Trixie's Daily Adventure

[vannin]

Trixie has been with me for 2.5 months now and I kept her in for the first 25 days. Freedom was hers 24/7 for the next fortnight, till I then had to start keeping her in at night, for which she is quite relieved. I just had not noticed other cats locally but of course, they had no reason to come near here while it was catless.

There are two toms in particular, which really upset her - and me, by their spraying when they visit - and the RSPCA people told me she couldn't stand other cats so I regret that fortnight she was exposed to them at night.

Since last Sunday,in this warm weather, rather than making short forays out in the day, she has been away for six hours or more, morning and afternoon !! I became quite worried on Sunday and went out calling. The weekdays, my own trips out coincide with hers.

Each time she saunters back pleading ravenous, I tell her she is a stopout and chide gently. Well, you know how human they are and just now she did a very interesting thing. I was watching her in the garden, the usual wash after breakfast then lovely rolling around the flowerbed till she spied me watching. She got up, chirruping, rushed back in by the kitchen window on to the worktop, nuzzled around my face and neck still chirruping, then was off again. It was very much a 'Bye, I'll be fine, don't worry, be back later.'


Viv

[Penny]

Lucky you, wish I had a cat. cheers Penny

[Rowan]

She's in Paradise Viv.

[vannin]

Today's adventure was a different dish of fish altogether! Although from Trixie's and my point of view, it has gone 100 times better than I feared. The sweary word begins with V and ends with T, three letters - the first such visit since the RSPCA lady called and took her to have the booster at her old vet three months ago.

I registered her with a brand new vet down the road from me, and this seemed like a good time to get a check on ears, teeth, weight, and mention the W word and F word. I have gven her F(lea) drops on the neck and attempted a W(orming) pill unsuccessfully. There is a lovely new carrier, top-opening and a plushy mattress!

Well, the appointment WAS for a week ago, and blow me - she seemed to sense it and on the morning she belted off to the woods, with hardly any breakfast....and stayed there a long time. Had to cancel the vet app and taxi, renewed for today.

How I have dreaded the kerfuffle of getting her there, especially as the RSPCA lady said she thoroughly disgraced herself on the day of the booster (meaning she savaged the vet, I think) It had been murder getting her into the old carrier (front-loading) by three of us! She is so placid with me but does hate being examined or restrained for more than a few seconds.

I worked out a great strategy for today - and it is good having a locking panel for the cat flap. The carrier was in readiness in the porch, she was snoozing in the kitchen,the doors and windows were shut. The storm started with lashing rain, and a clap of thunder at just the time I had to do the deed. That freaked her out so I immediately lifted her for a reassuring cuddle, whereas usually that would have made her suspicious. Then she nuzzled and purred while I carried her to it (never having seen this crate/carrier before) As some little rumbles of thunder happened then, she seemed to regard this as a refuge from it, and settled on the lovely plush mat - where some edible treats were scattered.

Then we were picked up and she didn't mind the short ride, though the day I first collected her - by taxi - she hated the long bumpy ride, and miowed non-stop. Walking into the vet's, she was slightly concerned; the only fly-in-the-ointment was the man himself, and she attacked him for examining her, so he finished as quickly as poss, calling her feisty but very healthy and the right weight. It was very quick and we were home within half an hour of leaving.

What a relief!!! She just had a meal then settled down for another sleep, the weather has improved, and hopefully she won't need another trip for a while.

Viv

[mazzy]

She sounds very much like a cat who knows her own mind....lovely!

[Victors Mate]

I wonder can I guess who is the boss here?

[vannin]

I didn't mention the second piece of fun she had on last Wednesday, following the aborted appointment. She bounded indoors briefly an hour after I cancelled. I was preparing to take myself to the shop to buy food for Modom (naturally)

She has never been encouraged to exit at the front, because at the end of the longish drive, is a busy, dangerous hill. Her big world outdoors, after exiting by cat flap in back door, is a moderate sized garden and, best of all, the straggly stretch of woods which meet up with my neighbor's garden, so she goes over his fence and crosses his back then, of course, can access the front just as easily as the woods.

So I left on that morning to the bus stop, two minutes walk downhill. Stood there looking back and............a tabby shape bursts out of my neighbor's drive, then back into the woods which adjoin the pavement I had just walked down. In other words she followed me to the bus stop but on the other side of fence and big old undergrowth (fortunately with heaps of dead brown holly) miowing all the way. Me praying she wouldn't come flying over and overshoot the pavement, landing in the road, I talked firmly to her about turning around and had to walk her back home, but on parallel paths. Having shut her in with the litter tray which she never uses but it is left there anyway as I keep her in at night, I still caught the bus - which ran late that day.

All the way I was looking out of the bus rear window, making sure she wasn't running along behind.

The funny thing is, I have often had little snatches of dream in which that very thing happened.

Viv

[Rowan]

They are fly monkeys - they always manage to do what they want to do. You sound happy with each other.

[vannin]

They are fly monkeys - they always manage to do what they want to do. You sound happy with each other.

Yes, we are!
I am just repeating the link to the one photo of her, which was the one first advertising Trixie for adoption, in the local paper whence this all started!

http://i43.tinypic.com/a49clz.jpg[/IMG

I often think: if she had not already been named, I might have been daft enough to call her Dimples or Cherub!

Viv

[Anya]

WOW !!! What fun and games

That is the one part that I hated, having to take my dogs to the vet, always traumatic for them (and for me) even when it was just the yearly injection.

[vannin]

I think, compared with established vets, this one which was opened in May - brand new - has not yet picked up the animal smell (which constant freshening/ disinfecting doesn't entirely banish) So her initial concerned reaction in the waiting room turned to curiosity more than fear. We were the only ones there, which helped a lot too.

It is part of a chain but not the one - Medivet - which has had the terrible publicity. Ours is part of Companion Care, but I did and DO, give a lot of thought to the implications. It is situated at the back of Pet Care, a supermarket for all things 'pet' and also selling rabbits, hamsters and guinea pigs, which all look well cared for, clean and properly fed and watered. If this place seems suspect in the very slightest, I'll transfer to an independent vet practice.

Like everyone I was shocked rigid by the Panorama programme.

Viv

[rocky]

[font=Tahoma]V, I love your posts. I, too, am owned by a cat.

I lost my 24-yr-old Siamese a few weeks ago and it still stings. She was definitely my kitty-soulmate. Something that had never happened before ... whether with cats or dogs.

I also have a feisty little middle-aged tortie who has not quite come to grips with the loss of her friend ( not playmate, not for several years now ). Neither has Camille, an outdoor cat owned by no one but cared for by many neighbors, including me, who comes to visit every morning, sticking her nose up to the glass door of the patio ... she and my Choca would just sit and look at each other for several minutes every morning.[/font]

[Rowan]

Brogan goes happily to the vet - mind you he is a a mad wee dog!! He likes going anywhere in the car though, anywhere at all!!

[vannin]

Rowan, there are cats that like to curl up sleeping in a car and pets who love being transported. There was a report in the paper of a cat that joined the bus queue every morning to go off to town. Then joined a queue to come home again. They all knew him!

Viv

[vannin]

Rocky, the grief for Choca will be with you a while, and also with the torty because they do grieve.

In the seventies to eighties, we had an old cat and young cat at the same time, the older one appeared not to accept the young one, Suki. Then Suki had an accident.....'head-butted a car' as my son put it. After being mended by the vet, including a leg splint, she had to be confined in her bed, to recover. Skippy, the elder one, was shocked to see this and clearly worried over her a great deal, became quite motherly. She also mothered my daughter, used to pat her cheek if she cried at all. When she died, Suki grieved with us.

Viv