Archive for the ‘Charm & Minnie’ Category
Posted by Jane
Does your cat do this for you? When you enter a room where your cat is lying asleep, you may see them roll onto their back, stretch out their legs right down to their toes, yawn, utter a small vocal greeting and then stare intently at you - upside down!
Minnie does. But when I take up the obvious invitation to stroke her tummy, her stare turns into a glare, she utters a very disgruntled protest and flips over as fast as she can. No amount of coaxing and cooing will persuade her to return for a bit of affectionate ear scratching.
A cat’s soft belly is the most vulnerable part of their body and by exposing it to you they are sending a very strong signal of trust.
However, you may see a slight twitching of the tail, even while their belly is exposed. This indicates that your cat is experiencing a fairly strong conflicting emotion - to stay exposed and trusting, or to go with their instinct and protect their vulnerable underside?
Because of this conflict, the act of touching their tummy as you go to stroke it proves too much and instinct drives your cat to flip over - like Minnie - or to lash out and swipe at your hand!
So as you mop up the blood from multiple scratches don’t scold your cat - praise them for the trust they place in you! Spite and malice played no part in their attack - it is simply the irresistible power of their instinct driving them to protect them in their vulnerability.
Posted by Jane
For the first time in her life, Minnie had to have a dental clean-up at the vet’s this week. This, of course, involved a genreal anaesthetic and we were warned that she may have to have an extraction or two if her teeth were too badly affected by the build up of tartar.
Fair enough. Quite a few of our cats have had teeth extracted over the years. But what isn’t fair is the charges different vets make for the same procedure.
Our regular vet quoted $600 (£300) to carry out the dental work but recommended that Minnie should have a heart ultrasound scan beforehand - both for her and their protection they said - as the vet had detected a small heart murmur. The additional cost for that would be $400 (£200). In total, we would be looking at a massive $1000 bill for a dental clean and tooth extraction. Wow!
I complained long and loud to all my cat-owning friends and it’s a jolly good thing I did, too. One of my long-suffering chums told me about her vet who seemed to be considerably cheaper. One phone call later, I had managed to ’save’ myself $700 on the deal as this new vet only charged $300 for the same procedure.
Editor’s Note: For those of you who read the Cat Owners Confidential Newsletter, you’ll notice a small discrepency in the sums quoted there and in this blog - well, I did warn you that my maths could be described as ‘freestyle’ ! I actually saved myself more than I thought……
Minnie had her operation successfully, no teeth required extraction and she certainly hadn’t required an ultrasound scan of her heart beforehand. Apart from Charm hissing at her every time she caught a whiff of lingering ’vet smell’, everything has been fine.
But the whole issue of fees has left a very nasty taste in my mouth. I feel ripped off by a vet who has had our regular business for some considerable time and on whose expert guidence pet owners rely. Is it fair to exploit the love and care pet owners have for their animals at a time when they are open to following any advice and recommendations their vet gives them? What pet owner would not want to do the very best they could for their sick animal? And how many times would an owner turn to their vet and ask, ‘what would you do in my situation?’ - and then follow their advice to the letter?
You might guess that I am not going back to my old vet and, in spite of a considerably longer journey to get to the new one, I shall be taking my business there when ever my two lovely cats need medical care.
Do you have any tales to tell of vet’s putting their financial interests before the health interests of your cat? Are you happy with your vet’s fees? Have you got insurance to cover your financial costs?
Let me know what you think by leaving a comment.
Posted by Jane
As you know, one of my cats is called Charm. It’s a silly name but one that she came with from the rescue centre. I was overruled by my husband and daughter, when I suggested changing it.
(I wanted Flossie….)
However, four years later, I can see that it suits her beautifully, as she is one of the most ‘charming’ and good-natured cats I have ever known.
And why?
Well, she is the eternal kitten and very endearing in her wide-eyed innocence.
But there is a downside to all this kitten-like lovliness. The reason that she has never grown up is that we strongly suspect that she was brain-damaged at birth - probably due to oxygen starvation.
Our vet has confirmed that she is ‘not quite right’ - she has an odd, barrel shape to her body and her legs and tail are definitely shorter and stubbier than you would normally expect to see in a cat. However, she has a beautifully symmetrical face and big, trusting eyes to compensate.
We very quickly learned that poor Charm has double vision, as she will consistently try to catch any toy or ball by pouncing two inches to its left and simply cannot following a moving object with any accuracy at all. It is quite obvious that Charm needs minutes (yes, minutes, not seconds…) to process data as it enters her not-frightfully-efficient brain and if something hasn’t ‘clicked’ in the first 60 seconds or so, she simply forgets what she was trying to do and wanders off to find somewhere soft to settle down and sleep.
Another side effect of poor Charm’s brain damage is that she doesn’t seem to have much of a sense of smell.
Now, smell is vitally important to a cat and their sense is much more highly developed than ours, but Charm seems to have missed out there too.
As a consequence, Minnie will eat all her own food and then pinch Charms as Charms simply hasn’t ‘computed’ the information that her meal is in front of her and needs eating. Poor cat!
Life with an intellectually challenged cat is both a frustration and a joy - just like having a kitten to care for but without ever getting to the time when, as an adult cat, independence and aloofness set in.
Is anyone else blessed with a brain damaged cat? Leave a comment letting me know what the best and worst things are about dealing with this particular affliction - I’d love to know that Charm isn’t alone in her less-than-perfect world.
Posted by Jane
Over the many years that I have been a cat owner, I have been amazed at the things I have learned about these fascinating animals.
But the number one thing that I have learned is that you can never take for granted that you have the Upper Hand (or Paw…).
Cats may well not be able to read blogs…… but they can certainly read minds!
My family and I took the opportunity to have a few days away just after Easter and we needed to book Charm and Minnie into the c-a-t-t-e-r-y.
I’m sorry, I’ve got to spell the ‘you-know-what’ word - just in case cats really can read blogs - I’ve been caught out before.
From bitter experience, I have learned that if our cats hear us discussing their (and our) holiday arrangements, they understand, note the dates in their mental diaries and on the appropriate day scarper straight after breakfast and hide outside until they judge the danger of being transported to a puss-cat bed and breakfast establishment to have passed.
Unbelievable?
No!
Believe it or not, I have had to delay departure plans before now (very inconvenient) and do a lot of phoning and grovelling to c-a-t-t-e-r-y owners and hotel owners as I explained that I was unable to find my own pets.
How embarrassing.
I’ve also learned that the same effect comes into play when a trip to the v-e-t is in order, too. In the past, I have had to cancel vaccination appointments when careless talk had reached furry ears.
My daughter, who is 13 years old, is firmly convinced that I am making all this up. Poor innocent child, she hasn’t had the benefit of experience yet. She’ll learn.
But I am certain that just about every cat owner reading this will have had a similar experience.
Can your cat understand the you-know-what word? Are they able to tell when a visit to the v-e-t is in the offing?
Leave a comment letting me know how you get around the problem. Do you resort to spelling the words out, like me? Or have you some other method of keeping the little fur-covered angels oblivious to what is awaiting them……?
All I know is, that until I have been shown otherwise, I shall assume that cats can read blogs and I won’t be posting the dates of any trips that they might not approve of!