What Damage is Done All Unknowing

(I know, it's been ages. Oops.)

Last Monday morning I woke up abruptly at 3:30ish in the morning with a searing pain across my cheek and the definite impression someone had just traveled up and over my face.

I got up, knowing that cat scratches always swell up and get all red if I don't wash them out immediately. Stumbled (still half asleep) to the bathroom, washed it out with water (I should have used something stronger but, well, half-asleep, remember), put ointment on it, a kleenex (to keep the ointment off my pillow) and crawled back into bed.

When I got up for real two hours later, I was slightly miffed at the two boys who might have been responsible. (Apricot doesn't sleep on the bed. Also, future examination of the scratch would show that the paw size was too big for him.)

But by the time I got home from work, I had not only realized but internalized that whoever did it hadn't meant to, and being mad at them was stupid and counter-productive. They were both rather apologetic when I got home.

That night I finally actually looked at it in the mirror, and realized that wow, that looks way worse than it feels, and no wonder people had been asking me what happened all day long at work!

Note the lighter scratch above the main one.
That's from a claw on the other side of his paw.
That's how big one Maine Coon paw is!

From what I can figure out, I think it was Colby. He's the one who sleeps up next to my shoulder and would have been in line to leave rapidly across my head. He's also the one who prompted me to want to clip their claws the day before, although (obviously) I had run out of time and hadn't done it. In other words, he had a super sharp claw on the edge of one paw that I already knew about, although they all do a spectacular job of keeping their claws in (when they aren't startled) so it has to get really sharp before I realize they need their claws clipped again).

And Colby often acts guilty when Thimble jumps onto the bed and leaves as though Thimble makes him feel like he's not supposed to be there. (Thimble, bless his heart, is a bit of a bully. I try to ameliorate his behavior but since I'm only home and awake five-six hours a day M-F, it's difficult. And in his defense, he isn't doing it to be mean; he's doing it because he wants me all to himself.)

But by five days later the scab was itching, and it came off yesterday. So it's healing nicely.

And I just clipped everybody's claws, so we shouldn't have a repeat of last Monday again.