From: ginger@ssc-vax.boeing.com (Ginger Grover)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
Subject: some questions
Keywords: introducing M&M
Date: 15 Apr 92 18:54:54 GMT
Organization: Boeing Defense and Space Group, Seattle WA

Hello.  I've been reading this group for a while, but this is my first posting
to it, and while I do have some questions, I think it would be helpful to
introduce my cats and tell some of their history.

I have two in-door cats, Merlin and Malenkia.  Merlin is a two year old 'mouser'
type, with short black hair and yellow eyes, very affectionate - though
sometimes I suspect it's really just body heat he loves.  When I first brought
him home, he yowled so much in the car that I nearly named him Pavorotti.  He
wanted to sleep with his face against mine, which was a sweet idea but I
couldn't stand the whiskers.  Now I know that it's just that he likes to have
his head rubbed, especially his cheek-bones.  He also likes to lie on his back
beside me when I'm sitting on the couch, so that I can rub his chest.  He
enjoys this so much it's embarrassing, and seems vaguely incestuous.  It
reminds me of that look of inner concentration that 'Kia gets when enjoying
a certain piece of sheepskin.

Malenkia is four years old, a Siamese/Persian cross called "Tonkinese".
She has fine, long, thick fur, pale blue eyes and a very sweet disposition.
When she was about five months old, she got lost outside for about six weeks.
In Winter.  When I finally got her back, she was nearly starved to death and
so filthy that I was not sure I had the right cat, so dirty that I hardly
wanted to touch her.  After feeding her, I gave her a bath, dried her as well
as I could with a towel and then held her for hours while she trembled.  She
was so skinny and couldn't get warm, so I let her sleep under the covers with
me, in the curve of my arm.  She would cry in her dreams.

The vet gave her a few shots and recommended baby food for a while, since her
digestion was upset.  When I got her home from the vet, she had the shakes
again so I cuddled her a good long while.  We go through this now whenever she
visits the vet (fortunately, not very often), and she's gone from starved to
porky, but she's still my little girl.

I got Merlin to keep 'Kia company since I'm gone all day, and I think that's
when she really started puting on weight.  He tends to be too aggressive
sometimes, and 'Kia is no fighter.  To him it's playing, but not to 'Kia.
I used the water pistol on him a lot, but he didn't really get the message
until one night when he just wouldn't stop.  I chased him around with the
water pistol until I cornered him in a room and shut the door and gave him
a very clear lesson in how it feels to be hunted by some one bigger and
stronger you can't escape and who won't let you alone.  Now I only have to
yell his name and clearly picture the water pistol in my mind.  Works
immediately; he stops, goes to the "time-out" corner, flops down with an
attitude of despair and heaves a big sigh.  A minute later, he's off doing
something else.  Do any of you use mental pictures to communicate with
your pets?  I find it works rather well.

The main problem currently is digestive upsets.  They'll both eat the
darndest things and it's hard to anticipate them.  Merlin seems to do it out
of curiosity, and probably screaming boredom from living in a small apartment.
Kia can never get enough love/nuturing/reassurance, but chewing plastic seems
to help.  I can't tell which one is arfing on the carpet.  The gagging noises
will pull me up out of a sound sleep and send me racing out of the bedroom
babbling "not on the rug not-on-the-rug notontherug!!!" to be met with stares
of bewildered innocence.  A non-trivial part of my budget goes for club soda.
I guess I should be glad that it IS club soda and not gin or vodka; the
expense would be much greater, and I'd probably regarded as a lush.

Malenkia had the "runs" recently and has not been able to keep herself clean.
Last night I tried to give 'Kia a bath.  Good thing I'm not a bleeder.  She
was convinced I was trying to kill her.  I'm taking her in to the vet this
Saturday for her booster shots, so maybe I should just have him clean her up.
How do they handle animals like this in pet grooming shops?  Do they drug
them?  I don't want to add to 'Kia's traumas, but mommy's have their limits,
too.  Also, is it possible that 'Kia's whole system was thrown out of kilter
by the period of starvation, and maybe now she needs specific therapy?  I
thought perhaps extra vitamins/minerals would help, but she likes them as
much as a bath.  *sigh*

Thanks for listening
and any help you can give,

Ginger (M&M's mommy)
-- 
   Ginger 	uw-beaver!ssc-vax!ginger OR ginger@ssc-vax.ds.boeing.com

	        Good girls loosen a few buttons when it's hot.
	        Bad girls make it hot by loosening a few buttons.
From: haney@hpcc01.corp.hp.com (Jackie Haney)
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1992 15:49:53 GMT
Subject: Re: PEDIGREES
Organization: the HP Corporate notes server