Monday Cat Blogging, The Tuesday Edition: For Whom The Bell Tolls

Clara entertained visitors with her recent appointment with Dr. Slade.  I asked the good doctor to put Clara's collar on her while she had her in her clutches.  I have this thing, a paranoia of sorts, about my cats getting out of the house, never to be seen again.  I have just such a nightmare about once a month.  In it, I've usually succeeded in returning one cat to the house, only to find that another one has gotten out in the meantime.  The vicious cycle repeats itself over and over again.  The collar has an ID tage and a rabies tag.

Clara's pretty wily. It takes nigh on superhuman effort to get her confined for a vet visit.  The morning of the vet visit, I was too snoozy to get up to double team her w/Kevin before he left for work.  I just wanted to stay in bed and sleep some more, so I mumbled that I'd confine her by myself, just leave me be.  The fates smiled upon me and I was somehow able to corral her.

The Plan was to feed the cats as usual.  I'd give Clara and Smudge a few pets when I put their plates down, also as usual.  Then, as I was nonchalantly petting Clara, I'd scruff her and toss her in the slammer.  The Plan proceeded as, well, planned until the pivotal moment: I flubbed the scruff.  Off she ran.  I followed.  She mewed.  I said soothing words which almost certainly fell on deaf ears.  At least figuatively deaf ears; possibly literally deaf ears; I think she's losing her hearing.

At some point she ran into the kitchen.  I closed one door, then the other.  There's a baby gate at the top of the basement stairs to keep the cats from going down there (and bc we need to get a real door there someday; it's a very awkward spot for a basement door).  Under normal circumstances, the baby gate deters them.  When being chased, her adrenaline pumping, Clara could easily jump over the gate.  She ran past me on the stairs once by pulling her Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon move: She was headed straight for me on the stairs.  She darted to her left, toward the wall.  She bopped off of the wall twice before landing behind me and proceeding away from me.

On this day, fortunately, she headed away from the gate and up on a shelf.  I put a towel over most of her and pet her little head, as she mewed unhappily and eyed me warily.  I tried to scruff her a few times and, finally, one of those scruffs took.  I picked her up by the scruff with one hand and held her feet with the other.  It helps to hold the feet bc much of their wiggle power comes from their lower half; holding their feet keeps them from twisting and turning too much.  It also supports the cat, which is important.  Very young kittens can be held only by the scruff, like momcats hold them, but as they get bigger, you should support them when you carry them by holding their feet.

So Dr. Slade very kindly put on Clara's collar.  The collar came with a bell on it.  I thought about taking it off, but reconsidered bc she often sneaks up on poor Dolly and I thought the bell would be handy to herald Clara's approach to Dolly.  Clara has very soft black fur on her feet; it looks like black velvet.  When she's up to no good, she slips soundlessly around the house on her silent little cat feet.

The bell doesn't seem to bother Clara at all.  She looks like she's shunning me in the first picture.  She's giving me the evil eye in the second picture.  And, finally, in the third picture, she's glaring at me full on with her evil orbs of doom.

Comments

[Kevin]

More Kitties! More Kitties! I demand a Monday Cat Blog!

[Annie]

You're going to have to wait, Buster. I'm moving cat blogging to Fridays, beginning with this week.

[Laurence Simon]

Does Clara want to be added to the Carnival of the Cats banner? Let me know. -ls

[Annie]

Yes! Please copy whatever pictures you want or let me know if you want me to send them to you if you can't copy them off of here. Thank you!

[Gayle Miller]

I well remember once when I was moving that Boo, the big brother (at 20 pounds) was easily corraled and that little brother Rocky (a mere 8 pounds) took 4 adults nearly 30 minutes to corral - in a TWO BEDROOM apartment. Cats are wily critters and I congratulate you on such a swift capture of Clara! Boo and Rocky have left me for the great Cat Carnival in Heaven (and I still miss them a lot) but now there are Sam and Tim. Sam is a 5 year old, 25# Maine Coon (rescue) and the most biddable and lovable handsome little man you can imagine. Tim is a Bluepoint Siamese who is very loving but also loaded with a typical 2 year olds attitude and stubbornness. Getting HIM to the vet, despite his relatively petite size is a nearly Herculean task! And I consider myself doubly blessed that I have these 2 characters to love - something that I could never have imagined after Boo died at age 18 (Rocky lived to be 15, despite diabetes).

[annie]

Thanks, Gayle, but hold onto your congratulations bc Kevin and I just had a heckuva time last night trying to confine 5.5 lb. Dolly last night for her vet visit today. I got scratched up and Kevin even got bit! Poor thing, she was soooo scared. It's especially frustrating w/Dolly, bc she really should be getting meds for (what we think is) IBD, but she just does not do handling. The vet and I will be revisiting strategy for her today; I hope we can come up w/something. She'll be this Friday's cat blog subject, so I'll update there.