Posted by IsoM on February 24, 2003, at 14:23:56
In reply to Re: Cranky, crabby, crappy -- Part 2 » IsoM, posted by bozeman on February 23, 2003, at 22:06:56
Thank you for the update. After slicing off part of my thumb (only a little piece & a fairly shallow slice), I've been having trouble typing so just gave up on the comp for a few days. The whole thing throbbed too much. I can now type with the other fingers while holding it in the air. So excuse any typos, it’s too bothersome to correct all of them.
I knew Zorro would get better. A cat with spunk & the will to live along with an attentive human almost always makes it.
Your Zorro sounds like my Medusa. She's unbelievably lovey & can't get enough love except when she thinks I'm going to feed or give her pills again, then she turns into a banshee. Her growl rising in crescendo & volume sounds like someone trying to start a small engine. If I didn't wrap her firmly in two towels, I wouldn't own hands any more. I know her feedings stress her no end, but afterwards she calms down & turns lovely again.
She was a stray & when I took her to the vet to get spayed (when they opened her they found she'd already been previously), the vet told me she hoped to never see her again. Called her the cat from hell & had the long scratches to prove it. It's a matter of knowing how to handle her. I do believe she'd been abused wherever she lived before. The first year or two, though very loving, she watched our hand movements with narrowed eyes, ready to swat any one she thought was going to hurt her.
I had another boy a few years back who had been a stray too. He was the smartest cat I ever knew. He honestly understood simple sentences & would respond appropriately. When we first got him, he was a full Tom & was courting a wild little lady love stray (we never did catch her). We called her Flossie & would jokingly corrupt it to Floozy. She adored Taco (the Tom) & he was a perfect gentleman. After we knew he was going to stay, we neutered him. He couldn't understand why Flossie wouldn't come to his calls any more. It was sad to see him chirping & trilling to her only to be ignored. I still dearly miss him. He was also a big tough boy, but he let one small kitten, we were finding a home for, nurse on the fur of his belly. He'd look embarrassed but never chased the kitten away. He sounds like Zorro.
I'm interested that you say butter eliminates hairballs?? I've been told that digestible fats, unlike mineral oils, won't work because they're digested, not eliminated through the tract. But you have success? I do have a on/off problem with Medusa as she refuses veggies too.
The raw green beans my other two eat was by accident. One summer, while making supper, I dropped a bean on the floor. My now boy, Mozza, always watches everything I do when I'm working around the house. He ran & grabbed it but I expected him to drop it immediately. Instead he crunched it up. Curious, I dropped another. He ate that too. And ever since, he's eaten beans almost daily. The little girl, Morgana, wanted in on this too. She wouldn't eat them but toss them in the air, wrestle them into submission, & thoroughly mangle the bean. After a month of this, she seemed to develop a taste for fresh raw bean "blood" & started eating them. Unlike Mozza, who just wolfs them down, she has to wrestle each of her beans before dealing it a death bite. She literally bites the "head" off the bean before she eats it. She wants her beans alive so I often wiggle them about before tossing them to her.
She's also my mighty bug hunter. A couple years when mosquitoes have been bad, she hunts through the house in the evening with me, looking for mosquitoes sitting on the walls. I whack them with a rolled up tea towel & when they drop stunned to the floor, she nibbles them up. She loves the taste of mosquitoes & I don't mean bloody ones! If I say "let's go hunt the bad bugs", she's ready.
I thought it funny when Wally doesn't know how to kill for hurting his poor Zorro. It can't be "mommy" as she loves Zorro. When Medusa howls & growls at me, Morgana calmly (almost disdainfully) watches, but Mozza's afraid she might get loose & take vengeance on him. He's quite terrified of her as she won't put up with any guff from him as Morgana does. He just runs when he hears her growling start.
Ah, life without cats - I wouldn't want to be. I saw some red pandas on the news today. They're only a little larger than cats & easily tamed - very friendly & gentle. Too bad they’re so endangered. I first say them about 20 years ago & have loved them ever since. It's funny how a small furry face with forward pointing eyes (unlike sheep or deer with side facing eyes) tugs at our hearts. I've seen logical biologists when handling wild tranquilized animals like that, break into coos & snuggles with them. It strikes something deep in us. I know when I snuggle with Morgana (the only one who loves being held in my arms), I can feel my muscles soften & I feel so calm & peaceful. She loves full body hugs, presses her body close against me, leans her cheek on mine & wraps her tail tight about my arm.
Please continue to keep us updated on Zorro, Wally, & Sulley. I love reading cat stories.
poster:IsoM
thread:201723
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20030223/msgs/203390.html