“Cats are a mysterious kind of folk.”
Yesterday will not go down in the annuals as a good day. First one of the cats avoided the litter box for the floor. I guessed my cleaning of the box did not meet her high standards. When I came downstairs, I found one of the cats had been sick on the dining room floor, a common occurrence with cats. I then noticed Maddie was limping, her front paw was being held in the air. When she got on the table, I check her paw; she howled, bit me and ran. That is the first time in all her nearly 17 years that she has bitten me so I knew her paw was quite painful. I saw why: a nail was growing into a pad. The vets said they could fit us in at 11 so I went looking for Maddie. The last time I had seen her was around ten when she howled, bit and ran. I started a search of the house. By 10:45 I had to give up and cancel the appointment. Maddie didn’t reappear until 5:30. I had made an appointment for this morning so I grabbed her early and put her in the crate. She was really good in the car and let me pat her the whole way. The vet thought she looked healthy for an old cat though sort of skinny at 6 pounds, but I disagreed as she is such a small cat anyway. I decided to have Maddie take the old cat physical at $198.00 which included today’s visit. I wanted to made sure Maddie is nice and healthy inside and out. The vet cut the nail and another one in the exact same place on the other paw. Looks like Maddie will be getting her nails done more often. I also signed Fern up for her old cat physical.
Fish are good to look at. They have that calming effect as they move back and forth through the water. A bird sings and its song brightens the house. I knew a guy who had a tarantula as a pet. Some people have turtles. Pigs are now in vogue as house pets. I guess I’m just old fashion. I’m sticking with cats and a dog.
We got our first cat when I was a junior in high school. Before that we were a dog family. My father hated cats just because. He gave no reason other than they are cats. He was only home on weekends that year as he had been transferred to Presque Isle Maine, and we would be moving after school had ended. It was while he was gone we got the cat. My mother broke the news, and he said get rid of it before I get home. We didn’t. When my father first saw the cat, it licked his hand and his face. The cat stayed. My father had become a closet cat man.
Explore posts in the same categories: MusingsTags: Bad day, birds, cats, cats and dogs, Fish, hurt paw, physical, pigs as pets, tarantula, throwing up, turtles, vets
Both comments and pings are currently closed.
keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
October 8, 2015 at 3:04 pm
Poor Maddie! That must have hurt a lot! I have to admit that I rarely check my cats claws, I think at least Bertil would try to kill me if I did and sinec he has been so nice lately I think I’ll skip doing it for a few more years 🙂 Teodorthrew up half a vole on the kitchen table when I was home with the cold 🙂 🙂 Why could’t he had done it on the floor as any normal cat would have but then again if he had Sune most likely would have eaten it 🙂
I do like fish and usually have an aquarium somewhere in my home. Last winter all fish died during one night so I emptied it and I’m not sure if I’ll fill it again for a while.
I can’t remember when we got our first cat but I do remember the cat very well,she hated all humans except my mother, none of us, except for my mother, was especially sad when she was gone 🙂 I do like cats but I’m most of all a dog person. I once had a tame rat and he was a perfect pet, at least as long as none of the other pets tried to kill him 🙂 They all tried one time each but he learned them that even on old rat is big and very fast with razor sharp teeth 🙂
Have a great day!
Christer.
October 8, 2015 at 4:56 pm
Christer,
I know Fern trims her nails on the wooden boxes I have in here for storage. She also uses a braided rug, but I haven’t ever seen Maddie do it. Now I know she doesn’t. Fern would also kill me if I tried to do her nails. She is a bit feisty.
Cats choose the worst spots usually to throw up. My bed has been a target as has the dining room table. I’ll take the floor any time.
I had a small aquarium once and one of my cats thought it was for fishing using her claw. I decided fish wouldn’t work.
Yikes, I don’t think I could have a rat as a pet though I once had hamsters, sort of rats’ cousins.
Have a great evening!
October 8, 2015 at 4:39 pm
We trim our cats’ front nails ourselves. We just use a pair of nail clippers (like we would on a person), anchor the cat under the arm holding the clippers and use the other to extend the cat’s nails one at a time. Just make sure you don’t cut down into the quick! (Rudi is braver about it than I am, which means I have to trim them more often when I’m the one doing it.)
October 8, 2015 at 4:58 pm
sprite,
I could do Maddie’s but I think Fern would do me in. She is quite feisty and refuses to be held. I’d be majorly hesitant. Maybe I can practice do Maddie so she won’t have to go have her nails trim.
October 8, 2015 at 9:53 pm
Hi Kat,
Generally speaking, kittens arrived in my house because I brought them home without asking my parents if I could. The kittens were smart enough to suck up to my father in whatever way was going to work on the day so they got to stay.
My mother was not a pet person but my father was brought up in a home full of dogs in the back yard, trained white mice in the basement and canaries in the kitchen. My mother put her foot down on the canaries. Birds in the house were bad luck. There would be no canaries in her kitchen no matter what my father said.
Other kinds of animals arrived in the family, if not actually in the house, because my middle brother brought them home from the woods. Squirrels. Skunks. Raccoons. And I got to take care of them which was cool. We did take the skunk to a cook out once. Not exactly a garden party but close enough. We walked the raccoon through the First National once, too. He kept grabbing anything that was red. We were asked to leave. 😀
These days I confine myself to dogs in the house. Crazy dogs. But reasonably ordinary pets.
Enjoy the day.
October 9, 2015 at 10:54 am
Hi Caryn,
My mother did have a dog once when she was young but neither really grew up with pets, but they were both pet people. My mother even went so far as to make dog biscuits as Christmas presents for my dog Shauna who loved them. My father used to give Shauna ice cream for dessert.
We had dogs and after the first cats always had cats too. Once my parents’ last dog died they went with cats only, easier to travel without needing a sitter. My nephew and I have dogs while everyone else has only cats. I do find it difficult to get a house sitter, but I already have one lined up for next year when I go back to Ghana.
Gracie is the craziest and most obnoxious dog I’ve had.