One ticket to Crazy Cat Personville, please–first class!
So I went back yesterday with the spouse to visit the little boy…and the little girl was so cute and sweet too. Our vet was there this time, not just the vet tech. I have a tremendous amount of respect for our vet–she was the one who got us through eight tough months of lymphoma on one of my cats. She’s smart, sympathetic, and knows her stuff backward and forward. She’s about as far from the stereotypical Crazy Cat Lady as it’s possible to be and still be a vet.
She has four cats and three dogs. Three large dogs. In a house smaller than ours. And she ways she has no problems with it, and everybody lives in harmony. I know that’s going to sound strange–if it was anybody else, I might doubt it. But…yeah. I trust my vet to know what’s best for our critters. If she thinks it’ll work, I have very little doubt.
So…we went to decide if we wanted one. We’re going to take two.
Spotty tummy! (No, she wasn’t uncomfortable in the slightest)
Okay, so we’ll be “the people with all the cats.” But as the vet pointed out, we neither have nor want human kids (she doesn’t either), we don’t travel much, we love cats, and we can afford to spoil them rotten and give them a great home. So why not?
I have two cats. I’d probably have more, if Mr. Neville and Luna would agree. Luna doesn’t like other cats (though she likes Katya), and sometimes even hisses at visitors if they smell like other cats. I suspect I’d have a very hard time introducing a new cat to her.
The other day I was out in my front yard with my new puppy and the older Papillon, and my next door neighbor, who doesn’t like animals, looked down her nose at me and said “Isn’t THAT just what you need, another dog!”
I looked her in the eye and said ‘Yeah…as a matter of fact she IS just what I need. As long as I take care of them myself it’s no one’s business how many dogs I have.’ I picked up my puppy and went inside.
The one concession I had to make to the spouse to go along with this was that I had to promise to vacuum regularly (which I admit I don’t really do now) so as to keep the cat hair down to a manageable level. A small price to pay.
I’m not even going to look at any other kittens. When we have to go to the vet, I’m just going to stay completely away from the kitten cage. Not that I can’t resist temptation–I really can (honest!)–but it’s best to just remove the temptation completely.
BTW, I asked the vet tech what would happen to the kittens if they didn’t find homes, and she said, “Oh, they will. Every kitten we’ve ever had go through here has found a good home.” I think the techs will occasionally take one home themselves. But there’s no way any of them would go to anyplace that might euthanize them. These guys love cats too much.
For the first few months we had him, he had that perpetual scowl on his face, like he was thisclose to kicking our asses. A total sweetheart, but angry-looking, so we named him a tough-guy name.
Why am I not surprised? Hehe- love these threads “Should I take this kitten” when all along justification is sought and you know you will take the furball. (And I mean that in the nicest way).
Well, we got 'em, they’re home, and they’re doing great. Right now they’re locked in our upstairs bathroom so they can get used to the place–and the other five are not dealing well with them yet. We haven’t had them together much except under carefully controlled visits, and there’s a lot of hissing going on. Our younger Singapura, Ozzy, who’s normally the sweetest snuggliest boy ever, sounds like he’s possessed by teh devil when he’s around them. We’re taking it slow.
The little girl has some gunk in her eye–of course this has to happen on Memorial Day weekend when nothing but emergency vets are open. But she’s eating, purring, running around like a squirrel on crack…in other words, she’s a kitten. We’re putting Terramycin in her eye and it seems to be helping. We’re keeping a close eye on her, but unless she gets worse we’ll wait until Tuesday to take her back to the vet (they need their next shots anyway).
Now I’ve got another cat-related topic I need advice on. It seems we’ve developed an outdoor cat. He started showing up around our house yesterday morning (or at least that’s when I saw him (or her) first–nice, buff-colored adult cat. Very pretty. At first he wouldn’t get near me, but last night when I beckoned him he came right to me and let me pet him. He was very thin. I took him some food and water and he went after it like he hadn’t eaten in weeks. I don’t think he belongs to anyone around here–no collar, and as I said, thin. But I think he was a pet at some point because he’s friendly.
We can’t keep him, but I don’t want to take him someplace where he’s going to be euthanized. I’ve never dealt with a “found cat” before. Any advice? Unfortunately, neither of us has a lot of free time to do things like put up a bunch of flyers around the neighborhood.
(Oh, and before anyone asks, I immediately washed my hands and used hand sanitizer as soon as I came back in the house. No way am I going to risk giving my cats something nasty from an unknown stray.)
