When the animals tell you to pay attention, pay attention!

When you animals tell you to pay attention to something, you need to pay attention. Came home the other day, and Albert and the goat boys were up against the fence, staring out. They completely ignored me, didn't come up to the driveway to see me, and only would give me eye contact if I said their names - Albert wouldn't at all. Albert was guarding the fence a little, and snorting to clear his nose to get a better scent. Usually this indicates a stray dog that might be a problem, but I stared and stared across the street and didn't see any movement, no dog, no deer, nothing.

I had one short errand to do, so I did it, came back, they were still very sure that there was something they were worried about, and now were at a different part of the fence. I walked all the way down the driveway, and it took a second for me to see movement in the ditch on our side of the road, about 10 ft from the fence. It was the neighbor's grey tabby cat, the one that keeps having kittens that she moves around and atleast once has put in our vents under out house for safekeeping (also the brushcutter, a pile of tarps, etc). She was dragging herself along on her front legs, and cried at me. I hightailed it back to the house, grabbed a towel, and carefully picked her up, all the while praising Albert and the goat boys for being so observant. I then showed the goat boys that I had picked her up - Albert would not leave his search for the cat, and wouldn't come over to see that I had picked her up. Even after I went in the house, he was pacing the fence, looking for her. The goats were satisfied I'd taken care of the situation, and went about their business, I think it took Albert nearly 30 min to leave off his search.

The last two days had been very cold, and it was supposed to get into single digits overnight, and after looking at her injuries, it was obvious that this injury wasn't from that day, but atleast the day before. It was nearly closing time, so I ran her down to the vet in town after asking her owners what they wanted to do (nothing) - I'm not sure if CARE would want to treat her, or if she would be too costly since we didnt' know what internal injuries she had, and she'd possibly lose a hind leg, and her temp was 90 or less due to trying to struggle home in the cold. As they looked at her, they sounded more and more unsure about if she'd make it. At any rate, she could get put to sleep in a nice warm vet office with people that cared, rather than dying by the side of the road two houses down from where she lived. I'm very thankful to the boys for making it obvious that there was something that needed my attention - poor girl. Brick took over kitty watch as soon as I brought her into the house to find a nice box to take her in, and nearly climbed into the box on the way to the vet- very concerned.