Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Oh, dear...oh, dear

Carl and I left on vacation on 31 August.  Tiffany came in once a day to clean boxes, feed the cats, and make sure Sadie had her meds.  We kept in touch by e-mail and there were no problems, no aggression, no accidents.  We had closed off the basement, spare bedroom, upstairs bathroom and, of course, our bedroom before we left.  We got home on 7 September and all was well.  Both cats seemed happy to see us, Sadie was a touch more loving than usual and while the cats weren't besties, they weren't fighting either.  We opened all the doors except our bedroom and the cats seemed fine.

Sunday afternoon they had a bit of a tiff.  Sassy was sitting in front of Carl's chair when Sadie stopped at the edge of the coffee table, bunched up her muscles, launched herself at Sassy all the time hissing and slapping.  It was over before I could stop it, but Sadie was clearly the aggressor that time.

Jump to this morning after Carl fed them.  Sadie ran into the spare bedroom, a few minutes later Sassy followed.  Carl said about five minutes after that Sassy ran out of the spare bedroom, across the family room and around my footstool with Sadie close behind.  No noise, just running.  Carl checked the spare bedroom and (we think Sassy) one cat pooped on the spare bed again.  It's completely covered, no damage, but disheartening.  Small poop and pee, Sassy - large poop and pee, Sadie.  This was small.

Sassy coughed up the biggest hairball I've ever seen yesterday morning.  A huge tight wad of hair.  It doesn't surprise me as much as she grooms but she doesn't have many of them.  I brush her at least once a day, sometimes twice if I can catch her.  She won't volunteer but she does love it, she just purrs and purrs unless I hit a knot and then she's uncomfortable.  I get brushes full of hair each time and there's so much cat hair on the carpet.  I've tried the hairball medicine - in the tube, as a treat, but she won't eat it.  If I put it on her fur she rubs it on something to get it off, or just ignores it.  We do give her Hairball Control food and she eats that well enough.

A few minutes ago Sadie came into the craft room and I left for a minute to get my clothes out of the closet in preparation for a shower.  Sadie was outside the screen door when I tried to get out of the bedroom and the little stinker forced her way in - under the bed.  I went to get the squirt bottle which is how I get her out from under the bed, when I went back in she was on the bed so I just picked her up while she screeched and wiggled but didn't bite me.  I set her down outside the door just as Sassy came up the stairs and Sadie went after Sassy with claws and fangs snapping, chased Sassy into the kitchen while both of them were screeching so I got the squirt bottle and squirted Sadie - clearly, again, the aggressor.  Sadie is taking her meds every day and they do seem to be making a bit of a difference - we can pet her now and she seeks affection, but I don't see the cats making nice much.  I don't know if an increase in dosage would work or if time will work.  It's been four and a half months since Sadie came to live with us and we're still looking for answers.

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