I know I put a happy face on the boys’ behavior, but they can be little poops when they want to be.
Dougy is a terrible furniture scratcher, though I have several scratching posts stationed throughout the apartment, including next to the furniture he likes to assault.
Yeah. “Cute”, Dougy. “Cute”!
But what about Andy? Sweet, kitten-faced Andy? Andy, named after the Apostle Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland? The sick little kittycat?
Well, for a cat with a heart murmur and high blood pressure that’s treated with daily doses of medicine, he can run and hide like hell. Bad boy! To think my after-medicating ritual is to whisper “What a good boy!” over and over in his ear while I gently massage his shoulders! Well, there were no kitty treats dispensed yesterday, let me tell you!
“But I don’t want to take my medicine…!”
All week, each time I finally caught him got later and later. He even managed to go all day yesterday without his medicine. Come to think of it, it’s 7:23, I don’t know where the little rascal is, and he still hasn’t had his medicine.
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UPDATE: Andy got his dose of medicine at approximately 7:50 AM. He fell for the old “Want to play with wand toys, boys?” strategy. He took it like a big boy, so I stroked his ears, told him he was a good boy, and massaged his shoulders. He got kitty treats today!
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He and Dougy both are slaves to their stomachs. Poor Andy! Even though he pretty much knows I’m going to give him medicine before I feed the two of them, he still falls into the trap of following me around so he’s always where I am when I prepare the cat food. Works out just fine: I can easily catch him for his daily dose of Benazepril!
I mentioned the “cat enchilada” method of swaddling a cat in a bath towel to make it easier to give the cat medicine. I meant “cat burrito”, though, honestly, there is not a great deal of difference. “Cat burritos”, I guess, differ in that they don’t need chile verde ladled over them. 🙁
Andy took his medicine like a big boy this morning, though he almost slipped out of the towel and got away at one point. Stuffing a “cat burrito” seems simple, but does require a bit of practice for consistent results.
After breakfast, the boys follow me over to the television where I watch morning news. Always. I’m as boringly predictable as they when it comes to routines. If they spoke English, we’d probably finish each other’s sentences.
Or talk about how Andy maintains his magnificent tail.
But more likely, he’d tell me to shut up so he could grab some winks on his light stand. Yeah, this is part of his territory, and it is deep inside the Dougy Republic.
The main thing is Andy’s doing fine, thank you!
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Andy got the recommended (full) dose of Benazepril this morning before he and Dougy got breakfast.
I used the “kitty enchilada” (“papuss”!?) method of first swaddling him in a bath towel – the method I use when Dougy needs eye drops – then administering his tuna fish flavored medicine with the little syringe that comes with the medicine.
Andy protested a little, but actually was pretty good about taking the medicine. I hope this is a sign of things to come. More, I hope the taste is yummy enough he actually seeks me out for it, though that seems a bit of fanciful, wishful thinking!
Remember Andy’s new tub, the one I bought him so he and Dougy both had one? Theoretically, each would have his own exclusive tub, something that happens in Dreamlandia but not the real world of cat politics, even within a cat family where two brothers, Andy and Dougy, live in harmony in the same household.
That said, Dougy hopped into Andy’s tub this morning. He no sooner snuggled down, like Andy in his tub the first day he had it (above), than Andy was there giving him the ultimatum to get out. You know, “The Staredown”!
Amazingly, Dougy evacuated the premises, pronto. Andy didn’t want it. He just didn’t want to share it with Dougy. Dougy, little fart, ran over to the light stand that Andy likes to perch and sleep on, and threatened to take that over. He’s a bit bigger than Andy, who barely fits on the light stand. (Andy actually hangs over on the tail end, truth be out; Dougy, more so!)
Andy made another entrance. Dougy chose to face his brother with a big game of “You be the antelope first, then I’ll be”, a favorite.
For a sick little cat, Andy maintained a vigorous presence in the game, hopping, chasing, tussling, biting, stalking, throughout the full range of their domain. I was astounded and pleased because he’s been a bit lethargic of late.
In this old video (above), Andy’s seen playing with their second birthday present last summer. (July 1st is their birthday.) This morning, after he and Dougy played their antelope chase game, Andy went off to do Andy stuff, but Dougy still wanted to play. I brought out this toy, which, despite the advertiser’s claim cats always want to play with it, sometimes gets an “eh!” reaction from the boys.
Not today, though. Dougy exhausted himself on the toy, then ran off for a little snack. Andy showed up, then played with it, wildly chasing the “mouse tail”, clearly having lots of fun. I was and am encouraged!
Andy and Dougy hang out with me. Yeah, in the bedroom, the bathroom, the kitchen, the…! Wherever I am, there’s a dark presence or two, curious about what’s up and how that might involve them. Any cat person knows the routine: You have no privacy! 🙂
When I watch the news, we are in Dougy’s territory as far as the floor, the ottoman, the icky Dougy-sized cardboard box, Dougy’s tub, and the cat lounger by the reserve carriers are concerned.
In Dougy’s territory, there are islands of Andy territory: the light stand, the recliner, and the top of the stacked reserve carriers. There is some dispute about this, perhaps preference, but I think the shelf of my computer desk technically is Andy’s territory, and Dougy gets the desk, though sometimes either cat might be out-of-place by this reckoning.
Last November, Andy got caught in Dougy’s tub, which fell off the icky box when Andy escaped his brother’s wrath…! Dougy quickly reclaimed his territory!
The boys negotiate and tussle their way through these territories as needed. Andy approaches his claim on the light stand by sneaking behind my glider, then leaping a good three feet onto the stand. If he wants to go elsewhere, he hops onto Dougy’s ottoman, then to the seat of the recliner. From there, he might hop on the reserve carriers or head north to the computer desk shelf to watch backyard birds. This last activity, of course, excites Dougy, too, so there mostly is a truce when both want to look out the window or Andy asserts his territorial rights.
That’s a lot of background to let you know that Andy’s been hopping around these territorial positions this morning, avoiding conflict with Dougy except when he wants to tussle. For a cat with a heart murmur, he’s been much his old self today. Yes, Andy takes on life…and beats tail!
This is a bit longer than usual, but there has been a lot of interest in how he’s doing. As of this moment, he is next to me on my beat up old computer chair washing his bum.
Andy washes his bum.
That’s much nicer, Andy! There’s your amazing tail, too!
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