Updates on mountain lions and Shyla

We've had quite a flurry of mountain lion activity near us recently. One lion, in particular, has been spending a lot of time in a small area. Here she was, one morning, ambling along.

She walked at least 6 miles in between the first photo and the next one. I know about her travels because I captured her image 3 miles away in the middle of the afternoon, before she returned to this same spot in the evening.

This spot has been extremely interesting to our mountain lions recently. They've been displaying behaviors that I've never seen before. I also have never seen them in anyone else's trail camera photos.

She rolled around, rubbed her face on a rock, and stayed at the base of this bear marking tree for quite a while. When I looked closely at the rock that she was rubbing in these photos, it's completely covered in mountain lion fur.

The next photo explains to me why I've seen this lion in one area so frequently. She has enlarged teats on her abdomen. A wildlife expert emailed to say that she saw enlarged teats on an earlier photo from a couple of weeks before this one. This photo confirms it for me.

So, I believe that this is a mother mountain lion who has kitten(s) stashed somewhere nearby. She's hunting in a small area because her kitten(s) are not ready to move long distances yet. I thought that we might get the chance to see her kitten(s) but I've just learned that I have to move this camera. I am incredibly disappointed, as I've never captured a trail camera photo of a young mountain lion kitten yet. That'll be a challenge for another season.

In other news, I still haven't heard the most important result from Shyla's appointment on Monday. I finally called today and left a message with the vet, asking if they knew the results. I haven't heard back yet. It's the test for fungal infections that attack bones... and, if it's positive, we won't need a bone biopsy. Rather, we'll just treat with anti-fungal medications.

Shyla just learned to "take a bow"!

Shyla's limp is barely perceptible but the lump on her bone has not shrunk even the slightest bit. I don't know what to think of the combination of an improving limp but a still large lump.

I do know that our girl is going crazy with excess energy. She arrived here near the end of August and did nothing destructive or even mischievous until the past week. We gave her lots of exercise until her limp started, and when the exercise decreased, the mischief increased. By chewing the zippers out of some of my favorite clothes within the past week, she taught me to put them all out of her reach.

However, while a surprise visitor was at the door today, Shyla discovered the wonders of unrolling toilet paper and spreading it in a long ribbon all over the house. I didn't think to take a photo before I cleaned it up. I was too shocked. My little angel has some serious mischief in her!

This morning, Shyla and I took our short leash walk to visit K's Boulder (the boulder where K is standing in the banner photo). Just below Shyla's snout in the photo, you can see two small white granite rocks that I placed there early last summer. I put them there to represent K and my friend's dog, who was also having a tough time. For some reason, I didn't let Shyla stand in this spot, one of K's favorite spots, until this morning. But now, I feel that Shyla has earned this place of honor.

The spokes change but wheel keeps turning, and I never stop loving life and my dogs despite the many bumps in the road.