Sunday, March 20, 2011

Kitty Xanax

We almost took Lucy to the pound yesterday, but she has a reprieve for the week to see if she will calm down.

It was kind of my fault. Lucy has always been the aggressive one, chasing the other cats around (except for Pepper, because NOBODY messes with Pepper) and picking fights with Buddy. Well, on Friday I had brought in a plate from outside, a plate that had some chicken on it that Keith had given to the dogs next door and then left laying outside. A plate that I didn't realize had other animal smells on it from all the cats that were probably licking the plate while it laid out there overnight. I put the plate in the sink, then come back a few minutes later to find three cats in the sink sniffing the plate. I shooed them away, and as I'm shooing Lucy is growling at me. It clicked in my head that the plate smelled like other animals, so I put it in the dishwasher.

Then I notice that some cat has sprayed our back sliding door and screen, so I go out to clean that off and spray some febreeze on the screen and I come back, leaving the screen shut but the sliding glass door open. Which I shouldn't have done, but I didn't think that the cat urine smell on the screen would make Lucy turn into a raving lunatic.

I'm minding my own business and then I hear snarling and growling and turn around to see poor Bear flat on her back with Lucy on top of her, then Buddy gets into the act and he and Lucy turn into a ball of snarling scratching fur flying cats, Buddy trying to get away while Lucy is still attacking him. I'm yelling and looking for the spray bottle of water to spray them with while the water dish is crashed into and water is all over the kitchen floor, Bear has run into the bedroom along with all the other cats not in the snarling cat ball, Buddy and Lucy crash into the bedroom knocking the door closed and knocking over the huge wooden closet doors that have been leaning against our wall behind our door waiting for the day that Keith will paint them and put them back on the closet where they belong, then the snarling cat ball is back into the kitchen and both cats slam through the cat door into the garage. There is fur and water all over the floor and I'm in a panic by now, too.

Bear, Harri, Pepper, and Mimi are all cowering under our bed.

So, Buddy and Lucy are in the garage, Buddy hiding from crazy Lucy. My heart is pounding and the floor that I had just vacuumed is covered with cat fur and claw sheaths. The kitchen floor that I had just mopped is covered with cat fur, claw sheaths, and water. I start to clean it all up and here comes Lucy still growling so I spray her with water and shut the door to the bedroom to keep her away from all the traumatized cats hiding under the bed.

A while later I go into the bedroom to check on everyone and Buddy is on the bed. I thought he was still in the garage. I go to check him for wounds and pull a cat claw sheath off of the top of his head, but he is still all upset and growling and hissing at me, so I leave him alone.

For the rest of the day every time Buddy sees Lucy or vice versa, more growling and hissing and more Buddy hiding in the garage. Lucy is also hissing at me.

After talking with Keith and deciding that we can't have this crazy cat ruling the house and every other cat hiding under the bed for the rest of their lives, we discuss taking her to the SPCA or the animal shelter. Yesterday Keith checked with the SPCA and no room there, and we'd hate to take her to the pound because 80% of all cats taken there end up put down, so what to do? I did a little research online about overly aggressive cats and found this spray stuff that is supposed to help calm them down. It's called Feliway and is a synthetic feline facial pheromone that mimics happy cats or something like that. So, I get this very expensive spray (you can also get room diffusers kind of like air fresheners) and spray it on the furniture and cat blankets and anywhere else Lucy might happen to go.

It seems to be helping to calm her down, she slept on the pheromone sprayed blanket all afternoon yesterday and hasn't growled or snarled at anyone, so we are going to see how it goes this week and hopefully won't need to remove her from the house.

Bear didn't come out from under the bed until today. Harri has ventured forth a few times. Mimi got chased once by Lucy yesterday but seems to be calm enough today. Everyone is kind of looking over their shoulders and giving Lucy a wide berth but not overly afraid.

So. Other than that, Keith is officially unemployed until next Monday when he starts at BNSF. His boss did tell him that he is always welcome back at Savage if this doesn't work out, so that's good to know just in case.

We are having crazy winds today and maybe rain later and our nice spring weather that we had earlier in the week has now turned into cold wintery weather even though it is officially now spring.

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