This morning, we got to witness something rarely seen in domesticated animals. Usually, you only get to see it in Western films and on the Animal Planet And generally, you'll see this behavior only among prey animals--sheep, antelope and the like--as they scatter to avoid the predator (i.e. wolves or lions). In our case, it was our predatory cats trying to avoid...the dreaded cat carriers.
Cat carriers, in Buddies Lore, rarely mean anything good. Generally, there are one of two outcomes: a trip to the vet or a move to a new home. Neither prospect is a happy one. So when the carriers come out, the cats scatter.
We've gotten to be very sneaky about pulling the carriers out. Here's our usual MO: I will slowly start closing doors to the bedrooms, so nobody can slip under the bed. Eventually, I close the door to the basement so nobody can sneak down there to cower. After that, there are only a few places that they can hide, and we're able to get around almost all of them.
As soon as everyone realized the carriers were making their way upstairs from the basement, all ears were alert and all eyes were upon us. Mister even figured out it was happening before the carriers started moving. I think he can read my mind on these things, and he's very attuned to changes in routines. He noticed Sean was up and showered a few hours before he usually is, and that made him suspicious. He's clever, that Mister.
We knew where Reggie was, but needed to track down Elroy. We checked all the usual spots. Sometimes, another cat was there; Wanda found a wonderful hiding place under the love seat. Usually unflappable, her big eyes betrayed her concern. Otto stoically hung out in the middle of my library. While he hates car rides, he likes going to the vet because he gets lots of attention. At first, we couldn't find Elroy though. Finally, there was only one place left to re-look...Sean's office. At one point, we had three of the cats cornered in there, but we only needed two of them. Since Mister wasn't one of them, I let Mister leave, but he distrusted the gesture and hid under the vanity in the bathroom just the same. ("Is this a trick? Is she luring me into the bathroom just to catch me? She's done it before!" I'm sure that's what he was thinking, but what he was saying was "meow, meow, meow, meow, MEOW!")
Sean grabbed Elroy and I grabbed the carrier. We got him in the smallish hole of the largish carrier with surprisingly little fuss. Reggie was just as easy, though the difficulty with him usually comes later, when he releases fluids from both ends of his body in the same car trip. Reggie didn't disappoint: he vomited the moment he heard the ignition turn over. That's got to be a new record.
Thankfully, they were both mostly okay, save for a little bacterial infection that we can now treat with antibiotics for Reggie. Every trip to the vet has all the attendant anxiety of the possibility that this time, we're going to get news we don't like. But we managed to dodge that bullet again this time, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief for it. Especially Mister, Wanda and Otto, who got a welcome few hours of relief from the nuisance-y youngsters.
No comments:
Post a Comment