Posted By Russ Emerson on August 15, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Yesterday/early this morning, it was looking like Mycah was doing much better. But…
“Not so fast, Yakamoto.” *
When I got up at noon today†, I noticed blood spots on the carpet in the area where she usually hangs out.
Damn.
Suspecting an ingrown claw, I lured her near with a treat (they don’t call them Temptations for nothing, y’know) and picked her up for a look. But no, her paws and claws all seem to be on the up and up.
I put her down (OK, I let her get down — she hates being picked up, and wriggles and twists to get down the whole time) and she was departing my lap for the floor, she left a smear of blood on my arm. I couldn’t tell exactly from where it came, but it was somewhere in the region of her backside.
Damn.
She apparently has the short-term memory of a guppy, because I was once again able to lure her near enough to pick up. She struggled rather a lot more this time, and I was unable to determine precisely where she bled from… but the fur on her butt is wet and matted.
She doesn’t seem to be feeling any worse than usual; she’s not acting sick, she’s not weeing on the carpet. It’s just these random spots of blood. Fortunately, they are limited to the small areas where she usually hangs out.
I called the vet, and the over-the-phone preliminary diagnosis is a possible urinary tract infection. I’ll be taking her in tomorrow for another exam.
In the meantime, I have carpet that needs shampooing.
Damn.
* For the cultural philistines among my readership, see Monty Python’s Erizabeth L sketch. Classic.
† I think I might have let it slip — oh, I dunno, maybe about a hundred times — that I work nights.
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Posted By Russ Emerson on August 15, 2008 at 4:08 am
Mycah appears to be back to her usual state of health, though I think she has lost her taste for the prescription catfood. She doesn’t always finish her meals… but her appetite is just fine, if her begging is anything to judge by.
It’s been almost four months since Kismet and Packet have arrived, and Mycah has mellowed quite a bit as regards their intrusion into her house. She rarely vocalizes at the lads these days; all I’m hearing are brief hisses, with the very rare growl.
The lads are, of course, much interested in their fellow feline resident, and each has his own particular way of attempting to interact with her.
Packet takes a passive-aggressive approach. His tactic is simply to flop down on the floor in front of her whenever she is headed somewhere — to the litterbox, away from the litterbox, to meals, and so on. She has to go past him, and as she does so, she utters a brief hiss. Occasionally, if she passes within paw’s reach of him, he’ll raise a paw… and she preemptively swats him.
Kismet has a different approach to Mycah. When she is on the move he will follow a pace or two behind, reaching out a paw. Usually he paws at the remains of her tail, but sometimes he gets closer. He’s not swatting at her; it’s more like he’s trying to tap her to get her attention.
It rarely fails. A brief hiss usually ensues. Occasionally, she’ll swat back at him.
She’s not amused by their attempts to get closer to her, but she is slowly succombing to them. When food is involved, she doesn’t care how close they get to her. I predict that by the end of the year, she’ll allow them to curl up on the floor within a foot of where she is laying.
The Modulator’s
Friday Ark is boarding.
This week’s Carnival of the Cats is at
Skittles the Huntress on Sunday.
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