As some already know, I am the proud mama of two furry-faced kitties. Love ‘em to death, even when they are bad asses.
Well, I have some sad news.
It seems my oldest, Jesper, has developed a drinking problem. And he’s only six and a half years old! :eek:
For my birthday I got a nice big bottle of Baileys by accident. My drink of choice has been Kahlua for many, many years so I asked my younger sister for a bottle for my birthday. She heard Baileys. : shrug : Any who, I’ve been steadily drinking it on the weekends mixed with milk or Starbucks Frappuccino.
You know how curious cats are. Used to when I’d drink Kahlua and Jesper came around sticking his nose in my drink I’d give him a sniff and his reaction was always this: ears go flat, back up a few steps, and look at me like I’m crazy for drinking it before running off.
Well, I figured it would be the same for any alcoholic beverage. Apparently not.
I made myself a nice cup of Baileys and milk last night and set it on my night stand while I went to find my book I’ve been reading. Upon my return I find Jesper up to his whiskers in my cup of Baileys drinking like he’d been stranded in a desert for the past week. A good inch or so was gone! I pulled his butt out of my cup, swatted it with a resounding “NO!” and sent him running from the room.
When he reappeared 3 minutes later, he was so tipsy he had to make two tries before he could even jump onto the bed.
Now I have to guard my cup because he’s gotten bold about taking mama’s drinks.
Should I be worried about his kitty liver or should it be ok as long as he stays on the wagon?
Do NOT enable this kitty. Sure, now it’s just stealing nips here and there. Next thing you know, he’ll be sneaking whole bottles, staying drunk all day, then he’ll be on the streets, flying a sign “Will catch mice for food”…
Be firm, be strong. Don’t let him fool you into thinking he doesn’t have a serious problem. Try to get him to go to meetings, but even if he doesn’t, get yourself to Al-Anon. I’m here for you.
Thanks, I need the support.
I’m just afraid he’ll turn into a “mean” drunk, you know? Swiping and hissing at me when I have to take away his bottle and such.
He hasn’t been to work all week, either.
Then again, I can’t remember the last time he held down a job. :dubious:
Free-loading fuzz face. :mad:
The worst is when cats get all maudlin, putting a paw around your shoulder and going on about how you’re their “best friend.” You know they’re not sincere – cats aren’t sincere about anything – but they get all up in your face with breath that reeks of booze and the smell of their own behinds.
Max was a boozecat. I learned that one night while my ex and I were playing Scrabble on the living room floor. Slurping was heard, and Max was into my wine. It didn’t matter, he was my bestest buddy, so we were friends and sots together.
Even after my ex left and took the other cat, oddly enough named ‘Brandy’, Max and I were content with one another, some catnip, and a bottle. We spent our evenings together drinking and sharing our respective solitude.
I knew it was time for me to stop, though when I couldn’t figure out which one of us was purring.
I haven’t had that problem with Jasper. He does his job quite well - eating bugs, guarding me from mummies when I’m on the potty or in the shower, warming my bath towels, and making sure my clothes are properly furred when I leave for work. He’s a Cat Friday.
Chloezilla Monster Kitty, OTOH, is lazy and sometimes does her job, sometimes slacks off. She refuses to do guard and towel warming duty and rarely shows up for the morning furring. A bug has to be interesting for her to want to eat it.
I would refer her to the Assistance Program, but I don’t provide that benefit to my feline employees.
You could have an intervention. The cat needs to know that his choices affect others. Maybe it will be a wake-up call. But then again, cats are inherently selfish, so I don’t know how much luck you will have.
I do hope that you aren’t allowing him to be behind the wheel when he’s been drinking. Friends don’t let felines drive drunk.
Our cats drink only water and the occasional bit of tuna juice. However, they can still make nuisances out of themselves. My husband would prefer to keep a glass of water on the table next to the couch while he watches TV. The cats allow him to do this. He would also prefer to be able to drink this glass of water by himself. The cats help themselves to the water in this glass. The first few times, he just let them drink out of the glass. Now, they expect to have a glass of water left on that table, and changed frequently. If it’s not there, or if it’s not fresh enough, they complain to HIM about it. They will complain to my daughter or me if the bowl of water in the kitchen has not been changed in the past 8 hours or so (yes, they’re darned picky).
The male cat usually will put a milk jug ring in both his food and water bowl. And he’ll say that he can’t eat or drink without one in those bowls. So far, he hasn’t put a milk jug ring in the glass on the table, but I expect one to show up in there any day now.
For some reason I began putting a bowl of water in my room for my cat Fred. Now it’s become an obsession with him, even though there’s always enough water downstairs. He’ll whine and cry, jumping onto tables to see if there’s glasses of water, and even start to lick any water from the sink if water isn’t in his bowl. Now the other cats have taken a liking to this bowl, but they’re not as weird as Fred.
None of ours appear to be boozehounds, but I work with a lady whose chihuahua has a fondness for white russians. She’s had to take him to the emergency clinic a few times for alcohol ingestion. (You’d think she’d learn to guard her glass better after the second time…)
Anyway, one binge that he’s already recovered from probably won’t do kitty long-term harm. Most of the danger with alcohol ingestion for pets is the danger of them having alchol poisoning. It doesn’t take a lot of booze to make an 8-lb. animal pretty damn sick, after all. Next time you catch Jesper drinking that much booze, I’d make him throw up. If he’s an average-sized kitty, a couple teaspoons of hydrogen peroxide down the hatch ought to do the trick.
One of my dogs loves booze. A boozehound, literally.
I give it to him.
It started with eggnog. I assumed he liked it because it was sweet and milky. I’d let him lick out the foam still stuck to the inside of my glass.
Then, He just dove into a wine glass one day. And I was like, “Hmmm. . . I guess he likes booze.”
So every now and then I’d have a beer, and give him a little in his bowl. He LOVED it. Slobbering. Looking all happy. Coming over to me for more.
So, I figured, “there’s no way he likes whisky straight up.” WRONG. He does.
Don’t get me wrong. I’ll only put like a teaspoon of it in his bowl, and he’s 100 pounds so I’m not poinsoning him. Sometimes I just like having someone to drink with.
When I was mucho younger, my big brother used to amuse us by feeding beer to our collie. He was a cheap drunk. Half a bottle and the poor mutt was staggering. But he got revenge, though. After staggering around for a while, he would flop down, go to sleep and start cutting monster dog farts, the kind that rattle the windows and peel the paper off the walls, not to mention ruining your sense of smell for days.
Scooter has always been interested in whatever I am drinking. I was settled back on the couch with a nice Canadian Club on the rocks several years back, watch the teevee, when this fuzzy bastard came up and started pawing at my lowball. “Well”, though I, “one whiff of THIS will set him off this habit for a while.”
Nope.
He sniffed. He licked. Then he took several laps. Then he came somewhat to his senses, backed away, and got down on the floor.
Then he came back. For MORE! I was about dying laughing by this point, so I let him take a few more hits. Not only is my cat an alcoholic, but he has expensive tastes!
I don’t think I need to be all that worried about his little liver as the way I mix my drinks is that I don’t.
I pour my Bailey’s first and then slowly add milk, but I don’t stir or anything. That way, the closer you get to the bottom the stronger it is.
I didn’t even think he got all that liquor until his pathetic failed attempt to jump up on the bed.
So it’s ok for animals to drink?
I mean, as ok as it would be for a human who drank in moderation?
Little Sirius will maim for chocolate milk … and I know I’ve got a bottle of Bailey’s …