Today is the boys’ appointment with their groomer, Sarah. Though they seem to enjoy the time at the groomer’s (per Sarah), they aren’t too keen on the trip there, a total of two small blocks, by car!
I’ve approached the task various ways in past, usually with some small success, which is to say, one is easily captured and put in the carrier, and the other gets me all sweaty trying to catch him!
Last time, Andy was the bad kitty. Or was it Dougy. It comes down to one thing: The first one is easy and the second one never is.
I start the process the night before, sometimes even days before if I think of it, by setting the carrier on the small sofa. Andy likes to climb on top of it when it’s there, so often times is Cat Number 1 caught and imprisoned.
The next cat, seeing something’s up, finds the obscure hiding place. That’s why today I blocked their way to all three of the nightmare spots for catching cats: my bedroom, the guest bedroom, and the bathroom. As each escape route was closed over a two-hour period, the boys became suspicious, and clustered together, something they usually don’t do.
Round ’em up, head ’em out! It’s getting closer and closer to when I have to take them over to Sarah. Andy’s over by the cat tree, watching, watching, watching. Dougy’s not to be seen, though there aren’t too many places he can be. Maybe I can just follow the poopballs to him, you suppose?*
* (Cheap shot on my part! I haven’t seen another poopball since I reported the issue last week. Anything for a laugh!)
Aww! So cute. I hope they weren’t in their too long, or in separate cages.
I took them in at 7:30 and picked them up a little after 12:00. During that time, one or the other would have been out of the carrier going through three stations (wash/dry/fluff and trim). I’ve never seen the whole process, but, since I schedule their visits, they have established priority to go through this process. At least three people are involved in this (I didn’t realize this until this time), so there is no reason they couldn’t both be in the works at the same time. I have no idea how much of that time is spent in the carrier, but Dougy thinks any time there is too much! It’s a large one, so there’s lots of room for two cats.
I think you have it figured out. Ali is the same way and we have to sneak up on her to advantage her once a month, and when we took her to the vet the other day for her yearly check up.
Have a good week and a good T Day.
The boys have their annual check up at the veterinarian’s the 5th of December. I doubt they’ll have forgotten yesterday by then, but I hope they aren’t totally suspicious when I start catching them for the trip.
The ride to their veterinarian’s is four short blocks, but I guarantee Dougy will whine the whole time! He usually settles down once we are in the clinic since both he and Andy spent a lot of their kittenhood there being treated for an amoebic parasite they caught when they captured and ate an infected grasshopper…! Their veterinarian is very gentle and good with them, and they behave well on the examination table. Well, Andy does! Dougy always wants to get down on the floor and explore. He’s been that way since kittenhood.
http://youtu.be/7lBbcnef_-Y
There you go! Andy and Dougy at 4 months 7 days old! Andy never became a lap cat (as I predicted in the video), but their basic personalities are the same as they were that day I visited them (during one of the confinements for treatment for the parasite…). Their veterinarian shows up briefly in the background (white smock). Yeah, the boys are good patients, and all of the staff loved them to death when they were there, which helped!
So so funny!! 🙂
Andy takes it well, but Dougy is a crybaby the whole time he’s in the carrier if anyone’s around to hear him. Meow-meow-meow!
Luckly I only have one, now, to do that with. He uses his carrier often as a “bed”, so he doesn’t freak out as much. The trip to the groomer, for us, is about a twenty minute drive. Strangely, he is usually quiet on the way there, and loses patience on the way back. When we had more than one cat, we’d be sure to do it on different dates. LOL ^.^
I leave the carriers (two) out and stacked so the boys can climb inside if they wish. I guess we had the same idea of acclimating our fuzzy buddies. It works, though, until they realize the door’s closing on them. DOugy is the worst. I’ve considered taking them on separate days, too. I may end up doing that. Dougy’s “issue” might be being stuffed in the same carrier with his brother. I can’t remember for sure if he was quiet when he had a separate appointment, but it seems so.