Ramblings

Yowie wrote:

Pickle was really picking on Shadow. Shadow spent most of her time cowering
at the end of the hallway, at the front door. Since Pickle wouldn't let her
use a litterbox, she was going where she could - right at the front door,
ont he carpet. It was utterly gross.

Poor Shadow. And poor you!

Eventually, we capitulated. Pickle is now allowed in the Out. This is a
quality of life issue for not just pickle, but for Shadow. If he does get
skin cancer, it will be quite a few years down the track. And he may not get
it at all, as I don't let him out during the 'high' UV periods of the day
(and he tend to just sit in the shade and watch the world go by anyway)

The outcome of allowing Pickle into the Out is twofold: Pickle no longer
picks on Shadow so much - particularly when he's in the Out. He no longer
goes diving any time a door is opened, but now gets to sit quietly by a door
and wait if he wants to be there, and we obilige. After a couple of scares,
he now comes in willingly at 10pm, just in time for dinner.

That really sounds like a good compromise. I know it's not ideal, but it
does sound much better than how things were when he was inside all the
time. Sometimes you just have to think about the tradeoffs and decide which
risks are worth taking.

But the
improvement in Shadow's demeanor has been the greater acheivement.
First of all, she now uses a box.

That's wonderful!

Shadow now spends most of the day in my bedroom rather than cowering in the
hallway. Whilst she won't go past Pickle voluntarily, she also knows the
hidey spots in my room far better than Pickle and takes advantage of them. I
now feed her in there as well, and will shoo away Pickle if he tries to come
in whilst she's eating. SHe's *finally* putting on some weight. Its rather
nice to hear her demanding to be fed at *her bowl* rather than randomly
coming across a full bowl of kibble, stealing some, and bolting away to eat
it in a safe place as she used to.

I love hearing this. It's so upsetting to think of a cat being stuck in
a bad situation and just living a miserable existence. I'm not saying any
of this was your fault, because it wasn't easy trying to figure out how
to improve the situation, and I know you were trying to. It sounds like
you've hit on a real win/win solution.

But the best thing of all is that she's turned into a little love bug. She's
no lap fungus (unlike Suki) but she sleeps on my bed at night and will do
the flop and show us her belly if we go past her. She also likes to kill
anyone who touches her belly, but thats Ok, I'm used to it. My hands have
been without scratch marks since October 2007, and they are the mark of a
catlover :-)

This story is getting better and better.

But what brought tears to my eyes yesterday was that she began to groom me -
my freshly shampooed hair in particular. I was sitting on my bed, ad she
reached up to give me a darn good cleaning. I was so touched and grateful
that my little hissping spitting scratching biting brawling hellion of an
abandoned waif would honour me in such a way (that and her claws in my
shoulders weren't all that pleasant).

Awwww!

I"d like to say 'problem solved' but its still not entirley fixed: if Pickle
would stop seeking out Shadow and beating her up for wahtever reasons Pickle
has for beating her up (entertainment? he seems to do it only if he hasn't
been outside that day)

She's weak, and he's a bully. (Obviously I don't have the same judgements
of cats who act like this like I do with human, but this does, unfortunately,
seem to be something that just happens in these combinations.)

Sometimes (quite often) I wonder what madness has taken me (and indeed Joel,
the reluctant pet of Suki) that I now have three cats. And then occasionally
I think that I'd also like lovely ginger kitten in the pet shop window or
the fluffy snowshoe on the RPCA's web page. Whats teh difference between
having three or four? Or maybe five. And after five, well, may as well
have.... Ok Ok, Oh, I am so far gone, Crazy Cat Lady, here I come.

I sometimes feel that way about Licky. Not that I regret having him in
particular, but he was an "impulse buy" and I've mostly felt like 3 cats
are too many for my little space. And especially since he picks on Smudge
and drives her nuts. But here I am, I love them all, so 3 cats it is. And
I have a similar solution in that Smudge gets to go outside and get away
from the little brat.

My sister used to have 5 cats - four big boys and a timid little tortie
girl. She lived, as my sister put it, "a tortured existence". The 4 boy
cats really tormented her - wouldn't let her eat or use the litter box.
She had one tiny little area where they wouldn't bother her - a small cat
tree that she spent pretty much all her time on. When I visited, I felt
really upset by the situation - she was so scrawny and nervous all the
time. Well, finally, my sister found another home for her, a friend of
hers who didn't have a cat and wanted a sweet girl kitty. Molly has
relaxed, gained weight, is totally doted on, and lies around on the couch
like a little queen. I love a happy ending! (I still get teary thinking
about how it used to be for her, though.)

(I'm not suggesting you give away any of your cats, btw. It sounds like
you have a lot of hope of resolving your situation without having to do
that.)

--
Joyce ^..^

(To email me, remove the X's from my user name.)

Adrian wrote:
It's good to see you posting again, Polonca. :-)


It's good to be back
Best wishes,
Polonca and Soncek