Varmit report
May. 9th, 2004 01:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tenayaFirst off, it turns out I've been misspelling Varmint. Why there should be "mint" in creatures that, honestly, don't smell that fresh, I'll never know. They do eat mint, though. I caught Cutiepie, when she was young, with a potted mint in her lap. The plant was to her right, the pot to her left, and her fingers were fondling and pulling about the roots. What's not to love? I was going to say that was what earned her name, but I think it was actually more for her habit of laying flat on her back on top of the cat kibble we'd toss out for them to eat. One languid hand would search for the kibble all around her, then bring it up to crunch while she pondered the stars and the point of having eaves.
Anyway, I pronounce it "varmit" so I shall continue to misspell it on purpose.
It's a busy racoon night. Even the 3 legged guy has been by. No babies as yet.
Reg is still round and warm and knows he is loved. Brindle came home a week ago covered in motor oil! He was such a mess I didn't even recognised him! He is very vain about his fur and he thought this was obviously the worst thing that could have happened to him. He just stood at my feet, his face a mixture of despair and pleading. A quick call to the vets said to use dishwashing soap detergent on him (don't use the stuff for the dishwasher as that is very, very bad for cats.) Now, remember, this is the cat that scratched my face from eye to jaw 6 months ago because I didn't understand "no." I picked him up, hugged him, and told him that we loved him and we were going to help him. He relaxed at that. He was even fairly calm while we washed him in the kitchen sink though very scared. He persisted in trying to pull himself out of the water, but it was slowly and without claws. Well, almost completely without claws. We went through about a third of a bottle of soap because he was literally covered in oil. He suffered being rinsed and I hugged him and surrounded him in a towel and just blotted the water off. We even changed towels to continue drying without comment from him. But when I decided to check out his skin, he did one of his "You're only getting this one warning" screams. Down on the floor he went! He wanted to go out again but we made him stay in and take a long nap. His fur was still a tad oily in a few places, but he was 95% better. The net was totally unhelpful about what motor oil does to cats; the vet just said as long as he was eating and drinking, he would be okay. Oh, and to watch for tremors and drooling. Brindle seems to have completely recovered from his ordeal. As for what happened to him, I don't know. I noticed that morning that there was a tractor plowing the weeds under up on the hill. Perhaps he went up and crawled around it? Maybe they had a pan of oil about? Needless to say we were quite scared for him.
Scooter is fine too. There was a scary moment this afternoon when he was sucked onto a sun spot. It held him fast for a good hour. He bravely struggled against it--either that or he was basting each side.
Oh, now there's a crow that is hanging around. He's noticed that we put kibble on the front porch in the morning. He stands on the edge of the roof and bends over to til he's upside down to see if there's any kibble left. The most interesting thing is how he hasn't told his buddies about his food find. He's very discreet, this crow!
Anyway, I pronounce it "varmit" so I shall continue to misspell it on purpose.
It's a busy racoon night. Even the 3 legged guy has been by. No babies as yet.
Reg is still round and warm and knows he is loved. Brindle came home a week ago covered in motor oil! He was such a mess I didn't even recognised him! He is very vain about his fur and he thought this was obviously the worst thing that could have happened to him. He just stood at my feet, his face a mixture of despair and pleading. A quick call to the vets said to use dishwashing soap detergent on him (don't use the stuff for the dishwasher as that is very, very bad for cats.) Now, remember, this is the cat that scratched my face from eye to jaw 6 months ago because I didn't understand "no." I picked him up, hugged him, and told him that we loved him and we were going to help him. He relaxed at that. He was even fairly calm while we washed him in the kitchen sink though very scared. He persisted in trying to pull himself out of the water, but it was slowly and without claws. Well, almost completely without claws. We went through about a third of a bottle of soap because he was literally covered in oil. He suffered being rinsed and I hugged him and surrounded him in a towel and just blotted the water off. We even changed towels to continue drying without comment from him. But when I decided to check out his skin, he did one of his "You're only getting this one warning" screams. Down on the floor he went! He wanted to go out again but we made him stay in and take a long nap. His fur was still a tad oily in a few places, but he was 95% better. The net was totally unhelpful about what motor oil does to cats; the vet just said as long as he was eating and drinking, he would be okay. Oh, and to watch for tremors and drooling. Brindle seems to have completely recovered from his ordeal. As for what happened to him, I don't know. I noticed that morning that there was a tractor plowing the weeds under up on the hill. Perhaps he went up and crawled around it? Maybe they had a pan of oil about? Needless to say we were quite scared for him.
Scooter is fine too. There was a scary moment this afternoon when he was sucked onto a sun spot. It held him fast for a good hour. He bravely struggled against it--either that or he was basting each side.
Oh, now there's a crow that is hanging around. He's noticed that we put kibble on the front porch in the morning. He stands on the edge of the roof and bends over to til he's upside down to see if there's any kibble left. The most interesting thing is how he hasn't told his buddies about his food find. He's very discreet, this crow!