The prozac is starting to kick in on little Recee. She is a much calmer kitty and has stopped gnawing on herself. Her hair is starting to grow back but she still looks pretty bad. She still scratches herself like she has fleas. I have only a week's worth of medication left, even though I picked up a month's supply. There must be a week's worth of spit out pills somewhere around the house, but since is half of a 5mg pill, it is pretty difficult to find. We're talking about something that is one quarter of the size of a pencil's eraser.
In the meantime, Ali Baba got into a bad fight with the evil cat, who has shown back up again. I do not know who owns this cat, but apparently it has been neutered because it has stopped marking everyone's doors and walls. However, like Al, it doesn't stop him from being aggressive. In fact, he is so aggressive that he purposely comes into my patio area, and rubs himself all over everything. This sends Al into major hissy fits. What the other cat is doing is the feline equivalent of someone coming into your home and rearranging the furniture, or painting the walls a different color, or using your bathroom to shower. It's invasive and upsetting but this cat purposely provokes Al into a rage.
So Al got bitten on the head and sometimes, if I can intervene early enough with treating the wounds, I can prevent them from getting infected. Like most puncture wounds, this bite healed on the top layer, but was not healed completely through so it developed into a absess. Sometimes the absess ruptures on it's own and I am able to clean out the area. This time it didn't. So I had to take him to the vet, crying all the way, 19 yowels to the mile. The vet actually had to lance the absess and drain it. It was not the best thing to see first thing in the morning. Then he had to get yet another rabies shot (required by law if any animal is bitten by another animal.) So that makes his third rabies shot this year. Then the antibiotic. Luckily, giving him pills is fairly easy, just put it in a soft cat treat and feed it to him. No fuss, no muss.
The wound is drained and healed nicely, but it looks like he'll have yet anther scar.
When I came home tonight, Al wanted to go out for a bit. I forgot he was outside and went to my father's for dinner. When I came home, I could see that Al was heading to the other side of the complex, no doubt to pursue his nemisis. Luckily, I stopped him but it looks like he was in another scrap with the evil cat again.
With the weather being much more mellow, the butterflies have come out. I keep my camera with me now and shoot during my lunch hour. I found a couple of Fiery Skipper butterflies engaged in some kind of courtship or perhaps a territorial dispute. I never realized it before, but butterflies can be quite aggressive towards one another. I have actually seen larger species chase smaller ones out of their "space". I have also been checked out by butterflies to see if I was a threat to their turf. 
