Thursday, February 16, 2012

Griffes de Grands Félins

Hildebeest Purrpetua is still itchy. I've changed her litter, changed her foods, and am combing copious amounts of fur from her daily. And still, she itches. And scratches and bites herself. There are no signs of bugs, no rash, nada. The vet says she may just be feeling dry skin, to boil water... and give her benadryl to stop her developing the habit of scratching and biting.

Being the devil-may-care, daring type who lives on the edge and fears nothing, I ambushed her with my furry lap rug. For a hot second she looked like Vanessa Redgrave in "Camelot", a little face in a mountain of fake fur. In that brief moment when she was surprised I stuck the 1/4 of a pill down her gullet and she swallowed it.  Then the bloody battle began. It happened so fast that I can't remember the details. All I know is one minute I had her wrapped up in my left arm and the next I had a lap rug over my head and was bleeding in several places.

My right side got the worst of it, as she propelled herself to freedom via my skin. From the knee down I look like I've been thru a raspberry patch. She got my face and hand, too. Nobody touches the face and gets away with it. Nobody.

She is now comfortably sprawled out on the table in the front window (still haven't gotten my plants back from Plague), sleeping.

But wait til 4 o'clock, my pretty. If you thought a little bloodletting would keep me from doing it again, you don't know me. Huge friggin claws won't stop me. You're gonna spend a few days in a benadryl dreamworld until you stop scratching. Resistance is futile.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

You could try a little oil on her food if the vet thinks her skin is dry....wow...she's a fighter. We used to put our cat on something slippery like the top of the washing machine..stand sideways and grip with one arm using the fingers on the same arm to pry open the mouth, throw the pill way down, clamp the mouth shut and massage the throat. As I recall, I lost a bit of blood myself.

Austan said...

Lawless- well, she gets farm cream. It's practically butter. The vet said some cats will develop this into a neuroses and constantly groom themselves. I'm hoping the boiling water and pills fix it. With the steam in the air, I'm breathing better. It must be hella dry in here.

Starting Over, Accepting Changes - Maybe said...

Never fight with a cat. They will always win.

Susan Flett Swiderski said...

You poor thing. Luckily, I've never had to force feed pills to a cat ... and I hope I never do. (With a dog, you can just stick the pill inside a wad of liverwurst and he'll gulp it down 1-2-3.)

I just got an email the other day about feeding pills to a cat. Complete with pictures, it tells an hysterical story. If you'd like me to send it to you, shoot me an email. af4fo (at) aol (dot) com

Austan said...

Arleen- round 3 was today. She's surrendering.

Susan- That's one of the reasons I miss dogs. I'll be emailing tomorrow! Thanks!