I was able to get some new photos of Larenti yesterday as she grabbed a bite to eat.  In the process, I also discovered she’s found a new feline friend.  On top of that, you’ll see in the photos that she’s having some health problems.

If you look at the hi-res version of that photograph, you’ll see two things that caught my attention: her left eye and left ear are both wounded.  You can see in her left eye the spot next to her pupil where a blood vessel has burst.  Although I wasn’t able to catch a direct picture of the damage, you can see the base of her left ear is red and inflamed.  On the back side of it is a significant wound that is still raw and a bit open, although it’s not bleeding, and it extends from the base of the ear down onto her head.  Neither of these is major, although they do indicate she’s probably been in a fight with something that was able to get in several good licks on her.

Here’s the original photo from which I extracted that shot.

Another concern you might notice from that perspective is the lump on her back.  It’s a knot in her fur that’s been there for a few weeks and is slowly moving toward the base of her tail.  It is by far not as severe as were Vazra‘s knots when I took these photos.  This one knot has not stripped all the fur from her back like his did all over his body, but that doesn’t negate the pain it’s undoubtedly causing.  I wish there was a way I could remove it.

The best shot I have of the wound behind her ear is this one.

It is a major wound although perhaps not as significant as it might at first appear.  It’s large, I agree, and it looks pretty bad, but thus far it seems more superficial despite its ominous size.  I’ll continue to watch her and make sure it doesn’t turn into something ugly.  While I’ve never been able to get her comfortable enough with me to let me touch her at will (although she does let me touch her in limited ways), I’ll do what I can if it appears to get worse or seems to need medical attention.

Here’s a casual shot of her enjoying some food.  She’s grown accustomed to me and generally doesn’t worry about how close I am or what I’m doing, so it’s getting easier to approach her and get better photos.  I just wish this was one of them!

Finally, as I mentioned earlier, Larenti has taken to following the new cat I’ve seen around here recently (Clance).  Just as she did with Vazra in the last month before I rescued him, she’s now following this new cat and trying to hang out with it (I’m unsure of its gender).  In that regard, I’ve said before how lonely I think she is given how she talks and how she attaches herself to other cats.  She did that with Vazra.  Now she’s doing it with this new cat.

When I stepped outside yesterday and saw Kako‘s dopplegänger grabbing a bit to eat, it was alone for the first minute or two, but suddenly and out of nowhere Larenti came rushing over.  The black cat didn’t react harshly to her and she didn’t react harshly to it, but she did follow it when it had its fill of food and left for grander adventures.  Before they departed, I caught this photo of her watching her new buddy eat.