Between A Rock And A Hard Place

Literally.

Lucy has taken to laying in the flower bed between the sidewalk and garage, and now has more room to lay there since I finally trimmed back our vines, which I think are jasmine but I really don't remember. They do have small white flowers and smell good, so jasmine it must be. Anyway, she lies in the dirt under the vines where it must be a little cooler or she feels hidden and more secure, and the coloring of her coat makes her blend right in. Camo Kitty.

Yesterday, I see her crawl in behind the flamingo's legs, in between a rock and the sprinkler pipe, where she settled in for what looked to me a rather uncomfortable spot to lay around in.

Last week Buddy got into a fight with the black and white cat that so aggressively comes through our yard. I had let all the cats out back and they had been out for quite a while, so I figured it was time to rattle the treat bag so they would all come in for their treats. One day they will realize that treats being rattled means door being shut, but until then it's a trick that works really well, and most of the time they are ready to come in for a snack and a nap anyway. So, everyone is in except for Buddy and as I'm going to the door to call him I see him tearing along the back fence and behind the shed and then all hell breaks loose with cats snarling and hissing and I run outside still holding the treat bag to find Buddy and black and white cat going at each other in the back corner of the yard by the fence. I'm yelling and the black and white cat jumps up the fence but then stops at the top, turns around and looks at me, and if he had fingers I'm sure he would have been making rude gestures at me with them and if he could talk I'm sure he would be saying something along the lines of F*#K YOU BITCH! and then after I yelled at him again he took off.

Buddy is of course all freaked out and the other cats inside are all freaked out, so I left Buddy outside to calm down for a bit. When he did come in he was all hissing and making that weird distressed noise that cats make and he went into the garage to hide. I went off on the bike to do a few errands and get a few things for dinner, and when I got back he seemed a little calmer and even jumped up onto the counter to smell the celery I had bought. Cats like celery smell, especially Pepper who will actually roll around on it.

Then later, he was walking around and I noticed he was limping quite a bit and hissed at me like it was my fault, and off into the garage he went to hide again. When Keith got home I told him about the fight, so he went into the garage to check on Buddy and saw the limp and thought maybe he had broken something. He was all ready to rush him to the vet but then I remembered about Buddy being able to jump up onto the counter and if something were broken it seemed to me that he wouldn't have been able to do that, so we decided to just let him lick his wounds so to speak in the privacy of the garage.

The next day I did NOT let the cats go outside (which they were a little pissy about) and Buddy was still acting like he didn't feel good and still limping. I did notice a spot on the top of the leg that he was limping on, a spot that basically would be the same as our armpit, that looked funny. He let me feel around a little before he hissed at me, and I could feel like what must have been a puncture wound from a claw that had started to scab over. I never saw any blood anywhere, so I'm thinking that the puncture wound was making him cranky and limp and we just needed to keep an eye on it to make sure it didn't get infected.

So, no expensive vet visit needed and Buddy seems to be back to his normal self. A little bit of a bully and full of boy cat mischief. But when he sits next to you and wants his chin rubbed he is of course a little angel. Until you don't rub it the right way and he bites you that is.

Cat Fight!

Well, this morning one bad apple (Buddy) spoiled it for the whole bunch. Our experiment in letting the cats out for an hour or so in the mornings has come to a yowling end. No more, kids, cause you can't behave yourselves.

It all started when I reached out the door to put Genie's food on the back porch for her and Harri went right past my arm and right past Genie to get to some grass. Genie was so hungry that she didn't even notice Harri at first, but then quickly went to hide behind her basket after seeing Harri out there. I went out and put Genie, her basket, and food up onto the patio table so she could feel a little safer, and then let the rest of the cats join Harri outside. Keith is making his breakfast and I'm at the computer (where else) checking my email and all of a sudden I hear cats hissing and yowling and run to the back door just in time to see Buddy chasing Genie across the yard. The rest of the cats are all panicked and trying to get back inside except for Pepper who is also hissing even though she isn't anywhere near the fight. Keith runs out to try and rescue Genie, who is now nowhere to be seen and I hope she hasn't jumped up on the fence in panic, never mind that she's never figured out that she could climb that fence if she wanted to.

Buddy has all kinds of fur hanging from his mouth, so he obviously got in a few bites and now he is in BIG TROUBLE, MISTER! and after he finally calms down a little and comes back inside and Pepper calms down a little and also finally comes back inside, we go out to check on Genie who has jumped up onto her cat condo stand and in through the window into the safety of her shed. Where I think she is probably still hiding here an hour or so later.

So, no more going outside kids, it's not fair to Genie to be attacked in  her own territory and no matter how much you whine, you're going to have to stay inside!

In other news, Keith's test and interview with BNSF yesterday up in Fresno went well. There were 54 candidates there, minus a few who didn't make it to the door before they closed it at 7 am, and if you are late, tough luck, you are done. Then after the speech about how if you do drugs might as well leave now a few other people were eliminated. It boggles my mind that druggies read the paperwork that BNSF sends to you that specifically says they do a hair test for drugs but they still show up thinking they can get away with bringing fake pee or whatever. Then there are the ones who come in shorts and flip flops for their interview. The ones that were left all took the written test and about 15 more people were eliminated when they didn't pass, and then on to interviews and waiting in line to get your hair clipped for the drug test. Keith said there were quite a few ex-military men, who of course will get preference simply because they are military men and are used to strange hours and following rules and after all they did spend a part of their lives risking that life every day in Afghanistan or wherever. I don't begrudge them getting preference at all, so many of them come home to a lack of opportunity and jobs.

Anyway, if they want an old guy like Keith, they will let him know in a few weeks, and if not, then he gave it his best shot. We're thinking that the way things have gone lately, both railroads will call him on the same day and then he'll have to decide which one to go with. Or, neither one will call. We just have to be patient and wait and see.

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.

Cat Fight!

Yesterday after work Keith had the big garage door open and the kitty door into the garage closed so that none of our cats escaped to the great outdoors while he messed around with stuff in the garage. While he's messing around with stuff a couple of the cats next door were hanging around our open garage door. Their little Siamese boy cat  is really friendly and would rather hang out in our yard because he actually gets some petting and attention. Their ginger girl cat is the same way, she sleeps on our porch and in our back yard. They also have a cat that looks just like Lucy and every time I see their Lucy cat outside I have to do a double take to make sure it's not our Lucy cat. Anyway, Siamese boy had been in and out of the garage a few times and the Lucy cat had actually ventured in, which she's never done before, so Keith checked around for stray cats before shutting the big garage door and unblocking the kitty door into the garage.

We sit down to dinner and Buddy goes out the kitty door into the garage. A few minutes later we hear cats snarling and screeching in the garage and all of our cats that are still in the house freak out and run all over the place with the exception of Lucy who runs through the cat door into the garage to see what's going on in there. We both bolt from our chairs and run into the garage where Buddy, Lucy, and the look alike Lucy cat are in a big ball scratching and snarling and spitting and biting. Keith opens up the big door so that the panicked look alike Lucy cat can get out of our garage while I run out the front door and around to the garage to make sure that our cats don't follow her out into the driveway.

We see Buddy growling and making that weird distress low moaning sound in his belly and see what we think is our Lucy hiding under a bunch of wood also making distress sounds at least we think it is our Lucy but aren't sure because she looks just like the other Lucy cat and which one is still in the garage?

We finally coax both cats out from under the wood and look at Lucy's paws to make sure it's our Lucy, she has one paw that is a different color than the others, and it is indeed our Lucy who is so upset and still making that weird moaning low growl I'm all freaked out noise. Buddy is also still upset and making his low moaning growling noises.

We go back inside to finish our dinner, leaving Buddy and Lucy to calm down enough to come back in the house so that we can check them for wounds. They both survived without any blood being drawn that we could see anyway, and I don't think Lucy lookalike cat will be going into our garage again any time soon.

Whew.