Cat Scabs

Here is a cat mystery.  And no, the topic of the post does not refer to substitute cats who come in as strike breakers when the regular cat pets are walking the picket line.  Please read on.

This cat, who we now call "ca Beere," is an indoor-outdoor cat (but always is in overnight):

Image credit Gary

The image above shows how ca Beere's ears get bitten by some unknown creature whenever she goes outside. At any given time she has several scabs on each of her ears.  If she remains indoors for a couple days the wounds, which are not particularly large or deep, heal up just fine.  So there is no indoor causation.

None of our other 4 cats is similarly affected, so the bride and I are totally baffled.  The only difference between ca Beere's habits and those of her feline brother and sisters is that ca Beere often catches and brings home short-tailed shrews (Blarina brevicauda), placing them triumphantly on the porch.  But she has no other wounds that might indicate a shrew fight, so my guess is some insect that bites her.

As for the cat's name, she is our daughter's and was originally named Bear.  But daughter always used a high-pitched voice when she talked to the cat, calling it "The Bear" but it actually sounded audibly and phonetically like "de Beere" as if the cat was some Dutch diamond magnate or something.

Anyway, when Mister Tristan, then the 2-year-old human being, not the blog, began to speak he could not say "de Beere" but rather called the cat "ca Beere."

So now it remains so.