Friendly Fill-Ins

Hello and happy Friday! I don't know about you, but I'm ready to fill in some fill-ins. That's perfect, since today is the Friendly Fill-Ins challenge. In case you missed them yesterday, I'll share the fill-in statements again here. Ellen of 15andmeowing came up with the first two, and I came up with the second two.

1. When I can't _________, I get _________.

2. Bring back _________.

3. I'm embarrassed to say _________.

4. I feel like _________ gives my life meaning.


My are answers are in bold below.

1. When I can't be with my furbabies, I get anxious.
(This is one of the primary reasons I don't enjoy traveling or going on vacation. When I'm away from my kitties and pup, I miss them and worry about them. I do work full-time outside of my home, but if I'm being honest, I'm comforted by the fact that my mom lives just down the street and is home most days. I also go home for lunch and don't work the longest hours. I still don't like being away from home for a day trip or weekend, though, or even for an evening. I enjoy spending my free time with my furbabies.)

2. Bring back paté Alpo Chop House canned dog food.
(This was picky pup Astrid's favorite food, and it was discontinued a few months back. We've found some new canned food that she usually deems acceptable, but nothing that she eats as consistently as she ate her favorite Alpo canned food. Now that I think of it, Purina also just discontinued the picky kitties' favorite flavor of their food. You're killing me, pet food companies.)

3. I'm embarrassed to say that Eddy is overdue for her annual exam.
(While all the other furbabies in the house are up-to-date, Eddy is not. The basic reason for this is that Eddy goes a bit feral when asked to go in a carrier, and getting her to the vet results in crippling anxiety and stress for both her and myself. I can't allow myself to make excuses, though, and I am most certainly working on getting Eddy to the vet for her exam. If you'd like to know more about Eddy's anti-carrier and anti-vet stance, you'll find that in a long ramble below.) 

4. I feel like my furbabies give my life meaning.
(Essentially everything I do revolves around my furbabies, and I'm more than fine with that. Rescuing and caring for my kitties and pups feels like what I was meant to do in life.)

Now it's your turn!

To add your link to the Friendly Fill-Ins Linky list, just click HERE!

You can also click on the badge below to add your link.

You are also welcome to complete the fill-ins in the comments below,

or in the comments on Ellen's blog, 15andmeowing.



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Like I said in my fill-in #3 above, this girl is overdue for her annual exam. It makes me feel like such a bad cat mom to admit that. Eddy is young and in good health, but even when healthy, I always take my furbabies in for their annual exams. Eddy is the only of my furbabies who has strayed from her usual annual exam schedule, and that's primarily because she puts up a rather violent and frantic fight.

Eddy is my exceedingly skittish, fearful, high-strung little lady. She came to me semi-feral and with an extreme fear of carriers. In general, she's now a downright sweetheart and no longer acts even remotely feral when interacting with me. That is, until I try to put her in a carrier. As for that fear of carriers, that's gotten worse every time Eddy's been put in one. To be honest, I feel like her head tilt and facial nerve paralysis might have been caused by a mishap in the trap with which she was captured before I adopted her. That's the only way I can think to explain the intense fear of carriers she's had since kittenhood, in addition to the neurological symptoms she began displaying shortly after she was trapped.

I've tried different types of carriers for my Eddy, but she's deemed all of them some form of hell on earth. Keeping the carriers out and accessible in the house has also proven to be an unsuccessful tactic with Eddy, and she won't touch them with a ten foot pole, not even with treats and toys and other goodies placed inside them. I have yet to find a carrier or location for a carrier that will prompt her to enter it without literal brute force. Home vet visits are also not successful with this girl, because Eddy hides from and/or violently panics whenever anyone but myself is around her at home. The vet has also expressed concern that sedatives will not work for Eddy, because she panics so intensely that it's possible she would break right through the sedation. I don't totally disagree with that, because I've seen it happen. I might push for this option in the future, though, if that ends up the only uncharted waters.

Putting Eddy in a carrier has become a traumatic event that requires towels, scruffing, bloodshed (don't worry, the only blood that's ever been shed is mine), and lots of screaming and wailing (this is usually on Eddy's part, though the whole ordeal always makes me want to cry). Even with all of that, Eddy often still isn't in the carrier at the end of the battle. I've even tried carriers with huge openings, in hopes she'll slide right in. But, Eddy turns into Stretch Armstrong on steroids and can apparently fight her way out of any carrier of any size.

When I finally (after more attempts than I can even count) managed to get Eddy in a carrier for her last annual exam, even though I had used towels to wrap and dunk her, I arrived at the clinic with bandages and blood all over my arms. It was only my blood, thankfully. I used to work at a cat clinic where I put my fair share of fractious cats in carriers, but I have to admit that it's so much different when the cat is your baby, and when they're in the safety of their own home with their favorite human. It breaks my heart to fight my girl Eddy like that.

All of that rambling above being said, can you believe that once Eddy does actually get to the vet, she just freezes? She doesn't put up a fight there. At least, she hasn't yet. So far, the primary battle has always been figuring out how to get her in a carrier and to the vet without one or both of us losing our minds, or our supply of blood.

At this point, I'm shopping around for a carrier that doesn't look like any of the other carriers I've ever tried for her, in hopes I can convince Eddy it's instead some sort of toy or fun kitty cave. I think I have found something that might work. Maybe. Perhaps. Once it arrives, I even plan on slightly rearranging my bedroom in order to make the carrier meld into the part of the room where Eddy most enjoys both playing and napping. I hope to leave it there long enough for Eddy to not only get acquainted with it, but hopefully for her to even consider it one of her napping spots, play areas, or treat-eating locations.

I've been feeling very ashamed, embarrassed, and guilty about Eddy's overdue veterinary care. I take all of my furbabies to the vet at least annually. Astrid and Tonks have both gone in the past month, Thimble's going this upcoming week, and Evan isn't due for another couple of months. Eddy is the only one who's ever been overdue, but just that alone makes me feel like the worst cat mom ever. I also feel like the worst cat mom ever when I have to wrangle Eddy in a towel, scruff her, and try to shove her in a carrier, often unsuccessfully.

Wow. How long did I just ramble? I do that when I'm anxious. My apologies.

Thank you for letting me get that off my chest. I've been feeling like a terrible cat mom, even though I am trying to find a less traumatic way to get Eddy to the vet before she gets insanely overdue for an exam. I do feel slightly better, though, now that I've shared this all with fellow cat-loving friends. Wish me luck with the upcoming attempts I'll be trying with this girl!

Happy Friday to all!

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Doodle of the Day: Flashback Friday

Today's flashback doodle is from almost exactly a year ago. It seemed like an apt enough doodle to share today, even though it stars Eddy's archenemies, Tonks and Winky. This doodle was scribbled up for the kittens when they were preparing for their spays.

  

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Did you know?

Did you know you can get a free pet rescue window decal from the ASPCA? If you sign up to receive information and alerts from the ASPCA, they will send you a free pet rescue window decal, as well as a magnet with contact and other info on their poison control center. The pet rescue window decal can be filled out with the species and number of animals in your house and then placed on a glass door or window. This can help rescue personnel search for your furbabies should an emergency occur at your house, especially if you are not home to alert firemen or other workers of the furbabies in your house. If you're interested in signing up for ASPCA alerts and receiving a pet rescue window decal and poison control magnet, just click here.