More cat updates
Aug. 21st, 2008 10:16 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
voxwomanGot Nika from the vet this morning. She peed in the carrier as soon as I started the engine (and made a noise I've NEVER heard from her or any other cat - ever). When I got her home, I took the overlarge carrier out of my car (where it was sitting on leather seats -stupid, I know!) and put it on the plastic picnic table and went to look for some sort of bucket or pail. I found a tray from a cooler and put some water in it. The plan was to wash Nika's paws (which had been dipped in the huge deep pee puddle in the back of the carrier) so she wouldn't completely trash the house. This was not to be.
She splayed her feet like one of the cartoon cats in Twolumps and I couldn't manage to get all 4 paws wet, even one at a time. I also couldn't find the animal towels (mostly used for bathing the ferret - who LIKES water, BTW), so I used an old sheet which was less than efficient in water absorption.
She then spent a few minutes in the house bashing her lampshade collar into pretty much everything (probably in an attempt to remove it). Once I realized how much of her various remaining fur was pee-soaked, I gave up and locked her in the empty closet (which will be a bathroom someday) with a litter box, food and water. Panzi is on the other side of the door, and they're talking to each other.
When R gets back from his morning job, he has promised to help me "wipe her down" which is all the vet will let us do, what with the tail sutures and all.
That's another thing - they shaved her tail, and it looks horrific. She is very panicked and upset, and I don't blame her a bit. But I can't have her running all over the house, knocking stuff off shelves with her collar, and stinking up the place, because I've been down that road in the past, and it ends up with the entire house smelling like a litter box, and then cats forever and ever will use it as such.
I truly look forward to the re-emergence of some kind of normality. It's going to take weeks, if not months, however.
On an unrelated note, and just because I was outside dealing with a pissy cat, a stranger was in my neighbor's yard asking if anyone lived there. I said "yes, of course!" because someone does live there. The guy shared with me that he's from a bank and the house is being foreclosed or something and that he was there to "lock it up" or something like that. He then held up a small silver thing and from where I was standing, I couldn't tell if it was a camera or a lock. My neighbor has been working on his house for months; and has just finished a huge kitchen renovation (marble countertops and Viking stove - this is high-end expensive stuff), and working on this place for a long time. I can't believe he's in foreclosure. The people on the other side of him, however... I'm not so sure. I just wish I had his phone number so I could call him and tell him what was going on. I'm thinking this guy made a mistake with the address. Wouldn't be the first time something like that happened.
Edit: Well, we tried to clean her up. She hasn't eaten the food with the drugs in it (including pain killers, dammit!) so she's really in a mood. I got her front legs and some of her belly wiped down, but she opened up R's hands when we tried to get her back legs. She also pulled out of the Elizabethan collar, dammit. She looks and acts like a bobcat now. I'm going to try to leave her in the small room until she eats her meds. At least w/o the collar, she is able to clean herself.
She splayed her feet like one of the cartoon cats in Twolumps and I couldn't manage to get all 4 paws wet, even one at a time. I also couldn't find the animal towels (mostly used for bathing the ferret - who LIKES water, BTW), so I used an old sheet which was less than efficient in water absorption.
She then spent a few minutes in the house bashing her lampshade collar into pretty much everything (probably in an attempt to remove it). Once I realized how much of her various remaining fur was pee-soaked, I gave up and locked her in the empty closet (which will be a bathroom someday) with a litter box, food and water. Panzi is on the other side of the door, and they're talking to each other.
When R gets back from his morning job, he has promised to help me "wipe her down" which is all the vet will let us do, what with the tail sutures and all.
That's another thing - they shaved her tail, and it looks horrific. She is very panicked and upset, and I don't blame her a bit. But I can't have her running all over the house, knocking stuff off shelves with her collar, and stinking up the place, because I've been down that road in the past, and it ends up with the entire house smelling like a litter box, and then cats forever and ever will use it as such.
I truly look forward to the re-emergence of some kind of normality. It's going to take weeks, if not months, however.
On an unrelated note, and just because I was outside dealing with a pissy cat, a stranger was in my neighbor's yard asking if anyone lived there. I said "yes, of course!" because someone does live there. The guy shared with me that he's from a bank and the house is being foreclosed or something and that he was there to "lock it up" or something like that. He then held up a small silver thing and from where I was standing, I couldn't tell if it was a camera or a lock. My neighbor has been working on his house for months; and has just finished a huge kitchen renovation (marble countertops and Viking stove - this is high-end expensive stuff), and working on this place for a long time. I can't believe he's in foreclosure. The people on the other side of him, however... I'm not so sure. I just wish I had his phone number so I could call him and tell him what was going on. I'm thinking this guy made a mistake with the address. Wouldn't be the first time something like that happened.
Edit: Well, we tried to clean her up. She hasn't eaten the food with the drugs in it (including pain killers, dammit!) so she's really in a mood. I got her front legs and some of her belly wiped down, but she opened up R's hands when we tried to get her back legs. She also pulled out of the Elizabethan collar, dammit. She looks and acts like a bobcat now. I'm going to try to leave her in the small room until she eats her meds. At least w/o the collar, she is able to clean herself.
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no subject
Date: 2008-08-21 04:47 pm (UTC)And poor you,
And poor neighbour, of course.
Wah. I hear you about the normality!
no subject
Date: 2008-08-21 07:15 pm (UTC)http://www.feliway.uk.com/feliway_uk.nsf/Page?OpenForm
My friends and/or I have used it when moving house with cats, when introducing stranger cats to each other, when leaving a cat by itself (except someone coming in to feed) for a week, and other stress inducing situations. It's not a cure all, but it does seem to help them feel less stress.
Most pet stores have some version available, although I think Feliway is most common. Just a thought.
no subject
Date: 2008-08-21 07:24 pm (UTC)