Scruffy is a hero

March 31st, 2007 by lynn under Blogroll

Some background information: Scruffy is one of the hall kitties. She is the grande dame of the felines of Eusoff, having been here since my seniors (who have since graduated) were freshmen. That’s a long time, and she’s even earned a mention in our Dance Production along with Bendy (RIP), so named for her kinked tail, and Bendy’s daughter Wang Hai (missing, presumed dead). Scruffy responds to her name and will follow you if she wants, although she doesn’t belong to anyone - she’s above petty ownership.

So today I was getting back to my room, and uncharacteristically took the B1 route instead of my usual B2 route, since there was a bit of congestion at B2. At the bottom of the stairs, I met Scruffy. As I bent to say hello to her, I noticed a fresh red wound above her right eye, and the gory remains of a lizard strewn across the tiles.

Not just any old lizard, either. This wasn’t one of those translucent-bellied little geckos - it was twice as large, and scaly. In fact it looked quite like the chameleon lizards that like to sunbathe on the staircase leading up to the carpark. Oh dear. Perhaps she was hungry and hunted one down, because I don’t see any other reason for a lizard to take on a cat that’s twenty times bigger.

And now for the gory details. The triangular head, with beady eyes staring, was what I had initially taken to be a withered white strawberry. (My vision was particularly impaired today.) The lower body, with hind legs and tail, was several inches away. Between these two lay a severed foot. No doubt the lizard had put up quite a fight, only for Scruffy to dispatch it gruesomely. Bleah, I can’t believe she was eating that. I didn’t actually see her eat it, but like I said, I don’t think she was hunting for fun.

Well, it was too late for the lizard, and my immediate concern was for Scruffy’s battle wound. I enticed her to the empty space in B1 where there was more sunlight, and ran back to my room for cotton, antiseptic cream and a can of tuna. While she nibbled daintily at the food, I tried to clean her wound. She flinched every time, so the cream ended up leaving white specks all over her face. Since she didn’t seem to be troubled by it, I gave up on my veterinary ambitions and moved the tuna (and by extension, Scruffy) to the end of my corridor where I could keep a closer eye on her.

Pictures after the jump as they’re really very gory. She finished the can of tuna and went off somewhere - she’s a Eusoff nomad, we’ll see her when we see her. I’m sure she’ll recover fine, especially since she seems to be getting enough food - she’s tubby.