vetrinary failure

[cellio]

My cats are too smart. (Well, two of them.) I always feed them when I get home from work, and they always come running. So the plan was to feed them and then close the basement door while they were eating. This would work most of the time. Near as I can tell, they could tell the difference between the carriers in their usual state (basement floor, doors closed) and tonight's state (doors open, ready to be loaded). So Embla and Erik bolted. Poor Baldur -- he spent about 45 minutes in his carrier, because I got him right away, while I unsuccessfully tried to capture the other two, who near as I can tell disappeared into the attic crawlspace.

So Baldur got his checkup, and we'll try again on the other two. (Not sure when. Maybe I can get an appointment next week.)

Comments

I'm sorry

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

But all I could think of, reading this, was "that illustrates "herding cats" pretty well, doesn't it?"

*giggle*

Sorry. :)

A.

Re: I'm sorry

[cellio]

Indeed it does!

You know, it might not be so bad if they didn't have the built-in anti-gravity devices...

cats

[ex-desertsta11.livejournal.com]

Isn't it absolutely amazing how clever cats can be??
I find them extraordinary--the way they strut around trying to act like they don't notice who is watching them.
Well I do hope you are either able to get the other two-- OR you are able to get a vet who will make housecalls.

Re: cats

[cellio]

Thanks. I'll get the others eventually. It's just embarrassing to be outsmarted by cats. :-)

Re: cats

[goljerp]

It's just embarrassing to be outsmarted by cats.

Yeah... I once volunteered to cat-sit for some friends while they were away... and then at the last minute two of their cats came down with an eye infection, so needed eye drops. One, Mittens, was the worst off and so he just sort of passively took the drops. He wasn't happy, but he didn't try to hide. The other, Cookie, is naturally shy. After a few days of the drops, he could tell when I was thinking of putting the drops in his eyes, and head for the hills. This was in a 1 bedroom apartment, so you'd think it would be simple to nab him... but he'd head under the king sized bed and hunker down.

Re: cats

[cellio]

Yeah, beds are rough. Too bad you couldn't beat the cat to the bedroom door.

When I came home from the vet the other night I found Embla between the radiator and the wall under a window seat. I don't know if that's where she really was when I thought she was in the attic crawl space, but there's no way I would have been able to get her out of there! (According to Dani, Erik emerged from the attic shortly after I left.)

Re: cats

[goljerp]

Well, that of course was the later solution: to close the door to the bedroom before even thinking about the eyedrops. Preferably while the kitties were being fed and were distracted...

Re: cats

[cellio]

Yeah, it always sounds like such a straightforward plan, eh? :-)

[gingicat]

My solution to getting multiple cats into carriers is to herd them into a room with very few hiding places (in our case, the kitchen, which has a door that shuts) and *then* put them into the carrier.

Gabbie's pretty good about getting in the carrier; Andromeda has to be dropped in butt-first and have the door slammed on her.

[cellio]

That's what I was trying to do. Last year I thought I'd trap them in hallways (closed doors to all the rooms), except the kitchen doesn't have a door and I ultimately had to fetch Embla from the top of the refrigerator. This year I thought I'd try the basement (can close off most of the challenges there), but I didn't get the basement door closed quickly enough. Which meant they had the run of the place...

(Last year they became suspicious when I started walking around closing doors, so I didn't close the others before luring them into the basement this year. I figured that would cause them not to come. Oops.)

[gingicat]

We've been discovering that a laser pointer works amazingly well as a distraction/herding device, and you can close doors as you go.

This also works for herding friendly cats away from allergic guests.

[cellio]

Ooh, good idea! I'll try that next time.