Do bad things come in threes?

No, of course not, not as a rule, but in this case, they did.

First, Mollie had her foot infection. We took her to the vet on Tuesday. On Thursday she started feeling worse, despite the antibiotic shot the vet gave her. She jumped down off the bed in our guest bedroom (the one that has never seen a guest), and apparently it really hurt her feet. Late in the afternoon she disappeared. I found her hiding under the bedspread. That’s her next to the teddy bear.

We figure she must really be feeling bad to hide out like that.

Next, Sylvester has disappeared. The last time we saw him was on Tuesday around 1 pm. He usually visits a neighbor who feeds an outdoor cat, but he always come back home to eat and lounge around for a while, maybe even spend the night. Being missing for this long is unusual behavior for him, and Leah expects the worst.

And then Thursday afternoon I saw this dog.

She had obviously given birth fairly recently. Someone had dumped her with her puppies on the road we take into town, an all too common occurrence around here. I was on my way to the grocery store, so I bought some extra dog food and a food bowl. and stopped to feed her on my way back home. She was shy and defensive, and wouldn’t come close. I went back home for some water and another bowl. When I got back, a couple of people stopped. One of them said the dog had been there at least two days, and that two girls had taken her pups some time earlier. I suppose they left the mama because they couldn’t catch her.

One man said he would take her if she could be caught. but the dog was too afraid and distrustful. I think under the right circumstances someone could rescue her. This particular man was not the right circumstances.

Unfortunately, the circumstances were not right for me even after the man left. If the dog had been a little hungrier, and I had had a little more time, she might have come to me. I sat down near but facing away from the food I had put out. The dog approached me but in the end, turned and walked away. I had no choice but to leave her with more food and go home, at least for the time being.

Unfortunately for her, as I write this Thursday night, it’s raining, and there is no cover for her anywhere nearby.

I will probably try to get to her again on Friday, but I’m not sure what good it will do. One of the rescue groups I have dealt with here refuses to take pit bulls, so she would probably end up at the pound. The man who said he could take her gave me his number, so maybe I can work something out with him.