For 2 weeks in March I had the pleasure of house-sitting for some of my neighbors at South American Mission(SAM). I have always experienced fun adventures while house-sitting, and this time was no exception!

I began the first week only house/cat-sitting for one family. It was pretty easy with just one super loving kitty named Braveheart to care for and play with. But my 2nd or 3rd day there, I noticed that Braveheart had a pretty decent-sized, hairless spot on his belly with a hole at its center. My first thought was a possible bot-fly larvae, so I took a picture of the spot and texted it to his human mommy. She also thought it might be a worm sack of some sort, so off to the vet we went! Poor Braveheart – I don’t know if he had ever been on a mototaxi ride before…he cried the whole way there. The vet confirmed a worm larvae, and unfortunately Braveheart had to spend the night at the vet so they could sedate him and extract the worm. Now for those of you who have seen tons of YouTube videos like me of bot-fly larvae removal, they don’t normally sedate the animal/person. But seriously, would you really want to try removing ANYTHING from a puncture(ish) looking hole on a cat without sedation??? If yes, you are probably crazy….

So anyway, Braveheart returned the next day with a funky looking collar which did absolutely nothing to deter him from licking off the cream I had to put on the spot…but he survived the ordeal and remained just as loving as before!

Then I also had the night where a bat somehow entered the bedroom I was staying in. Seeing as Braveheart was there, I figured he would just catch it and kill it…unfortunately, he found it much more entertaining to just chill on the bed and watch as I caught the bat who had gone under the bed… I caught him alive and let him go back outside (why on earth would I kill an animal that EATS the armies of mosquitoes we have here?!). I figured the little guy would go back to enjoying some tasty mosquitoes, but the next morning when I went to one of the other houses at SAM to feed the 2 cats there, there was a little dead bat by the door…..definitely had me wondering if it was my bat visitor from the night before…

#peru #missions #Peru #provision