1. "Stupid Cat Story (Me Stupid, Not Cat)"
Posted by Edisto on May-29th-03 at 1:03 PM

My husband and I have two cats.  "His" cat is a beautiful and lovable but pudgy blue Abyssinian named Mosby.  "My" cat, Paisley, is what the Brits call a "moggie."  She's a tortoiseshell with a broad peasant face and unmatching cream-colored socks.  She came to us as a stray and is very shy.  She doesn't trust much of anyone except me.  For that reason, she goes to the vet only for the most necessary treatment, because every visit is traumatic for her.  (Mosby loves the vet and would be glad to spend his vacation in her office.)
Yesterday morning, when I got up, I immediately noticed that Paisley was walking strangely and that when she sat down she pathetically held her left front paw out in front of her at an odd angle.  When I tried to examine it, she ran from me.  She has many hiding places, and I couldn't locate her for most of the morning.  I found her asleep in the early afternoon and was able to examine the paw.  I could see nothing wrong with it, and she didn't seem distressed when I gently palpated it to see if anything seemed broken.  I began to consider cramming her into a carrier and taking her to the emergency vet clinic, but she vanished again.  It was very gloomy weather here yesterday and so dark in our house that I had to use a flashlight to look for her.
This morning I rose with the idea that I would grab her as soon as I saw her, put her into the carrier, and then call the clinic.  Of course, she was nowhere to be seen.  I was having coffee (no cookies) and reading the Post when she jumped up on the table (an old habit and allowed as long as she sits on the paper).  For the first time, I was able to get a really good look at her.  That poor cat had managed to put her left front leg completely through her faux-leopard collar and was wearing it like a very snug bandolier!  The collar matched her fur so well that I hadn't even seen it.  Needless to say, it cramped her style considerably.  I unbuckled and removed the collar, and she was back to normal within seconds.  Wouldn't the vet have had fun with that one?  Wouldn't I have had fun with the $200 bill I would probably have had to pay?

I'm certainly glad she was OK!  Must have been a relief for her to get fixed up.

You tell the very best stories. I could listen to (umm read) your tales all day long.

Have you ever thought of putting them together somewhere?

That IS a good story.
It's good that it had a happy ending!

I have a strange tale...strange in that I finally have a cat problem I'd never dealt with before.
So I watch and wait to see what happens!

My 19 year-old cat Chauffe is blind one day, or 2 days, and then not blind the next.
The day recently she was blind, she was like a pinball up and down the front hallway.  I was ready to feed breakfast but she does the opposite of what I try to guide her to do, so I waited in the kitchen for her to follow the wall into the family room- kitchen area.  My habit now is to PLUNK the dish down in front of where she stops so she notices it.  (If my timing is off and she doesn't notice and goes off somewhere wandering, the *wildcats* [now motherless] will eat all the food.)

So I waited, leaning on the counter.  She never showed at my end of the hall.  I peeped around the corner and she wasn't there!
I walked to where the entrance is to the laundry room and it seems she made a wrong turn and was following THAT wall, up & down, and up & down...reason being there was an amused *wild-cat* [now motherless]** waiting at each end of THAT hall.  I watched her follow the wall down toward the litterboxes, where sat Sweety.  Chauffe bumped into Sweety and turned around and came back up the wall toward the open door leading out to me.  BUT, there at the entrance sat SO-WHAT, and Chauffe bumped ito HER, turned around and started BACK down the hall toward the litterboxes.  I watched this twice, marveling at the exercise she was getting, then gave up with a chuckle and moved So-What out of the doorway with my foot and sure enough Chauffe on her return trip followed the wall OUT of there and to the water bowl where she got a long drink and then immediately, breakfast!

**They never let me forget they are now motherless, so you-all won't forget either!

(Message last edited May-30th-03  3:28 AM.)