Posted by bozeman on February 25, 2003, at 23:57:58
In reply to How's Zorro Doing Today? (nm) » bozeman, posted by IsoM on February 25, 2003, at 19:38:55
Galloping around here like a kitten. He and Wally were wrestling (their favorite game) and broke his incision open, but he doesn't seem to care. I'm pretty freaked out, but it's not bleeding or anything, just . . . flopping . . . funny, is I guess the best way to describe it??? He's obviously in no pain, and it's not bleeding or oozing, so I'm sure it can wait until morning, but I'll call the vet first thing and make sure.
Wally -- so named because he wallows all over you -- is affectionate like your Medusa. The snuggliest cat on the planet, I swear. He jumps up on my shoulder when I get home and just purrs the loudest, happiest song, like he hasn't seen me in a year. He loves it when you lean your head down so he can snuggle between your ear and your neck. The only thing in the world you can hear, is him purring. I wish the rest of the day could be like that, sometimes.
Anyway, Wally missed Zorro *so* much when Zorro was sleeping 23 hours a day and I kept him completely isolated. Wally was showing signs of anxiety and sadness, so I started letting them sleep together, on my bed, and Wally's been soooooo happy! But he gets carried away, sometimes, snuggling and grooming turns into wrestling, kicking, biting, etc, and I'm sure that's what happened to Zorro. I was in the kitchen and heard a muffled "meeooommpfff", and I know what that sound means. That's Wally with a mouthful of Zorro fur. So I went running into the bedroom, but not fast enough -- there were tufts of Zorro fur all over the bed and a very guilty-looking pair of kitties. (Mind you, this is normal behavior for them, any other time. I find clumps of fur all over the house from their wrestling matches.) So I scooped up Wally and rubbed his head affectionately while I scolded him for being too rough on Zorro while he was on medical leave, then put him out of the room so I could examine Zorro more closely. No evidence of harm, so I started to breathe easier, but when I checked his wound more closely I could see into it!!! After my heart started beating again (!) I gently pressed to one side of it and it opened up! Yikes! He just looked at me like, "Are you finished yet? Wally and I were busy." No wince, no pain, no flinch, just bored with my fussing over him. I put Zorro to bed, then, figured he'd had enough excitement for one day.
I guess it's a good thing I don't have children, or I'd be a complete wreck. :-)
Anyway, that was the most exciting thing this evening.
Humorous aside: Like your Tom . . . Zorro understands every word you say. He may not agree, may get mad, may pretend to not understand, but he gets exactly what you mean. He knows darn well what he can get away with and what he can't. Wrestling after lights-out is strictly forbidden, and Zorro knows it, as they get pretty loud, yowling as they pounce on each other, and when thirty pounds of cat-wrestling crashes into the wall, it makes quite a racket, wakes up the whole house, if not the neighborhood.
Imagine my surprise when, a few months ago, Zorro awoke in the middle of the night (he didn't know I was awake), came up to the head of the bed, looked at me to make sure I was asleep (I pretended, I was a kid, once, too), then quietly got down off the bed and padded away up the hall. Wally was asleep in a chair in the living room. I heard a soft "whack" of Zorro slapping him with one of his giant paws, to wake him up. Wally, being a very verbal cat, of course trilled in response "Whaaaat? I'm sleeeepin," and Zorro made some kind of cat noise that could only be interpreted as "SHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! You'll wake up Mom and we'll get in trouble!" Zorro then padded quietly back down the hall, stuck his head in the door of my room, and, very, very softly, called "Meow?" to see if Wally had awakened me. I, of course, laid still as a stone, because I wanted to see what they were up to. When I didn't respond, he trotted back up the hall, and darn if they didn't start wrestling! But you could tell they were making a point to be quiet about it, no wall-whacking, only the softest of tail-thumps on the floor, and very subdued verbal cues. Every time Wally (the high-strung one) would start to get wound up and loud, Zorro would quiet him down again, because he know as soon as Mom woke up, the game would be off, and they'd be in trouble for breaking the rules.I had my hand clamped over my mouth to keep from laughing out loud, because as soon as I did, all bets would be off, they'd know I was awake, and would stop being quiet, and everyone would have been up for the rest of the night. Have you ever belly-laughed with your hand over your mouth? The harder I tried not to laugh, the harder I laughed, the more I tried to be quiet, the less air I got, so I nearly passed out. Fortunately, Wally started getting too wound up to be able to stay quiet, so Zorro ended the game and came back to bed, curled up to go back to sleep like nothing had happened. Fortunately, he's used to me petting him in his sleep. He was an abandoned and abused kitten, did not know what physical affection was, and the only time I could touch him was when he was eating or sleeping. So I petted him when he was captive, doing both, so he'd get used to me. Anyone with insomnia could relate, I suppose -- every time you wake up, pet the kitty, then it's easier to go back to sleep. So he curled up on the bed to go back to sleep, I rolled over, petted him, he stretched a big kitty stretch like "Hmmm? Lemme sleep, " and we both went back to sleep.
I just laugh when people try to tell me cats are selfish and don't care what you want, they do what they want. To an extent, that may be true. But what they *don't* want is me in a cranky mood. So they very carefully avoid anything and everything that makes me cranky. Smarter than most people I know, a lot of days. :-)
poster:bozeman
thread:201723
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20030223/msgs/203876.html