Testing to see if pictures work now. Here’s Pilgrim cuddling with Pusheen in my music corner. I found this Pusheen playing piano at a secondhand place a while back and thought it was cute. This is the first time I have seen one of the pride snuggled up with it, though. They have for the most part ignored her to date.
Rats, apparently still not working. Oh, well, will try again in a few days.
The first and greatest Feline Household Commandment is Thou Shalt Not Step Upon the Keyboard. Not on the functional keys of it, at least. This is a critical rule at my place, due to my job, being remotely hooked to hospitals at times, and the fact that a feline misstep could have far greater consequences than oops. I have never, since living alone, had a house cat who failed to learn this one. Absolute consistency is the key. Cats definitely have the proprioception to follow this.
I present Pilgrim obeying the First Commandment. Watch that footwork. Once, he even comes close to putting it down on the mouse, then realizes and dodges in mid air. He is 100% trained and reliable on the commandments by this point, and I am not shielding the keys at all from him. They are right there available. He also gives a couple of examples here of the tight 180-degree turn in my lap on tip pad instead of the more leisurely and comfortable turn that would go out over the keyboard. Good Pilgrim!
https://www.facebook.com/deborah.hall.12/videos/10215640537365862
The Second Commandment. I am eating a turkey sandwich in perfect peace. There are two cats on the back of the couch just behind my head, too.
Cat of the Racetrack https://www.facebook.com/dougoneillracingstable/photos/a.921218811231854/4328022270551474/?type=3
Last step of each working day is to evict the cats from the office. I leave that door shut at night, too much computer equipment in there to trust my roommates for several hours while I’m clear across the house asleep.
So I evict the cats, which usually takes a minute. Then I shut that room and go into the great room for evening crafting. My crafting corner happens to be directly next to the office with a wall between.
I was just sitting here crafting when suddenly there came a scratching on the wall right next to my head. Seriously, it wasn’t a foot misaligned. I came to attention and thought, that wasn’t in this room. So I moved Atticus off my lap, got up, and went around the mini hall to reopen the office. There at the door sat Mary, apparently overlooked as I was evicting cats earlier. Mary has excellent natural camouflage. I did call out, and she knows the word, but apparently tonight she chose to ignore it, and I didn’t see her. She walked out calmly now.
That little cat is quite intelligent. The precision of that scratch was amazing. Seriously, she absolutely nailed my location, orienting the two rooms on each side of the wall to each other, and I wasn’t making noise. Cross stitch is not a noisy activity, and I hadn’t spoken to a cat for many minutes. Then just a few scratches, not throwing a fit or getting vigorous, just calling herself to my attention.
She is the odd one of those three orphans, the spook, the one only pettable when the mood strikes her, but even as a kitten, she would think. You could see her do it. That’s why she is named Mary, after the verse, “Mary kept these things and pondered them in her heart.”
I can’t fault her reasoning tonight.
Brio. Nature certainly marked him accordingly. From his erupting volcano on wheels on his face to his very odd undermarkings, not a simple stripe like most tuxedos, he is a character.
Jingles for Rascal. Last night while out and around the place, I noticed her squat two times five minutes apart. Seemed to be a small wet spot, so she’s not blocked up. This morning again through the window before I went out, I saw her a few times. She acts like she has to go little bits frequently.
So I just called my vet, had a thorough conversation with them. She is eating and acts absolutely like her usual self, and she is quite interactive with me. She’d be easy to spot a change in behavior on. She seems to be normal as near as I can tell except for some apparent urinary frequency. She accompanied me today on my watering round of the baby landscaping.
They are buried in patients today, and today is their short clinic day, only open Saturdays until mid day instead of until 5:00. So we’re on for the Monday morning drop-off. They like to keep suspected UTI cats for a few hours anyway to get a sample. Of course, if she acts stopped up or like she’s acutely worsening before then, call back, but at the moment, we’re not calling this an emergency. No need for out-of-hours appointment, not right now.
Anyway, I’ll take her in Monday.
This picture from my Facebook memories cracked me up. Christmas cactus with tail.
Jingling for Rascal!!! Hope she feels better soon and it isn’t anything more than just a UTI.
Word from the vet. Rascal does have a bladder infection. The vet said that her first choice of antibiotic would be daily dosing, and she wondered if I could handle the cat and administer this. Yes, I can handle her. I just can’t pick her up; she insists on being a ground-level cat. No laps, either. She’s very affectionate with me in her way, but she does have a long list of rock-solid mandates on how she will be interacted with. She hasn’t been terribly cooperative there today, though. This cat does NOT like strangers.
Will go get her in a little bit. It is, of course, a gorgeous day, quite mowable, but my mow break from work will be taken up going to town to get the cat and coming back. I’m just glad she’s okay. She is my favorite of Cat Lady’s cats; always has been.
How do you manage daily dosing if you can’t pick her up. I need a lesson in giving pills to cats.
I just bought a pill popper stick but haven’t used it yet. My cats will NOT be compliant I’m sure.
Good news for Rascal. Next question, what causes an otherwise healthy cat to get a UTI?
We’re back, and I just gave her her first dose. Did let her eat first, as she had missed the evening feeding.
Kneel next to her. She doesn’t mind at all being right up next to me; in fact, she likes that position. Touching me, even. She just wants all paws under her control.
Explain to the cat. Optional step depending on your cat, but with this one, I explain things to her.
Loop one hand around the throat, other hand at mouth quickly.
Down the hatch.
Immediately release the cat.
Two Temptations treats and some ear scratches.
As for why, who knows? The clinic said critters can just get one at times, as can people, and you aren’t sure why. Medicine hasn’t yet explained everything. She’s in good shape. She is roughly nine years old at this point (three years with Cat Lady, working on her sixth year with me), but she still is full of sass and takes my quite strenuous morning walk with me often. My setup is very kind to barn cats; I’ve had many make it well into their teens. Fortunately, UTIs are much less likely to go really bad in females than they are in males. That male anatomy can be a problem in more ways than just creating kittens.
I went out to sit on the steps a few minutes just to let our last encounter tonight not involve medicine. This is Rascal’s favorite position. Next to, not on, not held by, me. She loves to get right next to me of her own decision. Here, she is rubbing her ears on my leg; that’s why her head is crooked at this moment.
I hope it doesn’t take long for the antibiotics to work on Rascal. What a pretty little tortie. 
I have one like that. Paws are in Her control at all times. I can pop pills in her, remove fur mats, cut claws, etc. I can pick her up, she doesn’t like it. But for me… But there are limits, and the paws need to be respected. However, the vet’s office? Got a tranquilizer dart? She has a warning on her file. And only goes in when she has to. Which, of course, is more in three years than the previous 2 cats in 2 decades!
As I mention in his chapter in my forthcoming cat book, Atticus has figured out that phones = not typing. He knows that when I am typing, I’m doing something besides petting cats, but he has worked out that I stop typing to answer the phone, thus one hand available for feline service. At any phone ring, he comes galloping up to see if I’m going to answer or not (I frequently ignore the blasted thing). If I do answer, he jumps in my lap and enthusiastically purrs back and forth to get petted with my non phone hand. He loves phone calls. I’m sure if he could figure it out, he would call me himself by now.
So I was just about to shut down for the evening when the phone rang, and it was my boss. Very odd to get an actual call from her; this company is run 98% on computers. But she was driving, not at present with her work computer (which is far beyond a smartphone). She had just gotten a call from another employee who couldn’t get into the system to type due to password errors, and she wanted to know if I could change her password. She couldn’t change it herself from her phone.
I said I’d be glad to change this person’s password but didn’t know how. No problem; she’d walk me through it. Go to the management program. Okay, I’m there. I use that one regularly, though only about a 10th of its various tabs. Read her the tabs across the top. Click that never-before-clicked one. Click this next one. Go to this list. Find that employee, click edit. Panel opens. Enter a new password.
All through this, Atticus, who had arrived promptly with the phone call, was getting more and more enthusiastic in his purr winding through my hands. He couldn’t figure out why I was still messing with the computer with one hand while holding the phone with the other. Those two activities are supposed to be mutually exclusive. Meanwhile, I was trying to be most careful typing in the requested password, one-handed, so that it would be correct for the person who needed to log in with it.
The cat really wasn’t helping the operation much. My boss got amused at my side commentary. She had some side commentary of her own to the kids in the car.
She can keep any kids. I’d much rather deal with cats, even when they are momentarily inconvenient.
If a cat won’t let me pill them when they’re unrestrained, I “sit” on them (not really but this is what I call it). This is how I give my Pee Wee her Zyrtec every day. It’s a little hard to describe but she’s on the ground and I kneel down kinda on top of her (but not much weight on her). She’s somewhat restrained between my legs but her head is sticking out so I can pill her. I’m sure some cats wouldn’t allow this but it might be worth a try.
Hope Rascal is feeling better.
I had one (demon cat) that I would grind pill up and mix it with cat hairball medicine and smear on his foreleg every day to lick off…he got better from the medicine and I survived without ripped up arms and body parts.
By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. You may also receive promotional emails from The Chronicle of the Horse. You can opt out at any time.
For Customers
Company
Terms of Use
