Day to day musings of a cat minder/ sitter in North Tyneside and Newcastle upon Tyne . For details of services go to http://www.catminders.biz

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Wednesday 12 March 2008

Cling On Wars ......


You may be able to work out the problem just by looking at the picture . But maybe not . Its simple , yet complicated all at once . Kitty , as the nurse told us , is a Big Girl . In fact , so big now that she lies on her back for comfort rather than on her belly . ( In primary school I had a " composition corrected when I used the word Belly , and the teacher wrote Tummy in red pen above , so now I use Belly as an act of defiance though I know its rather an outdated term. My grandparents had a farm . What can I say ? )
The vet tells us to make her diet , but this is tricky when we have three picky Birmans who we have to coax to eat . How do you deprive one and not the others ? I don't have the answer , short of making them live separately and my life is far too complicated already without cats holed up in different areas . We already have adult / teenagers with the demarcations that brings , not to mention cats/ greyhound etc etc .
In addition to the fat she is adding ( adding value I think its called in Business now ) there is also a large area of matted fur on her back , which started as a little area , which has matted because she can't reach that bit to lick and clean herself . And yes you're right , in theory we could groom her , take a brush or a grooming glove to that bit and un matt the fur , de tangle the hair and hey presto . But , youre not taking into account Kitty's personality which is the main issue here , or one of the main issues .
Kitty is a force to be reckoned with .
Suffice to say we had Kitty booked to be spayed at the vets several times over the years and cancelled simply because we were unable to transfer her into the cat basket by any means known to woman and daughter . We presented at the vets badly cut and scratched to explain our time wasting ... and they understood completely . In fact the vet emerged from his consulting rooms at the behest of the senior nurse and said he completely and absolutely agreed with our decision to leave her at home which was "safest for all ". He inspected our wounds and suggested we absolve ourselves from further responsibilities that day .
Occasionally I read reports of the RSPCA prosecuting cruel people who have neglected their pets and left them with tumours and illnesses and all manner of things and then sometimes , of people who are deemed cruel having left their pets with terribly matted hair and my eye catches Kitty's and we exchange a look and I try to at least run my hand over the area and she spits at me and I quail ...... and I blanche and I think the RSPCA would look at my other cats and the guinea pigs and the dog and they would see how they are all loved and they would see how Kitty would rip their throats out of they tried to assist her in any way and they would see how she stares adoringly at me each night as she peers over the top of my book as she weighs my chest down as we read together .... just so long as I leave her fur alone ......
Last night , I decided enough was enough , and declared war on the "cling on" . The huge lump of fur needed a name if I was to beat it and having called it a winnet for a while in my head I then googled the word ( dont ask why ) and realised I was barking up quite the wrong tree here as winnet refers only to the cling ons left behind after poor wiping practices . Having been brought up with a younger brother who was fascinated by such things and also being quite weak stomached himself firmly believed that such matters should be dealt with by the female members of the family if there were pets with such issues ( there frequently were as we had silly cocker spaniels with rather loose bowels ) .
I digress . I threw caution to the wind , took a very sharp pair of scissors , waited till Kitty had her nose in the trough so to speak , and cut into the edge of the cling on . Result . Kitty far too busy troughing to be bothered with what was going on behind her . I snipped away feeling very smug and managed to take away a sizeable piece of the lump . Snippety snip . A bit more . Kitty turned and lashed out . I retreated , patting her head to show we were still friends .
I informed D of my progress so far and he shot off upstairs , not to be out done , returning triumphantly and unmarked a few minutes later , having filled the food bowl in order to take another ball of fluff off her .
Where will it all end .?
If the blog comes to a sudden end , hey , it was nice knowing you all !

9 comments:

Silliyak said...

Thus your blog becomes educational, today a vocabulary lesson.

MsCatMinder said...

My sister is now googling dingleberry , another family favourite ....

MsCatMinder said...

"It was a long suggestion and I tried to save it but all that was saved was an error message saying it couldn't be posted.
I am possibly going to sulk now"


The above in an e mail to me from Laura ..... piqued that Blogspot refused to post her much cherished and carefully thought out comment , presumably on Winnets and dingleberries .

Anonymous said...

May I suggest popping kitty into a humane sheep stock on a daily basis while you attend to Grooming Tasks on her back? (the kind used for sheep who take against their lambs..their head is trapped so they are unable to turn round and head butt the lamb, but the lamb has access to the mother and can suckle and snuggle etc without the danger of being propelled forcibly against a hard object) This would remove the risk of being mauled whilst returning Kitty's coat to its erstwhile pristine condition (ie/ before she got too fat to turn around and lick herself)
Just a suggestion..she is about the right size to fit into one designed for the more Petite bovine..

MsCatMinder said...

Excellent plan ... where do you suggest I install the sheep stock ? And what would the RSPCA make of this ? And would this lead to Bullying ... ie make Kitty a Laughing Stock ( ha , no pun intended ) with the Birmans , who already poke fun . And , Im thinking D here , is the contraption neat and tidy ? Would it fit say with the bathroom decor ?

Anonymous said...

On refelection, what Kitty really needs is a companion cat like our Thomas, who, despite her Manly name, sees herself as Mother, and spends her day grooming the other cats, including Sparky who is Too Old To Bother, and the dog..she even does that little maternal spit and wipe thing with her paw..
Perhaps you just need another cat and all Kitty's problems willl be solved...

MsCatMinder said...

Toby and Kitty do snuggle in a big heap now , but Toby maybe is not one of those cleaning type cats , or maybe he is Too Wary to do Kitty , after all why would you ? he has seen all our scars and heard us all talking from being a tiny kitten .....

BetteJo said...

My boy cat is a real pain to brush and he tends towards mats. One time I got fed up and while my daughter held him down - I got out the electric clippers I cut my son's hair with - and shaved the cat's bottom half. Just couldn't get any more. He hated having it done - but he really didn't seem to care when it was over. I'll have to find those pictures!

MsCatMinder said...

electric clippers , now there's a thought .... its the holding down bit that scares me .....we would need a straighjacket ....

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