Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Oh, sh-t!

Just as I finished the last post, I thought I heard a hair ball being coughed up.

When I went look, no hair ball, but some funny cat-expelled liquid (pre-hairball?) was in the track of the Turbo-Ball in the library, and someone (perhaps the same cat), had a left bowel movement on the rug.

The latter is very troublesome, because both the Catzilla brothers and the Grey Mouser always use the litter box.

(The Mouser being perfectly litter box trained was one of his endearing qualities. The boys miss the target some times, but that's different issue from not using it.)

For someone to ignore the box may be a stress level problem, and that could be really hard to fix.

Fast Forward

An update on The Gray Mouser

We still haven't put posters up around the neighborhood. That's bad.

I did put an ad on Google a couple of weeks ago, which taught some me some cool stuff about Ad Words (like location restricted ads!), but was probably two weeks too late.

Meanwhile, the Mouser is now free to roam in the house all day, given privacy only for meals.

His personal space has shrunk dramatically, which in practical terms means he's not constantly prepared to defend a bubble 5+ feet around him. He will sound off if a tiger strolls to almost within reach.

Yesterday evening he joined us downstairs to watch the Celtics win their 17th NBA championship, crashed for part of the game on top of the sofa where Katherine or I could pet him while the boys lounged in their usual spots (window and kitchen counter). A week ago, the Mouser was afraid to be downstairs for more than 60 seconds or one noise, which ever came first.

Last night he decided to sleep on Katherine's pillow, until he got booted by the owner. Then he slept between our pillows. The Catzilla brothers were no where to be found, which was odd for Billy but not a worry -- during the summer they aren't nearly (literally) the heat seekers that they are in the winter.

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Gray's Anatomy


Yesterday, I took The Gray Mouser (TGM) to the vet. All sorts of small questions are answered:
  1. He is a neutered male.
  2. He is about two years old
  3. He does have not a chip. :-(
  4. He has a clean bill of health.
  5. He is a very good patient.
No one at the veterinarian recognized him, either. Alas.

He's the most stoic cat I know, and I lived with Her Emilyness for two years. He didn't complain when he was put in the cat carrier, and he only gave one small meow in each direction in the car. At the same time, he wasn't frozen with fear when let out at each end either -- he hopped out, looked around, and didn't complain when I gently kept him on the exam table.

His shots are now updated, and he has been dewormed as a precaution. We're also going to keep him from away from the Catzilla brothers for a week in case he has any respiratory ailments he needs to get over without sharing. That's fine, as it allows him to settle into part of the house without the glare of the boys.

If we don't find his owner and he adjusts to both the boys and living indoors, he'll go back for booster shots and a chip in 3-4 weeks.

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

The Gray Mouser Goes House

Whitey is not sure what's behind the door. No wonder, because he's never experienced this before -- a new cat in the house.

Whitey-Looks-for-TGM.jpg

Behind the door is the lost cat we posted about. He has since acquired the title The Gray Mouser; he's clearly the former, and he's demonstrated the latter.

The Mouser was rescued out of the rain by Katherine at my request. We had already tried this once this morning and failed when he had a vet appointment.

We'll get another appointment for him ASAP. We need three pieces of information:
  1. Who is he? (Does he have a chip?)
  2. How healthy is he? (Can we let him near the boys?)
  3. What kind of cat is he? (Indoor, outdoor? He? She?)


Update: The Gray Mouser sees the vet at 11 am Wednesday (today)