telophase | Kitty trauma...

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kitty is strongly opinionated

Kitty trauma...

...her regular vet checkup, that is. I managed to pick her up and shove her into her carrier this morning without incident, and took her to the vet. They offer a drop-off service: I leave the cat there in the morning, they do the exam at their convenience, and I pick her up after work. The girl at the front desk was new, however, and didn't immediately take the cat back like they normally do, so she stared at me and uttered mournful meows as I walked out of the place, ABANDONING HER. (I assume the meows, actually. She has a tendency to go with the ones that are too high-pitched for humans to hear, like kittens sometimes do, when she wants something form me.)

It probably traumatized me more than her.

So I go to pick her up, pay for the bits of the exam that aren't covered under the vet's insurance program thingy, and the tech goes to the back to get her.

Now, this office is a Banfield, in Petsmart (Hey, it was directly across the highway when I moved into this complex). There's an operating room behind the front desk with windows on either side - and blinds they pull when the room's in use - and you can see back into the main exam room. You can also see the door to where they keep the animals.

The tech gets my carrier and goes back into the animal room. A long while passes. Eventually, the tech comes out into the main exam area, and goes off into another room. A small crowd of techs gathers at the door of the animal room. One of the vets comes from the other room and goes into the animal room.

Another long while passes. The original tech joins the crowd, dabbing at the back of her hand with a white bandage or paper towel or something. Eventually, in response to a cue I can't hear, one of the other techs fetches a pair of those long leather gloves they use to handle feral cats.

Some time after that, the tech goes into the room and returns, with a fully-laden carrier. XD I mentioned something about how my cat had a strong opinion about things, and she smiled and assured me everything was OK.

She was not happy about the whole vet thing, but at least she exacted her pound of flesh. Perhaps literally.

What I really do not get is how these people expect me to clean this cat's ears out. She bizarrely allows me to stick my finger in her ear, and will press hard against it, because the earwax in there makes her ears itchy, but no cotton swabs, medication, or anything else. I know they have to zip her up in the kitty bondage bag just to examine her and there's a note on her file to that account, because every time I take her in and wait there for the exam, instead of dropping her off, they just take her back to the back in the carrier and do the exam there, instead of in the small exam room with me. They, trained to handle obstreporous animals, can't handle her without help, yet *I'm* suppsoed to be able to clean out her ears? Riiiiiight.

Anyway, she's healthy, although somewhat dopey from her vaccinations, and blames me not at all. She's sleeping at my feet at the moment. They're doing a test on her ear gunk, since it's red, although it's always been red, and always been a lot - I don't know why they didn't have a problem with it before. Ah well.

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Huh, that is weird about the ear gunk being that color, I don't think I ever saw it like that. Mine had a yeast problem with his ears. He would get dark waxy junk in his ears. So they gave me a tube of stuff to put in his ears every so often to keep it at bay. And of course a cleaning solution to keep the ears clean and dry.

Here's the thing I don't get. Ever since we moved, I haven't seen that stuff in his ears and the last time I gave him the solution was early Dec before we moved. Keep in mind that I don't always remember to clean his ears out like I was supposed to. I don't know if maybe there was something in the house that caused it. The majority of the floors in the house were all carpeted including the kitchen. The place we are renting now has all tile floors except for the two bedrooms. And he hardly ever went outside unless we were there to let him out and watch him.

She bizarrely allows me to stick my finger in her ear, and will press hard against it

Same with mine.

I just wish I had the patience and know how of clipping claws. Mine needs his back ones clipped so bad (he's declawed). I just don't want to go through that tedious task of trying to get him in the carrier just to get them cut and brought back in such a small amount of time.

Yeah, I'm wondering if it's something in the apartment. It doesn't appear to be mites or an infection - she occasionally scratches her ears, and loves it when I rub them hard, but I think it's just due to excess earwax building up since she's not bothered by them most of the time. We'll see when I move - its a new apartment, at least, so there should be that buildup of gunk in the carpet or anywhere.

And she's an inside cat and doesn't have any contact with other animals. I open the window and let her sit at it, but she's scared enough of dogs and other cats that she'll hiss and go away if one approaches. Except for the gray kitty. She used to hiss at him, but now she just backs up a bit and stares at him when he puts his paws on the windowsill and mews. THat's why I have hope that she'll learn to tolerate or maybe even like another cat, if I get one.

I'm glad mine uses the scratching post a lot. I'd hate to ahve to try to get her claws clipped. I'd ahve to take her in and have her sedated, probably.

If you make a fist and let Sam rub his mouth or the side of his face till you reach his ear, he will push pretty hard. Or like hubby will make a fist and rub his knuckles fast on the spot that Sam is wanting rubbed. Another thing he likes to do is when he bites your finger, he tries to deep throat the damn thing, I'm surprised he doesn't gag.

Yeah, I forgot about why cats claw things. I just wish they would do that for their back claws too.

I'd hate to ahve to try to get her claws clipped. I'd ahve to take her in and have her sedated, probably.

*laughs* I take it that you can't have her bathed either then huh? Sam is well over 15yrs old so I think he's just to the point that he doesn't give a fuck pending on what you are trying to do to him though. He's the first cat I ever had that didn't mind letting you give him a bath. He fusses sometimes but not to the point where "omg!water! I'm gunna die!!" I gave him a bath last month and for some reason, he didn't quite fuss like he did at the other house cause the other house had the sliding shower doors whereas at this place has a shower curtain and he didn't make any attempts on trying to jump out the other end.

For the longest time he didn't like being held but now you can pick him up and he gets too comfortable in your arms to where he would even start cleaning himself. Can't hold a 14lbs cat in your arms that long while he's trying to groom, that's not the reason I picked you up in the first place!

I wouldn't ever dare to try wash this cat. Not without steel armor on. XD

Another weird thing my cat does is let me grab her tongue. She grooms *me* a lot, and sometimes I grab her tongue when she does it. She doesn't hate it, in fact it's more of a "Huh? WHat? Someone's holding my tongue?" and goes right back to licking me when I let go. XD

I started by just randomly handling their paws, then graduated to extending the claws. Once they were comfortable with me messing with their feet, I graduated to the clippers. I still randomly just look at their toes, so they don't always associate it with the clippers.

Of course, I have remarkably well-behaved cats...

'nip

The best way to do cat maintenance is to bribe the living daylights out of them.

Mine will sit still for 9 (of the 10) front claws before getting really nuts, but woe betide if the catnip isn't right there when I'm done. With all 9 claws. Cats assume I can't count, I think.

Arrrgh, I should get our guys a checkup. They are 8 years old now.

Poor Kitty .... poor Stephanie!

:D I'm making Tuna Helper right now, so she got the excess tuna water from the can as a treat. She doesn't like eating tuna itself* but she'll drink the water and enjoy it.

* Not enough carbs, apparently. She likes to eat crunchy cat food, taco chips, stale things off the carpet, Nilla wafers, and animal crackers. Meat? REJECT!

UGH! The infamous dastardly TUNA! Hubby yells me when he's around and I open tuna cause the cat is ALWAYS bothering me. So I give Sam a little piece and he's satisifed with it and leaves me alone. He doesn't puke it up but no matter how many times I tell hubby that, he still doesn't want me to do it. I tried giving Sam a small piece of chicken that is in a can but he apparently doesn't like it.

When eating cereal that isn't sugary or as long as you don't put sugar in it, Sam will sit by your side watching you eat till you are done. Hubby started him on that habit cause he'll let Sam drink a little bit of milk of what is left in the bowl. Yet I get yelled at by giving tuna?! Sheesh!

I started eating yogurt recently and put it near Sam for him to sniff and he actually tried eating what I had on my spoon. I didn't let him though cause I'm not sure how his body would react to it. (puke, shit, etc)

Our housecat back home a long time ago, dad would give her her own little bowl of popcorn every Sat night when we'd make it. Shockingly enough, she never choked on a kernel.

Yeah, your cat is just a tad weird. *lol*

Mine tends to throw up if she eats pork. Naturally, that's the only meat she'll eat. XD

I let her sniff popcorn every tim I eat it, but she doesn't show any interest. I keep telling her that I remember she ate part of a piece once, but she refuses to believe me.

You want weird? My mother's cat once ate a MARSHMALLOW. I was eating the mini-marshmallows, and held one out to her to sniff, expecting her to sniff and reject, but instead she took it from me and ate it. I never gave her any more, though, because it's got to be bad for her. XD

I live in a house of vegetarian cats. I've tried everything (tuna, salmon, pork, hamburger, crab, fake crab and shrimp), and all they like is tuna juice. To them, cat food is meant to crunchy, and that gooshy stuff is meant to buried. The only time I've had problems with them going after left out food is dandelion greens. And my potted herbs.

I once cat-sat for a vegetarian woman. I made a chicken hash one day, and managed to flip the spoon and throw a spoonful of it on the floor. The cats immediately shot for the potato. XD

My cat used to swipe marshmallow and chew them for a bit and then spit them out...

She also likes to eat bread. If we have buns sitting on top of the counter she will get up and rip the bag open and stuff herself with them. We have taken to hiding buns now.

Try Pepperidge Farm Goldfish! The cheez flavored ones are nearly as good as cat treats in our house. Sometimes. Sometimes they're poisonous garbage. You know how it is. Also, the soy-flavored rice cracker snacks! Fun to lick and leave stuck to the furniture.

If they gave you drops for the cat's ears, and if you can get them in, that may suffice to loosen up the gunk. If there is gunk. Honestly if the cat's not rubbing its ears a lot and displays only normal deafness, putting you and her through swabbing seems sadistic. I don't know about your vet but ours keeps trying to make us feel irresponsible for not brushing the cat's teeth. There is not enough body armor in the world to enable me to brush this cat, let alone brush her teeth. Vets get these ideas about how cats are supposed to be cleaned, and most cats really have their cleaning pretty much sorted out by now.

Since I can't find any Friskies Crunchy Tuna and Salmon Flavor Treats anymore, and those are her FAVORITE (she just won't eat any others), I may have to try those! XD

My vet mentioned brushing my cat's teeth to me once. I think the air of "You have GOT to be kidding me" came through loud and clear, and she retreated back to giving me chews for her teeth*. And at the same visit, she mentioned that there'd been a bit of dried feces on the cat's anus, which she'd removed and it left a bit of a raw spot, and that I should check and see if that kept happening, because I might need to clean her off with a paper towel or something every so often. And I nodded and smiled, while thinking "So now I'm supposed to brush her teeth and wipe her ass? HOW? TELL ME THAT!"

* WHich she rejected. And then a couple of months ago, she got into the cabinet where I stored the bag, and fished them out and started eating them. You never know.

I don't know about your vet but ours keeps trying to make us feel irresponsible for not brushing the cat's teeth.

Sounds like something all vets bitch at the owners about. I'll never forget the first time I took my cat in and literally got a chunk of my ass tore off for not taking care of Sam's teeth. I knew he had dental issues cause his breath gets pretty stinky but even at that point of time, I doubt that his teeth would ever get clean. So they printed me out an estimate of how much it would be if I had him in for a cleaning and it was over $500!!!!!!!!!! I think cause of how far off the teeth problem was, they were going to have to sedate him which is probably why it was so high. Sam is a good bit over 15yrs old and is starting to lose his teeth, what good would spending $500 do me at this point of time? The food we are giving him now says that it's supposed to help clean teeth so I'm just going with that.

Vets get these ideas about how cats are supposed to be cleaned, and most cats really have their cleaning pretty much sorted out by now.

EXACTLY! I couldn't have said that better. Cause here's what gets me, my old house cat lived a long 13yrs and never had her teeth cleaned or seen a vet. All our farm cats lived pretty good and they didn't have to have their teeth cleaned either. To me vets make the owners feel bad so they can blow more money on a visit. I know that bad teeth problems aren't good cause it affects the animal like it would a human if a humans teeth are gone for a long time without cleaning. It affects the health and heart.

I understand that keeping their teeth clean adds years to their lives - one of the cats I had when growing up eventually died after a tooth got infected, at the age of 16 and she might have made it to 20 or beyond if the practice of cleaning teeth was in place at the time. But I can't bring myself to be *too* overly concerned as they normally live for 2-3 years in the wild, and having 16 is way more than they evolved to do.

It's been years since I had a cat in my everyday life, but Momma Cat and Jezebel (her daughter ... may they rest in peace, after living well past 20 each) used to like fish, raw chicken ... and things with tomato sauce.

My Strega has never shown very much interest in People Seafood (unlike the dogs, who always thought scraps of fish and shrimp offal meant they'd died and gone to heaven). She does like mozzarella cheese, pepperoni, Italian sausage, steak, ice cream, chewing the tops off fresh cornbread cooling on the counter, and gravy. If she had her way, her diet would be at least 90% gravy.

If you want another idea for kitty treats...

A couple of the cats I've had enjoyed a piece or two of cantaloupe (sp?) occasionally.

Heh. I'll have to try. I've let her sniff grape stems, which apparently some cats like. Doesn't like them. I haven't tried her on broccoli, which a cat I used to have loved*, because I hate it, so there's never any in the house.

* The day she leaped upon the table and started chowing down on the broccoli on my plate, Mom and I were both so surprised that we just let her do it, without shooing her off the table. XD I learned later that cats sometimes do like broccoli.

At the clinic where I work, we have a cartoon taped to the wall of a vet who looks like he's been in a tornado, scratched and bleeding and tore-up. The cat is off to the side looking disgusted, the owner looks traumatized, and the vet is telling the owner, "Well, finally got it down! Now just give it twice a day for two weeks...."

I believe it!

I actually live in terror of the day when I have to pill this cat. When I first got her, they gave me a pill for worms and told me to give it to her at home, I forgot how long after. I tried for a while, tried wrapping her in a towel and pinning her between my legs and all the things you're supposed to do. And then gave up, put her in the carrier*, and took her to the vet and explained my predicament.

The tech at the desk smiled and said sure, she'd do it, got my cat out of the carrier right there, and began the process.

A while later, she took the cat and the pill into one of the exam rooms and firmly shut the door. XD

* She'll let me do that without struggling too hard. I don't get it.

I remember when my brother and his wife went on vacation and left the kitties with me while Kitty S had acne on his chin that needed cream applied to it. I managed to avoid getting bitten or scratched but I never got much cream on the actual area. Then he quickly groomed it off anyway.

Hee! If I ever move to a place where I feel safe letting the cat out and have to give her flea stuff, it's going to have to be the kind you rub into their shoulders. That's her favorite place to be scratched, and she'll just sit there, her head getting lower, and lower, and lower, as you scratch there. I doubt she'll eat any that goes on food.

He liked getting his chin and neck scritched but he could feel and smell the stuff on my fingers and broke out into full, squirmy Do Not Want.

Our cats are neurotic to this day whenever we wield q-tips in their direction. I have quite a few scars on my arms from my otherwise extremely well balanced and patient creatures because cleaning a cat's ears should apparently be left up to the cat itself.

Or other cats in the vicinity.

We have given up because there's a shortage of blood in banks, but not in our carpet.

My Minnow is good at the vet's. I think is is because (the now retired) vet used to tell her what a lovely cat she was.

Pills & ear-mite stuff on the other hand at home is such a problem. I also had to bath her once because she got into this hand-cream and had it all over her. I have a scar on my forearm still from that.

She has also taken to pulling towels & face-clothes out of the little-wheele drawer-thing we have them in and then pushing the empty thing around the floor.

I'm glad your cat still likes you after you abandoned her seemingly.

Have you tried feeding her Temptations? Our cats go wild over them.

The cat is torn between knowing I took her there and coming to me for comfort because she feels odd, so she comes up to me and sits next to me or lets me pet her a lot, then wanders off and hides under the bed for a while.

Yup, tried Temptations. Hates them. The Friskies in that flavor are the only ones I've ever tried that she likes. And she doens't even like them fresh - the bag has to be opened up and sitting around for a few days before they get stale enough. Or something. I don't pretend to understand her thought processes.

Heheh... My Ryoko's the same way about the vet. She really, really hates it. Our vet thinks she might be reminded of when she was at animal control/the pound. We're considering using a visiting vet for her next shots...

I would not be surprised if that were the reason mine hates the vet. I got her from the pound, and I don't know how long she'd been there, but I know that she was fighting with a dog, the dog's owner pulled her off and she bit him*, and she was taken to the pound and held in quarantine to be observed for rabies. Nobody ever picked her up, and she was put up for adoption. I always wonder about her early life - she was socialized enough that she's quite friendly when she warms up to you, but she's not a lap cat and loathes being picked up. She's fascinated by the kitchen, but when I let her sniff whatever I'm holding, she loses interest and leaves.** There's a small kink in her tail that you can feel, but not see, and I wonder if it's just a genetic thing or if she broke her tail at one point.

* Like any self-respecting cat would do at that point. XD

** Unless it's one of the small blue bowls, because I always feed her tuna water in those. I now have to hide the bowls when I'm emptying the dishwasher and she can see, or when I'm using them to, say, melt butter in the microwave, otherwise she comes over expecting tuna water.

Yikes! Once again I am grateful to my dog, who keeps the cat's ears very clean, very deep inside (very funny to watch). And I'm grateful that the cat usually tolerates this long enough for it to be effective, before taking a flying lunge at the dog's jugular. Dog is a fluffy chow, so his jugular isn't in much danger.

Hee! When we had cats and a dog, the dog took care of any hairballs on the floor. The first two cats, when Carrie was a puppy, hated her - but they hated each other as well. After they both died and I got Mom her current cat, the kitten was afraid of Carrie, a big black Lab, for a few days, then started treating her like furniture, curling up on her back and between her front paws. They never became great friends, but they got along much better than the previous cats ever did. XD

My mom's current cat loves earwax. I have been awakened by this cat snuffling inside my ear.

If you ever get another cat, they will probably clean each other's ears -- problem solved! (That's what mine do, and my vet is always impressed with their ears.)

I hope so! Provided they don't hate each other, like the cats we had when I was a kid. XD

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Kitty trauma...

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