Cat 1, Dog 0: an ignominious rout

The vanquished nurses his wounds while his nemesis, Ricky the Cat, gloats

at the blood-spattered scene of the skirmish.

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Andy's sturdy eight pound chihuahua body quivered with excitement when we pulled into the driveway and he spotted Ricky, one of the neighborhood cats, perched on the back steps with our cat, Fred. Primed for battle, Andy charged at them as soon as I opened the car door, but Ricky, aggrieved by such nonsense, bowed up and swatted Andy in the face.

Andy ran yelping back to me, dripping blood like he'd tangled with Freddy Krueger in one of those slasher movies, and I panicked. Throwing my armload of groceries down on the sidewalk, I wrapped Andy's head in a towel, and we rushed to the vet. By the time we got there, his poor little face was so swollen that the bleeding had almost stopped, but at that point, we were one bloody pitiful pair.

Told that such injuries bleed a lot and look worse than they are, I calmed down, but Andy was a lucky dog that Ricky's claw had caught his cheek and not his eye. Let's hope that in the future Andy chooses his battles more wisely.