tired. Sure. I’d like to see him climb down from a 5-story building using only his fingernails. 

Dumb humans!

I was so upset when they stopped looking for me. When Julie came back outside at 3 a.m. I screamed at the top of my lungs. I was so tired of sitting that tree. I just wanted to be in the house, curled up with Pu’Yi.

They tried to get me with a ladder, but it wasn’t tall enough so then they disappeared. What was I supposed to do? Well, I was desperate so I slide down the tree trunk and landed on another branch. That was so scary!

Happily, they returned a few minutes later with a weird contraption. Rich actually thought that I’d jump onto it and he could lower me to the ground. Ha!

Well because I jumped down a few branches, Rich didn’t have to use the contraption. He could reach me by climbing to the top of the ladder. It felts so good when his hands wrapped around my body. Sigh.