Cat almost kills her owner
Yes we understand the shocking value of this headline. Ever since the “Man bites dog” story, we’ve had every kind of animal story. 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. One day, Richie cut her finger but thought nothing of it as she tended to the cat. So you have to travel over to Smith Valley in Nevada. 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 thing - it was highly contagious between humans and animals. How did the cat come to be infected? We can never know it. She had tularemia. Huh? Well, back in 1911 there was a disease that almost wiped out the squirrel population in Tulare, California so they called it tularemia. Did the cat travel back in time or just visit with some squirrel or even mole cousins in California? Who knows. It died before we could ask. The good news Doxycycline was an almost instant treatment. Just goes to show. Once you know which bacteria are making you sick, you get the right antibiotic and get better fast.