By Elisa Black-Taylor
This article will be not only about Midnight’s first road trip, but also my adventure tending for a house full of cats with Laura gone for the weekend. It’s been quite a confusing week for all of us.
LAURA’S TRIP
Laura left on Wednesday to spend Thanksgiving weekend with her grandmother. Her black cat Midnight (our sole feline distemper survivor last year) went with her on this trip. The reason Midnight had to tag along is because on Laura’s last visit with her dad’s family, Midnight had a hard time dealing with her absence. Midnight refused to come out when I called her and I wasn’t sure if she was even eating. So it was decided months ago that Midnight would make her first road trip this Thanksgiving.
Midnight is accustomed to her carrier. She eats her canned food in there. She’s on wet food to keep weight on her. We came very close to losing her to the panleuk and she’s on a different diet than the other cats. She and Sealy basically eat the same foods. Midnight had a good ride on the hour trip to Anderson. She meowed a minute or two, then was quiet the rest of the trip.
Laura’s cousin Kayliah came running out to the car when I arrived with Laura. Kayliah doesn’t have her own cat and fell in love with Midnight immediately. That’s good, because by the time Laura’s visit was over, Midnight had really shown out.
Midnight was a good cat on her visit during the day. She ate her canned food, went to the litter box, and made a cat-less young lady (Kayliah) fall in love with her. I hope this made up for the fact that Midnight meowed off and on all night long. She walked all through the house looking for her cat friends. This was a bit surprising, because at home she tends to stay close to Laura rather than play with the other cats.
Midnight was alone in the house Thanksgiving day. Laura brought Midnight some turkey for a treat. This cat is so spoiled she’ll only eat a treat if it’s hand fed to her. Laura fed Midnight KMC formula using a syringe when she had the panleuk, so she’s probably spoiled for life. Midnight must have had a good rest during Thanksgiving day, because come bedtime she started her meowing and searching again. Laura eventually had to get up with her several times during the night to quiet her down.
I had to include this little collage (at the top of the page) of Kayliah with Midnight. Laura’s phone doesn’t take good quality photos, but they’re sweet. I know Kayliah wishes she could keep Midnight.
ELISA AT HOME
Before leaving, Laura had to divide the cats up as to who gets along and who doesn’t. I had to head to work as soon as I dropped Laura off at her grandmothers, so the cats were left alone for 10 hours.
Some of the cats are so quiet, it’s easy to forget they’re here. Then there’s Jasper and Sammy, the two brothers who were neutered back during the summer. They’ve become very aggressive since their surgery. I don’t know whether this is normal. The boys are great lap cats and love to be petted. They tend to pick on Renny, our smallest boy. Now they’ve added Lucky, another male, to the list of those they wish to chase. We don’t know whether they want to play rough or are out to hurt those two. These cats have all been neutered. Furby usually tries to stick his nose into their mischief, but he’s more of an observer than a participant. I’m just glad Renny and Lucky don’t mind living in my bedroom and master bath. They sleep together on my bed during the day, with me joining them at night.
Cujo, our cat-dog, is the only member of the family who can play as rough as Jasper and Sammy want to play. Thankfully, Cujo manages to wear them out most nights so everyone sleeps well.
Before Laura and I left, Lucky, Renny and Sealy were put in Laura’s bedroom so they’d be safe. The rest of the cats were given free reign between the living room, my bedroom and the master bath. When I came in at night, I had to put Sammy and Jasper in the feeding cage in the living room just long enough to transfer Renny and Lucky to my bedroom. Sealy would stay in the living room to eat in his feeding cage. I can imagine how confusing it’s been to Sealy to find Sammy and Jasper in his feeding cage. So after getting the cats settled in my bedroom with their food, I’d have to free “the bad boys,” then get Sealy his food. Sealy would already be settled in his cage waiting. It’s how he tells us he wants to eat. Um…about 10 times a day!
I had poop scooping and litter changing duty every night when I came in from work, then again every afternoon before leaving for work. That’s a lot of work because we have quite a few litter boxes.
My routine changed a bit on Saturday, as I have weekends off. I had to go to the Laundromat to wash the towels and Sealys special blankets. I left Renny, Sealy and Lucky in my bedroom. They tend to escape from my room, and I knew I also had to put the boys up. They ran into Laura’s bedroom. Cats have a way of knowing when you’re trying to catch them. I surprised them when I shut the door. So Sammy, Jasper, Lola and Cassie stayed in Lauras room for the two hours I was gone.
When I arrived back home, I had the whole scooping, feeding, watering routine to do all over again.
In the midst of all this, we have Sheela back with us. She was adopted out with her sister Shirley last year. Her mommy has her daughter living with her at this time and Sheela doesn’t like toddlers and small dogs. Sheela had taken to hiding so we offered to take her back until the situation gets more under control.
I think I finally know what “change in lifestyle” means. I used to see that as a reason people surrender their cats and never had a clue what it meant. It’s definitely a change in lifestyle when your grown daughter moves back into your house bringing her two toddlers and several small barking dogs. Shirley doesn’t seem to mind the excitement, but Sheela was terrified. She was shaking from head to toe the first day she was back with us.
Sheela has her own set of criteria we have to meet. For one thing, we couldn’t get her to eat the first few days back with us. Laura had to syringe feed her the KMC formula. It’s dangerous for a cat to go several days with no food or liquid, and the KMC has saved several of our cats now. On the third day, Sheela began to eat canned food when left alone in Laura’s bedroom. Sheela finally ventured out into the living room on the fourth day back. By day five she was following us from room to room.She was with us several months last year before she was adopted out and we’d like to believe she’s remembering all of her old friends here. Sheela has also decided she likes the idea of napping in a big pot under the kitchen sink. It’s dark and quiet and cats love big pots to sleep in.
This worked well until Laura left me alone with a house full of cats. Sheela would have to be retrieved from under the kitchen sink every night when I came home from work. This usually involved me getting on my hands and knees several times while trying to catch her before she went behind the kitchen drawers while holding a flashlight in my mouth to see her. Some of the other cats live in Laura’s bedroom. So Cassie, Lola and Coral had to be run into the living room to allow Sheela the privacy she insists on while eating. All of this while hoping Mandy (sister to Jasper and Sammy) doesn’t run into the room to steal her food.
Mandy is our sneaky cat. She waits at doors waiting to run into or out of rooms. I’ve had to put down one cat being moved to catch Mandy and get her back in the living room. I’ve also had to keep a close watch on Gizzy when I enter and exit. She’s our escape artist. Her first outside adventure left her outside for three days. Her last was an overnight outing, and she was asleep in the back seat of my car the next morning. With all of the deer hunters and gun happy people in the neighborhood, we’re afraid to let Gizzy out without her jacket and leash.
Sealy appears amused at what I’ve gone through this week. As long as I feed him in his cage, he’s a happy cat. He lays next to me or in my lap on the couch. Then he goes to bed with me for the night. I’ll be carrying Sealy in one arm and Cujo in the other. Cujo has to have playtime with Renny, so I don’t get to go to sleep right away. They chase each other under and over the bed until they get tired.
I wake up every day on my back with Sealy laying on top of me. STARING at me. It’s a bit unnerving until you get used to it. Sometimes I wonder whether Sealy ever sleeps. He does sleep curled up on my pillow next to my head. I’m just not sure for how long. He and Renny and Lucky share the wet food in the feeding cage.
OVERVIEW
Laura had a good visit with her dad’s family, and I had some good alone time with the cats. I wanted to do this story because a lot of people think we have perfect cats who rarely get into trouble. I wanted to tell everyone we have a few troublemakers, just like most people who care for several cats. While we don’t know why certain cats don’t like each other, we’ve learned to handle the situation so no one gets hurt and each cat gets a good amount of attention paid to it. It’s interesting sitting on the couch surrounded by cats. Especially at mealtime. Furby, I forgive you for biting my finger. It was my fault for not getting it out of the way while you were eating your treat.
I’d like to close by saying I’d never tackle caring for this many cats without Laura. She’s the one that holds this family together while I work.
Did any of you take your cats with you for the holiday? Any interesting stories?
What a great story about Midnight’s adventure! You had your own adventure with her gone. My sister went up north for Thanksgiving, but my work schedule necessitated I stay here. That meant I had to take care of her cat Kobe upstairs. At first he ran away from me, then he came out and meowed very loudly, voicing his displeasure at my sister’s absence. But he did finally let me pet him, and even purred softly for me.
You made friends quickly. He knew you were friendly.
We’ve had Kobe 12 years and he finally is warming up to me. When we bought the house the people upstairs were on a month to month lease so we gave them the appropriate notice. They were looking for a bigger place anyway as their family was growing. During the 45 days they had to vacate they informed us that they were going to take their one cat to the Humane Society because he didn’t get along with their other cat and he was jealous of their new baby. I told them I would take him. But he didn’t want to live downstairs with me. He was terrified and hid all the time and would not eat or drink. He peed and pooped on himself because he was too terrified to use the litter box. He would just tremble as I cleaned him up. He’d tolerate some handling if I had a blanket or towel over him that he could essentially be hiding under. He was a miserable creature and we thought he was going to die. The only hope was to allow him back upstairs, to familiar territory. Of course, it was Jen’s things up there by then, but his scent would remain in places, so we hoped for the best. He was not much better and still would not eat. We used a straw to dribble tuna juice into his mouth, or sometimes we’d just put it on him so that he’d be forced to lick it off. We still thought he might die. He was thin and bony. From what I could tell, even before we got him he was spending most of his life hiding in a closet. The girl told us their other cat wouldn’t let this one eat or use the litter box. They did nothing to help with that situation — except to say they were going to get rid of Kobe. We were about ready to take him to the vet for intravenous fluids when he started eating and drinking on his own. My sister managed to win him over. He was still terrified of everyone else for a long time, even Jen’s roommate. Now my sister lives alone up there and she’s gone a lot, but Kobe likes it quiet. I gave him a huge cat tree a couple years ago. I bought it used and cleaned it up with my Bissell. Monty thought it was for him! Kobe sleeps on that in the morning and switches to a cat bed in the back of the house in the afternoon. Jen will open the back window for him and he gets his outside time on a second story porch, where he can look down on Monty and I in the back yard. Kobe now will let me pet him, but it took years for him to even come out when I come up there– especially without Jen. If those people had taken him to a shelter he would have been put down or simply have died from malnourishment or an illness picked up from another cat. I have never seen a cat in such extreme stress as Kobe was when his people moved out. Even Monty as a feral kitten was not as miserable on the day I caught him as Kobe was when they brought him down to me on their moving day. Even before Kobe’s people left he was not doing good. Under Jen’s care he has become a healthy cat who seems pretty content with his life.
Elisa, you obviously do a very devoted and long, sometimes hard job for your cats. The fact that you make sure they all get what they want, such as playtime at certain hours and private time and attention they need – is really impressive. I have just 3 cats and I work and when I am home I feel already like I am juggling to make sure they all get what they ask me for. They are creatures of habit which does help one be able to build a routine but by golly your routine over Thanksgiving sounded impressive. I think you deserve a prize. I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving 🙂
I agree I think she deserves a prize. Elisa spends quite a lot of time managing her family.
LAURA’S TRIP
This seems fairly typical. From experience I find that cats complain in cars initially and for a while and then settle down and are fine. It is interesting to see that Midnight wandered around her strange home meowing at night. She was a bit confused by her new surroundings and was seeking comfort it seems to me. Evidence that cats like routine and familiar surroundings. Don’t we all.
ELISA AT HOME
All I can say is Phew! Cat wrangling all the way every day…Hurrah 😉
You are an impressive cat manager. I know a bit about cat wrangling myself because I feed a couple of strays and I have to keep them separate from Charlie. There are ways to manage cats which works nicely and which does not upset the cats. It is just about understanding ’em.
Right now I’m in bed. Renny is curled around my neck. Sealy is asleep on my pillow with the heater blowing on his butt. Cujo is midway of the bed asleep and Lucky is totally buried under the covers. I love being a crazy cat (and cat-dog) lady!