Recovery, Runaway Cat and Rabies

I've been recovering well after the Flying Pig Marathon. Actually I've been pretty lazy. I imagined I'd get a lot done after the marathon. At least all the things I'd been putting off. I did manage to get my den painted. However, I'd hired that done! I also got new den furniture. But again, that really didn't take much on my part.

Sadly as the painters were taking their stuff out after they finished, they propped open the front door and Cleo, my indoor cat, escaped. Unbelievably it was 4 days before I found her under the porch of a condo in the neighborhood. She approached me cautiously when I called her. I was able to get hold of the back of her neck, which she wasn't thrilled about, but then a nearby A/C unit kicked on and she FREAKED and bit my arm until I had to let her go. I couldn't get hold of her again after several attempts and more bites. The viciousness of the bites is due to her being outside, but being that she's a feral cat, biting is not out of the norm for her. The bite on my right pointer swelled up and I couldn't bend the finger. So I had to go to my doctor's for antibiotics. My doctor had to report this to animal control. Animal control had to report it to the health department. While I'm confident that she isn't a rabies threat, they aren't. I'm waiting now for directions on next steps and will have to research my rights on this. I'm really against unnecessary medications.

To date, Cleo's still 'in the wild.' I haven't seen her in more than a week now. This has been incredibly difficult because she's been with me for 13 years. It's really been a life changing experience not having her home. It's not unlike being dumped. I keep running to the back door hoping she's come back. I call for her randomly during the day. Wonder if I missed her calling me to the back door when I'm out. There's now new furniture in my den that's she's never sniffed, claimed or slept on. It feels really wrong. But I remain hopeful that she'll return. There are people in my neighborhood who feed strays so I'm confident she isn't starving. I've also heard of cats returning from these sabbaticals, sometimes months later and acting as if nothing happened. And they say cats are like women, tsk!

But back to recovery. I've started running again. I've run twice and plan to run this evening. Tonight I'm running a trail run and I'm excited to get back on the trail. I plan to run about 3 miles. My next race is a 5K trail race, the Run for Peace at McAlpine Greenway. Last year I placed in my age group and I'm hoping to do well again this year. Of course that will take some speed work and I have less than 2 weeks to get that done. Glad there's no pressure =).