Cats of DOOM

[cranefly]

DM asked how Halvah was doing on the 4:20 am thread.  I thought I would respond on this thread, since it exists.

After surgery, the surgeon told us that Halvah has fleas.  Well, du-uh.  Here's the interesting thing.  When they sedate a cat or dog for surgery, the body temperature drops.  This tells the fleas that the animal is dead and won't be pumping any more delicious blood.  So they promptly jump ship.  The sight can be quite dramatic.

Anyway, we're a bit over two weeks into the cone (which Halvah struggles with), and the doc says the eye looks decent, except that the central part is swollen.  This could be a problem, since it may impede fully closing the eye while sleeping, which means it doesn't stay moist and won't heal.  So we're giving her extra artificial tears and will see if there's any improvement.  If not, the doc will stitch her eye shut to let it heal.  Lovely thought.

Halvah is on cone probation right now.  We can let her out of it for spells, but must monitor her in case she starts scratching at the eye.  The stitches are self-abosorbing; unfortunately, they will itch during the process.  So...

Oh hell.  She's outside, in the garage, unmonitored, unconed.  Better check on her.

Hmmm.  The center of the eye is still very bulgy, and she's not closing the eye.  A concern.  Just gave her more artificial tears.

[Drunk Monk]

How's Halvah doing?

Our current cat woes are of a different sort.

Tara's cat, which she got a year ago with her own money and will leave with us next week when she starts up at UCSD, has grown into a murderous beast. She came with the name Dawn, but we've nicknamed her Shiva, a grey striped cat that can be oddly clumsy at times. She has been on a sanguinous rampage all summer. 

It began with a squirrel she brought in alive. That was discovered in Tara's room and it took all my fencing skill to coax it into a box to get it out. Then there was the live bird in Stacy's room, a gorgeous golden finch (I think). Then a mole or some kind of rodent - that one was in bits. There were a few of those. Then what Stacy thought was a hummingbird. It was lying on the dining table and Stacy thought it was another rodent. She covered it with a towel but it slowly crawled out and then flew away when she wasn't looking. A few days ago, Stacy came home to the bungalow tossed - she thought it was burglarized until she heard the bird in Tara's room. She opened the window so it could escape. There were tiny feathers everywhere. I probably missed a few.

A few hours ago she came in then fled out when she heard me coming. I peeked at her in the yard and she had a hummingbird. How the heck does she catch hummingbirds? They are so fast and generally don't fly that low.

She's belled. We belled her after the first kill. Two loud bells - I can hear her circling the bungalow. Can't figure out how she muffles them to hunt. 

She's still a 'teen' - Stacy is starting to fear her. I share my cheese and salmon with her and still think I have the advantage of reach coupled with deceptive tactics. But I'm getting tired of serving as her cleaner. So many bodies.  

Should we add more bells?

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Um, cats are one of natures perfect killing machines. Trade it in for a goldfish, you hippies.

[cranefly]

Tomorrow (Friday) we take Halvah to the surgeon for a checkup.  We haven't been coning her at all the past week.  She doesn't seem to scratch at the eye, and it's looking a lot better.  But then just an hour ago she went at it, scratching like mad.  I pounced on her, and Lady Cranefly gave her a good flea combing around the eye.  Fleas like to congregate there.  Hopefully that was what triggered it.

But really. we aren't taking the precautions we really should.  She should wear the cone when out of sight.

As for your murderess cat, DM, it reminds me of when I lived alone next door to a lady with a cat.  For some reason that cat took a liking to me, kept bringing animals to my doorstep and would sit there waiting to show me.  What traumatized me most was the morning I opened the door to go to work and there she proudly sat with a squirrel in front of her.  The squirrel was very much alive, alert, trying to get away.  The problem is, the cat had bitten through its spine, so it could only crawl using its front paws, dragging its body behind.  A horrific sight.  I couldn't bring myself to go to work leaving it in that state.  So I fetched a hoe and clobbered it out of its misery, all the while cursing the cat.

How does a Buddhist handle such a situation?  I suppose just leave the squirrel to deal with its existence as it currently is...

[Drunk Monk]

How does a Buddhist handle such a situation?  I suppose just leave the squirrel to deal with its existence as it currently is...

Ah, a teaching moment <strokes beard thoughtfully>

Cats don't fare well in Buddhist iconography. There are at least two jataka tales with cats, and cats are villains. Jataka tales are like Aesops fables, incarnations of Buddha as talking animals that deliver morals. They are Indian and a significant part of the scripture. There's one about a cat killing roosters and one rooster is the incarnation. The cat tries to seduce the rooster with flattery, telling him she will consent to be his wife. The rooster notes their differences in their number of legs and refuses. I've never quite understood that one. There's another where a hare abandons its den and a partridge squats in it. When the hare returns and tries to evict the partridge, they can only agree to get a neutral third party to mediate, a cat. The cats listens and then eats them both.

There's a Chinese tale of a painter that paints the animals attending Buddha's death. This is one origin story for the order of the zodiac (the rat is first because it rides on the ox, who has the endurance to beat the rest, but then the rat jumps ahead at the finish line). There is no cat but the painter's cat gets forlorn for being left out. So he adds the cat in the end. The cat is so happy to see it that it dies on the spot. The painting is considered blasphemous and the painter is slated to be executed. But he gets a reprieve at the last moment when the paintings mystically changes so the Buddha is embracing the cat.

These answer your question like a finger pointing to the moon.

[cranefly]

Thanks to DM, Publisher of Kung Fu Tai Chi magazine and CEO of Clarity Beyond Infinity Unlimited.

Will give your koans and anecdotes a good deer-in-the-headlights introspection.

Halvah did well at the checkup.  The swelling has gone down for the eye.  It is still very cloudy, but that's to be expected at this stage.  We're now giving her drops of a mild steroid that should clear it up so that it closely resembles the good eye.  Just need to watch for any kind of allergic reaction.

P.S. She no longer has to wear a koan. Er, I mean, cone.

[cranefly]

Always good to see a big write-up about your longstanding vet in the local paper.

Animal clinic facing new complaints

Former customers allege improper care by veterinarian already on probation

https://www.mv-voice.com/news/2017/09/22/animal-clinic-facing-new-complaints

[Drunk Monk]

Vets are like mechanics - hard to find a good one. We've had so many crappy vets. They have access to a lot of high value street drugs and aren't as regulated, plus they know they have you by the heartstrings and wallet. Free healthcare for all sentient beings!

Hope you can move to a better vet.

[Drunk Monk]

Shiva brought in a live mouse. No blood - mouse is fine. We had a great chase around the living room, me the cat and the mouse. The mouse ducked under the Yoga whale, then the reading chair then the sofa. This went on for maybe 15 mins, me chasing animals around the bungalow with my Indonesian hardwood dragon cane, my fencing gauntlets, and my maglite. Now it's under the piano where it is impossible to get at because the access is only from the back.  I'm going to leave it there and not think about where it'll go. I hope it finds its way out. The cat bailed - it's outside, prolly catching another. Feckin harvest moon.

[cranefly]

Down in Texas, near Dallas, the drama of my older brother Rick and his wife Sandy continues to unfold.

Roughly a year ago Sandy hired some contractor to come in and do some renovations on the house.  It needs a lot of that, as the cats -- currently 22 -- have done a lot of damage.  Lo and behold, the contractor absconded with the pay soon into the project, and I doubt he even paid his crew.  One of the crew offered to stay on and finish the work, if he could stay in the house free for the duration.

So he moved in upstairs.  Along with his wife.  And kids (I think there's two of them).  Henceforth I'll refer to this tribe as squatters.

The alpha squatter has not pursued finishing the work, as far as I know.  Nor do the squatters pay rent.  There's a lot of yelling and screaming upstairs.  Rick had some confrontations with the guy, telling him he shouldn't be yelling at his wife and kids like that.  They almost came to blows.  Recently when Rick was asked about the people upstairs, he said he doesn't go up there anymore.

There's a lot of damaged people in that house.  I don't know how much longer it can last.  Rick and Sandy's oldest daughter lives out around Boston, and she's looking to get Rick into an assisted living facility out near her.  I've offered to help her with that move, should it come about.  As far as she's concerned, Sandy can move out into the area as well.  But not with the cats.  Therein lies the rub with that.  Sandy does not want to give up the cats.

The whole situation is delicate.  Sandy, as the wife, holds a strong legal hand in whatever happens.  Yes, she's a bit bonkers, but not to the point where she could be easily removed from the equation.  Assisted living will be expensive, and the last thing we want to see happen is for Rick and Sandy's savings to go to lawyers.  My mom left a nice sum for Rick, but of course it went to Sandy.  It would be nice to somehow pry some of that away and into Rick's care.

Meanwhile, the squatters continue to squat.  Lately they've been wanting to use the freezer.  The problem is, there's no room -- not with seven cats in it.  Yes, along the way some of the cats in Sandy's care have died.  She wants to bury them in the yard, but not where some future owner of the house might walk on them.  And who knows where a future owner might walk, right?  So for now they linger in the freezer.

Which brings me to the reason of this post.  I have decided, without seeking permission from the overlord, to make those seven cats honorary members of the cats of DOOM.  Because it seems to me they ought to have some halfway legitimate resting place, even if in a digital cloud.

[Greg]

Seconded.

[Drunk Monk]

Thirded. And CF FTW x3. That sounds like a really terrible situation. I hope there’s a resolution soon. Seems very dire.

I came here to share my cat tale but now am totally overshadowed by cf’s cat saga. But I’m here so here goes:

Dawn got cut on her left cheek, just millimeters from her eye. A lost cat fight surely. She started getting really affectionate which as any cat owner knows, is a sign. We noticed the lump on her cheek while petting her so Stacy took her in. Now she’s got a shaved cheek with a harsh GI Joe scar. But she seems to be doing better. We’re keeping the wound clean and she’s not picking at it so she is avoiding to cone of shame. She took her last pain pill today.

[Drunk Monk]

Cones of shame are trending in DOOM. Sux for us.

S noticed a raw spot on Shiva’s rear right leg. She sent a troubled text and T & I freaked. She took Shiva to the vet - the vet thinks it’s an infected bite, probably received as she ran away. She’s been belled due to the recent spate of kills. It surely crippled her with the other cats. C-brite cats are mean. Now Shiva must wear the cone and take antibiotics for two weeks. That’s when I head down to pick up T and bring her home.

[Greg]

The drained cyst on Maeve's side is starting to refill. Might be heading back to the vet.

[Drunk Monk]

The drained cyst on Maeve's side is starting to refill. Might be heading back to the vet.

This is the cat thread, not the dog thread.  Dogs & cats living together - mass hysteria!



Well, poor Dawn got bit in the ass.  Her right rear leg is raw.  She's coned for two weeks and we have an oral antibiotic pill 2x daily, oral pain killer liquid syringes 2x daily, and ointment 2x daily.  The doses only go for a few days, except for the ointment, which depends on how her butt heals.  She's been taking the meds okay, and been a very needy cat.  Cones mess up cats really badly because it robs them of their whiskers, so she's bumping into a lot of stuff.  But she's perky and eager to go outside, but we aren't letting her do so until healed.  Gotta be humiliating.  I hate losing any fight and when you lose due to a bite on the butt, that's really gotta suck.  

Of course, today would be the day that our landlord sent a contractor to replace all of our fire alarms plus our bathroom sink clogged and the liquid drain opener failed so I'll have to disassemble it after lunch.  Fortunately, it's a telecommute day so I can be around the bungalow for contractor supervision, plumbing and cat counseling.