Cat 1, Owner 0...

I have been dreading today all week. I knew it would be a difficult day and it always makes me anxious and unsettled until the day is over. I always imagine all of the things that can go wrong, and even though it is a necessity, I would prefer that it didn't have to be done.

Today was the cat's annual foray to the vet's for her update on shots and to get her yearly haircut. Well it was suppose to be the day. The cat evidently had other plans.

It's always hard to get the cat to do anything I want her to do. It is that way with most cats, but some cats, my cat in particular lives up to her name of being a Stink Pot when she doesn't want to do something.

I spent all morning, or a good part of the wee hours in the early morning trying to get the cat in the pet carrier for the short trip to the vets. You would think it would be easy, pick up the cat, and insert. An open and shut case, or carrier. Not so easy when it comes to a cat with so many issues. A cat that does not like being picked up, held, or petted unless it is her idea.

She has always been that way. She never was a cuddly kitten. She would hiss and spit and growl when she felt her space was encroached upon. She still does. She has airs, she has attitude, she has really sharp claws.

I did my best to coax her. I threw her favorite toy, twist ties, in the carrier for her to chase inside. I strung an old shoe lace thru one of the vent holes and drug it back and forth trying to gain her attention. She watched. She patted the door. She sat on top of it and hung her head over and looked inside the carrier and sprawled out. I begged, I pleaded, I whined. She looked bored.

In desperation I tried one bite of cat food on a plastic lid placed inside the carrier. She wasn't suppose to eat before her anesthesia, but I was desperate. She refused. She walked off. She was having no part of it. It went on, for almost 2 hours. She would not budge an inch, even when I tried to shove her inside when she wasn't looking. She wouldn't budge.

I think there is some truth to the saying that dogs adore you and cats ignore you. At least mine is trying her best to adhere to that notion. She never bonded with anyone except for me. And I don't know how much of a bond I can call it. She will jump in my lap and does her best to PRETEND to be a good kitty. She will purr, she will knead her little paws, she will lay her head back and look at me with half closed eyes and appear content...for five minutes. And then it is if a switch is flipped and she will swat at my hand for some annoying imagined slight and hop down. I will then be ignored until it is lunch time, dinner time, snack time, feed me time which is every time I step into the kitchen.

For all of her independence she is a needy cat. She doesn't like to be alone in a room by herself. Closed bedroom or bathroom doors are not allowed. She will meow, push, and hurtle herself at a closed door until it is open. That could be a part of the problem, I don't know. All I know is that I have to do it all over again for her newly rescheduled appointment next week.....(sigh)

(Hopefully next Wednesday there will be some "after" photos of her new haircut...for now, there is just the "before" pic)

 

(when she was just a baby kitten, barely bigger than the computer mouse on the blue mouse pad).....