Monday, June 1, 2009

Round Two

Round 2 Officially goes to ME!

BG: 1 EEE: 1

The Black Ghost is my “other” cat. She’s small, black, and feral. And I, being a first class chump, agreed to adopt her several years ago.

She’s generally a sweet kitty, but she’s very cautious of me (and any other human) which means that I cannot pick her up and can only pet her on her terms (usually when I’m on the sofa with a computer on my lap)

Saturday morning, I came back from the gym and sat down on the couch with a cup of coffee and checked my email. A few moments later, BG was there at my sides, demanding scratchies. I pet her absently, not really noticing that her face was a little wet.

A moment later, she yowled at me. Not her usual “Pet Me!” mew or her “I’M STARVING! FEED ME, BITCH!” yell. This yowl sounded a bit distressed and I turned to look at her in surprise.

Her right eye was completely swollen closed and was weeping clear liquid (tears?)

Grabbing her to get a closer look was out of the question. I called the vet, and while they thought it *might* be just a cold – especially since she was otherwise acting normally – but they’d really like me to bring her in. They had a 1pm appointment available if I could catch her.

If I could catch her. Hahaha! In the four years I’ve been her servant, I’ve never been able to single-handedly catch this cat. One time three years ago a vet and vet tech came to the house and were able to corral her – with a certain amount of blood being drawn from the very good-natured tech.

But when I tried to trick her into her cage several months ago using veal-flavored baby food (cats LOVE that shit) she proved to be both smarter and faster than me.

But not this time.

I closed Fluffy Butt in the bedroom, knowing that BG was eating in the other room and not wanting her to get under the bed. And then, while she was standing outside the bedroom door, inspecting the ruckus Fluffy was making, I noticed that she was also very close to the bathroom door. On a whim, I moved towards her and she backed up. Before she realized she’d penned herself, I shut the door and had her.

From there it was simple. Let her stew in there for a few minutes and then came back with a bit of baby food. The cat was sitting in the bathtub. Perfect! I gave her the food, and as soon as her attention was diverted, I grabbed her with a beach towel, shoved her into her top-loading carrier and done.

And I didn’t get a scratch on me!

The vet sedated her, washed her poor swollen eye, gave her pain meds (a shoulder patch that will fall off in a few days) gave me steroids, antibiotics and eyedrops (yeah, that’s gonna happen!) gave her her shots, examined her from head to tail, clipped her nails (free of charge!) and called me after only 15 minutes.

I guess it’s pretty easy to examine even a wild kitty once she’s been knocked unconscious!

And, $400 later, she’s home and doing better. I need to keep an eye on her eye, but she seems pretty content. And I’m getting no complaints about her meds (seriously, cats love baby food!) If her eye isn’t a lot better tomorrow, I’ll have to bring her in again.

We’ll see if I can duplicate that. Like I said, she’s smarter than me. I doubt she’ll let me corner again. Hopefully I won’t have to.

3 comments:

Patti said...

I too have a once feral small black cat. His name is Blackie because I'm so inventive with the naming. He's a bit easier to get a hold of than yours, perhaps because he's been mine for 8 years or so now. The first year, before I decided to actually adopt him, I used a squirrel trap to get him to a doc that would neuter him and give him a once over. Now I can just pick him up and cuddle... unless he realizes I'm trying to get him into a cage. Then the wildcat comes back out. I *really* need to get a top loading carrier.

Once at the vets he attempted to escape through the ceiling and they admonished me to get sedation for him next time. Unfortunately my vet expects ME to stuff the sedative down his throat. Yeah. It is possible, yes, but I don't like it.

Here's to adorable black fluffy monsters.

Bella said...

EEE, kudos to you for being so patient with a difficult cat. I had a feral cat for a while but could not take it and ended up giving her away to a much tougher friend.

Are you NEVER going to comment on topix anymore then? How sad! I will miss you if that is the case.

Da Selkie said...

I admire your talent and patience, E! Never had a cat that was wild. My BF's brother and SIL have a HERD of them. Sunday we were all set to go fishin' and guess what? All six of the new wild kittens were in the engine compartment of the van!

Poking at them didn't work, so I came to the rescue! Remembering how their indoor kitties reacted to the stench of Deepwoods Off (Made icky faces and avoided my stinky self), I took a rag, sprayed some on it, and shoved the rag into the engine area near their cute little faces, and shore 'nuff. They left as soon as I stood back with the others - and crawled under Sister in Law's car...
Mama cat got into the act and called her babies over. We left as the last ball of fur went off to be comforted after their big scare.
Here's to adorable fluffy monsters of all colors!
Cherie