Amusing cat moments

[fenchurch]

I took Zoë in to the vet's office today to get a set of SoftPaws applied (installed? Not sure of the proper term here). She's now got lovely purple toenails! I had another great talk with Dan the Vet Assistant, got some good suggestions for working on some of her little behavior problems (she's a biter... nothing bad, but she's prone to nip when she's done being petted or sometimes just because she's feeling peevish). The SoftPaws should help a lot with the scratching of doors and doorframes, though. Anyway, SoftPaws firmly in place, we figured it was safe to remove the gate at the top of the stairs and let her explore...

Zoë and Polly have officially met now... with a great deal of hissing and growling on both sides. So far, Polly has spent most of her time at the end of the hall, in front of the doors to the three bedrooms, guarding what I guess she thinks of as the core of her territory (as rackham just put it: "For this is my territory, and I hiss at all who come here..."

A little later, Polly ended up "stalking" Zoë as she explored the kitchen/dining room/living room area... but got caught up in the whole circle aspect. At one point she was sitting at the corner between the living room and dining room, looking down the hall toward the door to the kitchen. Looking very intensely at the door to the kitchen... and completely ignoring the door from the kitchen to the dining room behind her. Yeah, you guessed it. It's been a long time since I've seen a cat jump that high... she's really not the sharpest crayon in the box.

Later still, I decided it was time to introduce Zoë to the master bedroom, figuring she could keep me company while I folded laundry. So, I hauled her in with me and set her on the bed, where she immediately went into a defensive crouch. Okay, new territory and all, right? Except she kept starting to relax then would whip around to look behind her and get all tense again, before eventually running for her life out the door. Finally, it hit me. Yes, she's petrified... of the multi-armed monster we have attached to our ceiling, also known as the ceiling fan. On the plus side, it's going to give Polly a place where Zoë won't go, at least for a little while. Also on the plus side, I managed to wait until Zoë was completely out of the room before busting out laughing.

A little bit ago it hit me that I'd not fed Polly this morning. I know, I know... it's just with all the excitement of the painters coming to finish off the garage doors and trying to get Zoë into the vet's office, it just slipped my mind. She still had a bit of food left over from last night, so it wasn't like she was starving or anything, but that's not stopping me from feeling guilty. So, now I have Zoë gated off in the basement again, and I put some food down for Polly who is, even as I type this, upstairs absolutely inhaling it. She's normally such a finicky eater... I guess there's nothing like a little potential competition to improve the appetite.

Comments

[nutmeg3.livejournal.com]

LOL! I love cats. And I'd never even heard of Soft Paws. Very interesting. How often do you need to get new ones/reapply them?

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

They're supposed to last 4-6 weeks... sometimes a little less, sometimes a little more. It mostly depends on the nails underneath and how quickly they grow in. They can be replaced individually as they fall off, which is what we're planning to do, and can be done at home (also what we're planning to do from now on).

I took Zoë to the vet for the first set because I've never used them before and had no idea what I was doing... I think it was a smart decision, and my vet's office was really good about showing me the easiest and best ways to do them and they didn't charge too horribly much for it, either.

[rahirah]

Depends on whether or not your cat hates them and tries to scratch them off at every opportunity, too. When Maggie was using them on Dickens, she was lucky if they lasted two weeks.

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

Zoë seems to not have noticed at all, which means we've lucked out, so far. And the purple does look pretty stylish... I think we may see about getting some to try on Polly's hind claws at some point, because she's never learned how to not gouge out great furrows of flesh when she's sitting on a lap.

[tomte.livejournal.com]

"Free Ballard." Hee!

[merripen.livejournal.com]

We tried Soft Paws on Persephone, but she was having None of That. She chewed them off within two days. :)