w00t w00t booyah

IKEA is not always the best place to buy a comforter.

If frank discussion about cat barf annoys you, turn away now. This post is going to be full of it.

I have four cats.

One of them is puking hairballs on the bed during the day when both Jim and I are at work. Since when I leave, being the last one out, and I can find three out of four on the bed...and then find the fourth there some time later...the culprit is hard to nail.

That's right, it's a tale about stealth barf.

This gets rather expensive, frankly. That down comforter was not salvageable after the first round - and IKEA charged me $170 to replace it.

Following catsonmars and Mom to Marukai on Saturday night to check futon bedding for his New Place, Jim pointed out that the same comforter in our size was only $50 there. SOLD.

Got up on Sunday, took that bad boy back to IKEA, got a full refund and bought its cheaper cousin at the Asian market.

Dressed the bed, slept in happy comfort - and returned home last night to find that the cat had done it again.

Barfed, that is. On the bed. Again. Which one? No idea. Consistent guilty looks all around - except the youngest, who only wanted more to eat.

I was wise - I bought fiberfill this time around. And lo and behold, the cheaper version turned out to be entirely machine washable with no ill effects. Nice to know.

But it wasn't dry before sleeping last night. I didn't have the blankets - and as you might imagine, was more than a little cranky to be sleeping less than warmly. *sniff* Oh yeah, I'm still sick too. Wonder why I'm a little cranky....

I stripped the bed this morning. Considered pulling the doors closed, then vetoed that idea when I saw how much was hanging on the back of the door - I'd have to shift that before I could close the door securely.

Today was CSA box day, so I had to run that home at lunch time. No stealth barf. Well, why not - no comforter on the bed!

The cats are getting groomed Friday - if I can get them in. That much I can do to try to head off the hairball problems - that, and plenty of "hairball remedy" treats.

And I shop more of my purchases to the Asian markets before going to IKEA.

Because I hadn't mentioned it - but Mom came through the last procedure to remove the stent holding the ureter path to the stoma clear, in the office with no additional hospitalization needed. Now, they need to check that path to make sure it remains patent, but she might have an issue getting a referral to see the doctor within the window recommended.

And Sis isn't taking calls. WTF. Stay tuned, this is not a good sign on Sis' part. If she's tired of the follow-through that's required these days with insurance companies, doctor's office and just plain CYA all around - she needs to hand the job off. I've done it - and I can do it without complaining. Much.

Last night?

Kitten fucking meltdown. We came home to find both Ai-chan and Hiroshi with claw marks on their noses - looks like they both got bopped by either Rei or the Kid, and I need to check Rei completely to make sure she isn't hiding a claw mark or two of her own. What over?

Looks like the litterbox change to two rooms, two boxes in one, the large one in the other was not a good decision. Someone must have started guarding that box and the fun began.

Uh, there was also poo where poo does not belong, and I have a trip to make to IKEA this afternoon before I get home.

But it was the claw marks that got me - and to be honest, none of the cats had had claws clipped in too long for safety, so we rounded up the towel, the clipper...and Jim decided that small and cute was going to be a cinch.

Uh.

Small and cute EXPLODED when she discovered she was going to be wrapped in a towel and have her feet messed with.

Reader's Digest version? I had her wrapped in a towel howling while I screamed at Jim to put her mother in the bathroom behind a closed door. This is after she tagged me on the neck and alllll up and down my right arm, with some additional fun on the left. Little miss has no compunction about using all her claws, and her teeth - she has no hesitation to bite. The tag on the neck was of the most concern - she got stuck there and if I had allowed her to rip out of there, I would have been on my way to the ER with a torn jugular. TOO close - but I was able to hold her still long enough to get free, but it wasn't kind to little kitty.

"Let go" wasn't an option. Got the job done, but I've set the hand-shy issue back to square one. And I'm wearing a whole box of band-aids and neosporin today.

The other three? Piece of cake. Even Rei, who was easily convinced this was a Good Thing and nearly purred throughout, even after she began grooming the towel we'd had Kibo in. "Smells like scared baby," I told Jim.

Then we looked at the littler pans and decided that was at the bottom of the whole mess. They're going to get changed more than once a week from now on. "We forgot to do it Tuesday," he said. "We won't forget again now, will we?" I sniped back.

I'm not just clawed. I have bruises where I was punctured in some places. Scratches, sure. But I have grooves carved in some places.

Just before I'm to spend the weekend in the garden with my hands in the dirt. Lovely.

Got up at five this morning, after getting to bed at midnight (AGAIN) - to observe Rei calling Hiroshi out to play, and Hiroshi freaking out and running away. So she then did the same thing to Kibo, and the two of them wrassled around on the floor with great abandon. She wants to play.

Ai-chan? Hisses at everything. No surprise there.

And we moved the third box back into the same room with the other two.

I'm mortified. I was screaming at Jim nearly all the way through. And then made him change the boxes - all of them - while I was in the shower debugging myself with Dial soap, and then begged for help to get bandaged.

You can't get mad at a cat for being a cat - and I can't get mad at Jim for being completely unprepared. His experience with anything alive really does begin and end with people; he didn't have pets growing up and this is all new to him.

No, you can't soothe a mother cat down while the kitten is squalling across the room. You have to restrain her where she can't get to you while you deal with the squalling kitten. That's a small area with a door, with her behind it.

Poor little kitten, but I'm certain we had to do something about those claws - and will have to work harder with her on just about everything.

And the thought has crossed my mind, it has. Really, the load out there right now? I'd be kinder to put them both to sleep myself and save them the time in a shelter where the same thing would happen. Don't tell me to turn them loose, I won't. There are worse things than dying, and the life of a feral cat in Los Angeles? Please.

But I'm exhausted. And no end in sight.

Because I hadn't mentioned it - but Mom came through the last procedure to remove the stent holding the ureter path to the stoma clear, in the office with no additional hospitalization needed. Now, they need to check that path to make sure it remains patent, but she might have an issue getting a referral to see the doctor within the window recommended.

And Sis isn't taking calls. WTF. Stay tuned, this is not a good sign on Sis' part. If she's tired of the follow-through that's required these days with insurance companies, doctor's office and just plain CYA all around - she needs to hand the job off. I've done it - and I can do it without complaining. Much.

Last night?

Kitten fucking meltdown. We came home to find both Ai-chan and Hiroshi with claw marks on their noses - looks like they both got bopped by either Rei or the Kid, and I need to check Rei completely to make sure she isn't hiding a claw mark or two of her own. What over?

Looks like the litterbox change to two rooms, two boxes in one, the large one in the other was not a good decision. Someone must have started guarding that box and the fun began.

Uh, there was also poo where poo does not belong, and I have a trip to make to IKEA this afternoon before I get home.

But it was the claw marks that got me - and to be honest, none of the cats had had claws clipped in too long for safety, so we rounded up the towel, the clipper...and Jim decided that small and cute was going to be a cinch.

Uh.

Small and cute EXPLODED when she discovered she was going to be wrapped in a towel and have her feet messed with.

Reader's Digest version? I had her wrapped in a towel howling while I screamed at Jim to put her mother in the bathroom behind a closed door. This is after she tagged me on the neck and alllll up and down my right arm, with some additional fun on the left. Little miss has no compunction about using all her claws, and her teeth - she has no hesitation to bite. The tag on the neck was of the most concern - she got stuck there and if I had allowed her to rip out of there, I would have been on my way to the ER with a torn jugular. TOO close - but I was able to hold her still long enough to get free, but it wasn't kind to little kitty.

"Let go" wasn't an option. Got the job done, but I've set the hand-shy issue back to square one. And I'm wearing a whole box of band-aids and neosporin today.

The other three? Piece of cake. Even Rei, who was easily convinced this was a Good Thing and nearly purred throughout, even after she began grooming the towel we'd had Kibo in. "Smells like scared baby," I told Jim.

Then we looked at the littler pans and decided that was at the bottom of the whole mess. They're going to get changed more than once a week from now on. "We forgot to do it Tuesday," he said. "We won't forget again now, will we?" I sniped back.

I'm not just clawed. I have bruises where I was punctured in some places. Scratches, sure. But I have grooves carved in some places.

Just before I'm to spend the weekend in the garden with my hands in the dirt. Lovely.

Got up at five this morning, after getting to bed at midnight (AGAIN) - to observe Rei calling Hiroshi out to play, and Hiroshi freaking out and running away. So she then did the same thing to Kibo, and the two of them wrassled around on the floor with great abandon. She wants to play.

Ai-chan? Hisses at everything. No surprise there.

And we moved the third box back into the same room with the other two.

I'm mortified. I was screaming at Jim nearly all the way through. And then made him change the boxes - all of them - while I was in the shower debugging myself with Dial soap, and then begged for help to get bandaged.

You can't get mad at a cat for being a cat - and I can't get mad at Jim for being completely unprepared. His experience with anything alive really does begin and end with people; he didn't have pets growing up and this is all new to him.

No, you can't soothe a mother cat down while the kitten is squalling across the room. You have to restrain her where she can't get to you while you deal with the squalling kitten. That's a small area with a door, with her behind it.

Poor little kitten, but I'm certain we had to do something about those claws - and will have to work harder with her on just about everything.

And the thought has crossed my mind, it has. Really, the load out there right now? I'd be kinder to put them both to sleep myself and save them the time in a shelter where the same thing would happen. Don't tell me to turn them loose, I won't. There are worse things than dying, and the life of a feral cat in Los Angeles? Please.

But I'm exhausted. And no end in sight.

I'd like to win the lottery now, kthanx.

There are some really big problems I hear about just about daily - and some of them from phone calls in the evening, and it's very, very real - that would be solved with a quick application of ready cash. I mean it.

Don't need much. Shoot, $500 would be a life's fortune to a couple of people right now.

I haven't got it. Can't dig it up in the backyard, either.

I'm fine. Well, a bit tapped - but I know how that happened and can do something about it.

As long as I'm healthy, working and sentient, I'm good to go. That's not the case...in a lot of cases...and one lottery win would go a long, long way.

--

Another thing learned today? Rei and Kibo don't like strangers. They actually ran to the other two cats when the gas man came by at lunchtime to read the meter, and no hissing occurred. One of the reasons I've decided to keep the two of them is because I have doubts on whether they'd bond to anyone else as well - or would, ever again to anyone. And a cat without a human? Lives a very short, battered life, lemme tellya. At least in my neighborhood. The other two cats? Looked at them like "what, it's a people thing. What."

So now. We're cat people. With four in the house its size, how can we not be?

Okay, cuteness over. Move along.

Okay, cuteness over. Move along.