Well, Creamsicle is at the vet for her abortion/hysterectomy/FeLV test. Poor thing! Nothing to eat since last night, stuffed into a carrier for the trip, stuck in a cage until this afternoon – when she’s going to be cut open and gutted like a fish!
Oh, bugger. The SO likes to put a full-size air mattress on the floor of the living room and nap when she gets off work and in the evenings. I just caught Tonka squatting on it. He peed on her ‘Korean blanket’, and I can see a big spot on the mattress where he’d gone before. THE LITTLE FREAK! :mad:
Anyway, one of us will pick Creamsicle up tomorrow morning. She’s not going to like being indoors for days, and I hope she’ll understand the litter box.
Not quite an abortion, they just go ahead and do the spay -remove the uterus and ovaries- so obviously any feti would not be viable. She must be about mid-way in the pregnancy, most vets won’t do it late in the pregnancy. Some people object to this but it’s preferable to bringing more cats into the world and then trying to find them homes when there are already so many cats in need of homes.
When we brought him home from the shelter, they gave us a cat bed. Even though he knew where the litter box is, he used the cat bad. We thought we’d solved the problem when we saw this happen and tossed the bed. It’s just weird that he’d use the inflatable mattress.
Yeah, the SO isn’t happy about it; but it’s better than bringing more homeless cats into the world.
The vet says Creamsicle is not very far along, so there should be no trouble. There might be a slight bit more bleeding during the procedure, is all.
The SO came back from the vet with Creamsicle. She said, ‘She wasn’t pregnant, and she doesn’t have a uterus.’
On the initial trip, the vet didn’t see any spaying scars. After shaving her belly, she saw several scars that may have been from an attack. She did go in, and found that there was no uterus; so maybe it was removed after she had her injuries. She only has a small incision.
The SO is concerned that Tonka stares Creamsicle down and has been peeing inappropriately. The receptionist at the vet says that if we can’t sort out the kitty relationship, she’d be happy to take Creamsicle. (She’s said a couple/few times she’d take her if we didn’t want to keep her.) We’ll see how it goes.
Last night was the first time I saw Creamsicle drinking water. She drank quite a lot. She drank quite a bit this morning, too. But she hasn’t figured out the litter box. ‘Mom’ put one in her room, showed it to her, sat her in it, and pawed at it. Creamsicle doesn’t get it. She appears to hold it until she’s let outside. We did let her out this morning, since Nurse SO said the incision looked good. She didn’t stay out long, but disappeared somewhere across the creek and came back shortly thereafter.
She’s definitely not afraid of Tonka. She just doesn’t want to interact with him. They’ll sniff each other if she’s been out, and if Tonka takes too long she’ll hiss at him. She’ll raise a paw when he gets too close, but the threat is enough to make Fat Boy back off. No fights since we’ve been bringing her in.
Tonka got in trouble yesterday. He grabbed Creamsicle by the neck with his mouth, and looked like he was mounting her. He was neutered when we got him. ‘Mom’ sent him to ‘jail’ in a bedroom. I didn’t tell her the cat doesn’t know it’s being punished. He just gets a nice soft bed to lie on in a quiet room.
Tonka has apparently tried to mount the SO’s legs a couple of times when she’s kicking back, biting her foot.
It’s a thing. I wouldn’t worry about it unless it causes a fight. My two boys mount each other and it turns into a wrestling match. Eventually one of them yells about it and they break it up on their own. Sounds like Creamsicle is healing well. How did she handle naughty boy, though? Did she get mad, or was she sort of okay with it? Could be a sign she’s starting to get along with him if she didn’t growl loudly or howl or try to hurt him. Sounds weird and creepy to us, but I’ve seen lots of cats interact that way. She might figure out the litter thing if she’s left in the room with no choice for long enough. It’s tough to decide to try to do that, though. Seems mean.
It looks like Creamsicle will be getting a new home.
She and Tonka seemed to be getting used to each other. They’re now able to eat together out of the double bowl. But Tonka urinated on a sleeping bag. We can’t have that. The vet’s receptionist has said she’d take Creamsicle if we don’t keep her, so the SO is going to call her Monday. I said that my concern is that Creamsicle is an outside cat, and that if the receptionist doesn’t keep her indoors she’ll run away into unfamiliar territory. The SO said she’ll tell the receptionist that if it doesn’t work out we’ll take her back.
It’s too bad Creamsicle isn’t more sociable with Tonka, and Number One Kitty is being so pissy about having another cat in the house.
Aww, that’s a shame I’ve been enjoying reading along in this thread about both Creamsicle and Tonka and I was really hoping you’d get them both settled together before long. At least she has a good home to go to - I hope it works out for her and that you’ll get some progress reports on how she’s doing from time to time.
As I mentioned, Tonka urinated in the cat bad the shelter gave us when we brought him home. That went into the trash immediately. There was another episode where he pulled a blanket off of a chair and urinated on that. But once he settled in he stopped the inappropriate peeing. The incident with the air mattress was an unpleasant surprise, but Creamsicle was fairly new in the house. Things have been looking up.
Tonka went to the vet Thursday (booster shots) and Creamsicle went Friday (stitches out). Saturday they both had flea drops yesterday. Creamsicle Did Not Like. She was in a foul mood and stayed under the coffee table a lot. So there was some stress over the last few days. ‘Mom’ had a sleeping bag on her treadmill. I was on the couch and saw Tonka go back there. (Sometimes he sleeps on it.) I heard liquid on nylon. I got up and there he was, squatting. A flashlight confirmed the suspicion. ‘Mom’ was not pleased. She acknowledges that the cats were stressed from the flea drops, but she said we can’t live with the prospect of Tonka urinating on things. He may be fine for a couple of weeks, and then suddenly there’ll be cat piss smell. The SO bought a cat tree so Creamsicle would have a high place to escape to. Tonka owns it. He has ‘his’ cat tree, he has ‘his’ place on the ottoman, he gets plenty of attention, and he gets plenty to eat (he’s up to 15 pounds). The cats are eating together. But Tonka still does his stalking thing (‘I want to play!’), and he still feels the need to proclaim himself Top Cat. Maybe, given time, he’d stop; but the receptionist would like to give Creamsicle a home.
Creamsicle is still here. The SO just loves her, and decided not to give her away. (Yet.) Tonka continues his aggressive behaviour, stalking her and occasionally jumping on her and biting her back. He backs off immediately when ‘mom’ yells at him. He knows she will grab him by the scruff of his neck and give him a time-out. He sometimes listens to me. Too quick for me to catch, but I chase him into the ‘time out room’ until he calms down.
‘Mom’ isn’t letting Creamsicle outside this afternoon. She saw a coyote less than a mile from here as the car drives, and there’s plenty of forested area for it to skulk over on the hypotenuse. Creamsicle is filling out, and she would make a nice morsel for a coyote.
Creamsicle is filling out a bit. She certainly seems a little bigger. She’s playing more with Tonka, and she chases him now. Tonka can still be a little rough, clamping onto her neck/shoulders with his jaws. That’s when he gets a time-out until he chills out.
This morning he got shut in a room for a few minutes so he wouldn’t yowl and wake ‘mom’ when I went to the head. Creamsicle was by the food dish, so I put food in both halves and let Tonka out. He went and sat a couple of feet away while Creamsicle was eating. I had to pick him up and move him to the dish and pet him before he would eat. A bit of a role-reversal with Creamsicle. But they often eat cheek-to-cheek.
‘Mom’ found Creamsicle using the litter box! I suspect Chreamsicle has been using it for a while, since she spends a lot of time inside now that it’s cold; and her belly doesn’t feel tight as if she’s ‘full’. But this morning was the first time we’ve had confirmation. Creamsicle is giving Tonka as much as she gets (or more) when they’re playing. I guess she’s confident enough to use ‘his’ toilet.
When I cam home from an errand, the SO said Creamsicle showed up outside with blood on her. The SO, being a nurse, examined her and found no wounds. Creamsicle was like, ‘Don’t worry. It’s not mine.’ Apparently the mighty huntress had caught a bird. Well, the SO wants to believe it was a bird. I suspect it was probably a mouse. But the SO doesn’t want to think it was a mouse, so I won’t argue.
Earlier yesterday, we saw Creamsicle licking Tonka’s face. I mean full-on tongue action. Just three or four passes, but it was the first time we’ve seen that. The SO says they’re definitely buddies, and she’s glad she kept her.
