Cat almost kills her owner
Headlines are the life blood of newspapers. So any animal story is like a gold to any headline. Now this is the ultimate cat story because the headline misses out the vital reference to squirrels. Yes, it was a double attack.
The cat and the killer squirrels would have been more accurate. But we don’t do sensationalism for its own sake here. We kept it simple. Richie Simmons’ cat was sick. She had visited with the local veterinarian to get drugs. A few days later, she was flat on her back with a high fever. It took a month for the lab to identify the problem. One day, Richie cut her finger but thought nothing of it as she tended to the cat.
Her diagnosis was tularemia. What is this? Well, back in 1911 there was a disease that almost wiped out the squirrel population in Tulare, California so they called it tularemia (creative!). One thing - it was highly contagious between humans and animals. How did the cat come to be infected? It’s going to remain a mystery. Did the cat travel back in time or just visit with some squirrel cousins in California? We will never know… The good news Doxycycline was an almost instant cure. Just goes to show. Once you know which bacteria are making you sick, you get the right antibiotic and get better fast.