Post 483: “No! I don’t want my medicine!”

I never know. Today was one of those difficult days to catch Andy. He became suspicious the moment I walked toward him, and ran under my computer desk. (The beat up backless chair on the left becomes important later on…!)

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Under the desk, Andy has several escape routes, but mostly has the advantage that I have to bend over and reach some distance to catch him there: It can’t happen!

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Couldn’t catch the now-wary cat, so I decided to look at what was new on Facebook. Yes, I know, it’s always the same old stuff: righties bashing lefties, lefties bashing righties, people exposing the most personal details of their lives to total strangers because they haven’t figured out the privacy settings yet or just don’t care, and lots of cat and dog photos among the cute babies.

Besides, Andy’d hopped up on the blue carrier. If I’m stealthy enough, I can sometimes walk right over and grab him!

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So far, looking good for a capture…!

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Oops! The little rascal caught a glimpse of me. Their peripheral vision is greater than ours, you know. Yeah, I know that, too!

Andy hopped off the carrier, ran under the table…!

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This is the single best place to run to avoid capture. Well, under the beds in the guest bedroom are pretty good,too, but the table gambit is a reliable one for a fugitive kitty. Don’t think Andy isn’t well aware of that!

Believe me. I’m not a patient person by nature. You can — I can! — learn from my cats, though. Patience is one thing they “help” me practice with some regularity, particularly Mr. Andrew. So back to my computer I went to look for more cute kitty pictures on Facebook.

Andy wanted his post-medicine “good kitty” treat. He came over to the beat up backless chair I pointed out in the first photo. It’s my old computer chair, something I’d toss if the cats didn’t love to lounge on it! Andy especially likes this chair. He hopped up on it, reminded me about his treats. I ignored him, he stretched out to pout. I let him ponder the mystery of the missing treats a bit, then reached over and grabbed him by the nape.

Victory was mine! Yeah, ha!

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I wrapped Andy in the bath towel. He looked up at me, knowing the next thing to come was icky medicine!

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Of course, I can’t show you how I stick the little syringe full of medicine in his mouth and squirt it because they amputated my extra arm, and I needed the remaining arm not holding Andy to operate the camera. (Just kidding!) The photo shows how he resists by moving his head around and away from the syringe till I finally immobilize him enough to get the job done.

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Here is Andy in his “hell, might as well take it like a good boy” face. And he did. And he got his treats, pronto! Cats can learn from their humans, too: patience!

Post 296: photo evidence of Dougy’s naughtiness

Both Dougy and Andy are mild cats, part of their Persian cat heritage. That doesn’t mean they don’t have their days. The day I took them to be groomed last week, for example, was Dougy’s day to be naughty.

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I know most people doubt Dougy is ever naughty, that I “exagggerate” his misdeeds of that day, but take a close look at the photo above. Notice the position of the chair…. Yes, knocked over during the chase where it landed on top of things that had been on the seat, waiting for me to sort through them.

The knocked over chair created a convenient pocket in which to hide from “The Man”, a hiding spot that revealed Dougy’s lack of comprehension of the difference between thinking you can’t be seen if you can’t see your pursuer and you can be seen if your fluffy butt’s exposed but your head’s hidden.

Once Dougy hid there, he assured his capture!

Post 293: “The best part was when we got home!”

Yesterday morning was Andy and Dougy’s semi-monthly grooming appointment.

I knew it would be an ordeal catching both to put them in the carrier. It always is. I try to strike a balance, then, between catching them in time to take them for their appointment, but not so early they have to spend excessive time in the carrier. Andy handles it well enough, but Dougy is a whiner…!

Different tricks work different times, but the boys are onto the old “close all doors to bedrooms and the bathroom” plan and “leave the carrier door open so the boys can get used to the idea of exploring and being inside it” trick.

The game starts when I select the most likely first victim. Andy came first this time. He always traps himself. (Good boy!) But I always get a hard workout in the process. Yesterday, he made a tactical error, and climbed onto their cat tree to hide in the tube at top.

Andy’s in the tube at the top of the cat tree, and the new carrier is on the settee.

I just reached in the front, grabbed him mother cat style by the nape of his neck, and pulled him out. He was as surprised as me at how fast and effortless this entrapment had been! Next time, he won’t go there, guaranteed!

Now, to catch Dougy. I get around with a cane, but can get around adequately well without it at home because there are points along the trail I can hang onto if necessary for balance or support. Sofas, desks, table, chairs, bed, the floor…! Ha! Dougy made me use them all.

He ran to the south bedroom, only to find the door closed…! He assessed his position, and ran behind the recliner. I tried to catch him by tossing a comforter over him, but he slipped away to the kitchen.

I looked and looked. “Dougy! Where are you?” I said, noting that I had 15 minutes to trap the last cat and make it two blocks to the groomers’. He was silent as a mouse…. I spotted him hiding behind a box. I was sweating heavily, mad at the bad kitty, not making much progress catching him, and – irony of ironies – then he ran into the kitty fort I recently made the boys out of a salmon-colored tub Dougy likes and several boxes taped together. Yeah, the one with holes connecting each box so a cat can escape a brother chasing him. Or me when I try to catch that cat to put him in the carrier!

“Rats! Foiled again!” I said. (Actually, it was much more colorful by this time, but I try to keep this blog sort of G-rated.)

I tried to grab Dougy through one hole, then another. In frustration, noting I had to catch and cage Dougy in less than five minutes if I hoped to be on time, I grabbed the end of the fort, lifted, and attempted to dump him out.

Oh, he got out! He ran behind, then under the raised fort, over to the kitchen table mess, and I knew my hopes of an easy catch were slim. He could hide under the wagon (twice), he could hide behind the cat carriage (two, three times), he could hide under chairs (multiple times), he could run under the table to the side opposite from me, and I couldn’t move fast enough to catch him (over and over!!!).

Dougy tried my patience, left me soaked in sweat (then I’d have to go, wet, into 14 degrees F outside to the car). It seemed unlikely we’d be on time. It was a test of wills. Then, at one minute before “too late”, he trapped himself behind some items that fell off the table during this chase that landed behind the wagon. I reached down, grabbed him mother cat style, and transported his whining butt over to the hoosgow!

Yeah, taunt me, Dougy!

I laughed sadistically! “You are mine now, kitty! Meow-how-how-how! (That’s my imitation of an evil cat laugh…!)

The new carrier has wheels and a pull-along handle. It is a good investment, and I really appreciated the benefit of not having to carry the dang thing after this cat round up.

Dougy whined, of course, because of the noise of wheels on pavement, but we got to the car – preheated for the comfort of all. Amazingly enough, we actually arrived at the groomers’ shop moments before one of them arrived to open it!

From then on, the boys would be pampered all morning at the groomers’! Dougy was a good boy (so the groomers said), and so was Andy, though he gets bored and growly after a point.

When I picked them up four or so hours later, pulled them into the house and opened the carrier door, they rushed out, sniffed each other, sniffed the carrier, sniffed the floor, sniffed the bag of cat litter I set down by the cat fort a moment earlier, ran into the front room to sniff everything there, then both ran back out into the dining area to sniff around the table before having one good whiff of each other’s butts. (Seriously!) Dougy ate a little dry food and got a good, long drink at the fountain. Then Andy got a good, long drink.

“The best part was when we got home,” they seemed to say!

Not fooled!

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!)