The Scary Cage of Doom

In the few days since the trauma of Test Drive One, the cage has resumed its location near a favorite kitten napping spot. My hope is (was) that they will become accustomed to its presence, and maybe even go back to thinking of it as a cozy fort. Clearly, I should have known better.

Earlier this evening, Tomo was having a moment of ridiculous cuteness, which I did not electronically document because he does that all the time and I did not sense the impending blog-worthy drama. The following photo should suffice as an accurate representation of cute factor. Just picture it minus the little stuffed mouse.

representation of ridiculous cuteness

For some reason, I decided at this moment that the cage had been sitting there locked long enough and that it was time to open the door. Because the cats will want to nap there. Obviously. Somehow completely discounting the possibility that recent events may have caused the cozy fort to morph into the Scary Cage of Doom.

It went about like this:

I reach for the cage, Tomo warily opens one eye.

The door makes a tiny rattling noise, Tomo is up! Eyes wide in panic. (cue ominous music)

safely in hiding

One more rattle as the lock clicks open, and he is gone like a little flash of furry, orange lightning... quickly nestled as far under the bed as he can fit.

He emerged briefly for dinner, which put him in terrifyingly close proximity to the Cage of Doom. Because of this, he ate far too quickly (between furtive glances back at the cage), and promptly vomited before fleeing back to his hiding spot under the bed.

*sigh*


In non-cat related news, a moving company representative stopped by yesterday to give an estimate for moving costs and time frame. We'll call this one Moving Company A. The representative was an unfortunately gruff and grumpy man. Who was late. And who quoted a 7-18 day delivery window after pickup, that could not be narrowed down until mere days before departure. He also wouldn't define what "narrowed down" actually meant.

Now, I am fully aware that I do not have all that much stuff, so my small apartment might not be the top priority in a world of moving houses and families. But that does not mean that I am willing to hang out in an empty apartment for 11 days waiting for my belongings to eventually arrive. There's something to be said about minimalism, but that just seems a bit extreme.

I allowed a brief moment of panic about the moving process before rationally firing up Google to research more moving companies. Companies B and C will be visiting later this week, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a more positive experience.

Happy Easter!

May your day be filled with chocolate and other sugary treats!

Test Drive One: Epic Fail

cute harness, grumpy Sophie

I should have known things wouldn't go well when Tomo started to fear his collar this morning. Or when Sophie wasn't too tolerant of her polka dot harness. However, in a rare fit of optimism, I decided to continue with the practice drive as scheduled.

The route for the day was, in theory, a short, easy loop through town. In reality, it was 10-15 minutes of panicked meowing and near hyperventilating from Tomo while Sophie quietly huddled in the back of the cage. Oh, and Tomo peed. Which was awesome. (For those of you not familiar with the ammonia-filled properties of cat pee, it is not a pleasant substance.) On the upside, the bottom half of the cage is solid plastic, so the car upholstery was unaffected by the incident.

Since both cats were in one cage, they were now both in immediate need of a bath. Double awesome. I should note that my cats do not like water. At all. Tomo is afraid of the bathtub even without the presence of water, or the sound of the faucet running. I really wish I could have taken pictures of the bathing debacle, but keeping the chaos in check took priority over photo documentation. Words cannot accurately capture the experience, but it involved lots of hissing, meowing, clawing, and general flailing escape attempts.

*Note to self: running shorts and a t-shirt is not the most protective outfit for climbing into a bathtub and trying to scrub an angry cat. I might need to invest in something neoprene and/or kevlar if this happens again.

They were both quite grumpy post-bath, and not very cooperative with any towel-drying attempts. Notice that Sophie has her claws securely fastened to my shoulder in the picture, so as to avoid any chance of returning to the tub.

I gave them canned food as a peace offering, which at least seemed to alleviate some of the hissing.

Both cats spent the rest of the afternoon in hiding, obsessively cleaning and drying off while I addressed the post-apocalyptic appearance of the bathroom. It looked like a tiny hurricane had passed through, depositing water and cat fur everywhere... because when cats are stressed, they shed. In mass quantity. Additionally, the bathtub drain was not meant to handle that volume of fur, but an entire bottle of professional grade drain cleaner seems to be helping.

The bathroom is now presentable, the fleece bed and puff toy were promptly disposed of, and the cage has been thoroughly cleaned. Sophie will be getting her own, smaller cage to avoid having to bathe both cats in the event of future accidents.

And the vet will be getting a call on Monday to discuss drugging options.

And it begins...

Less than four weeks 'til Operation Drive Westward commences. I found an apartment, have an appointment with the moving company on Monday, and am working on finalizing all the other details involved with moving across the country. Most important of these details is figuring out the logistics of getting Sophie (a small, slightly pudgy calico) and Tomo (a giant, orange, very nervous tabby) safely to our new home.

My original plan for getting them through the drive was pretty simple... drugs. Lots of drugs. Unfortunately, my vet does not agree with this plan and has suggested a strategic series of "practice drives" to acclimate the cats to being in the car.

I still like my idea better... seeing as the last time I moved (just down the street), Tomo had a massive panic attack that nearly resulted in a trip to the pet emergency room. However, because the vet went to school for a very long time to know things about feline health, I have decided to keep the kittens drug-free. For now.

So far this week has included a couple of steps to prepare for these drives.

Step One: Acclimate kittens to cage/carrier.

The fleece bed I placed in the cage has partially tricked Tomo into thinking it's a cozy napping area. Unless I try to shut the door. This results in meows of panic and several hours hiding under the bed. I've added a favorite puff toy to the mix, and hopefully cage comfort levels will improve over the next day or so.


Step Two: Collars

Today, I introduced the cats to collars. Kind of a baby step towards the harnesses I plan on making them wear for the drive west.

Overall, they seem to be tolerating the new development fairly well, so I'm calling it a tentative victory. Good thing Tomo can't tell that his collar has little orange daisies on it.



Next up is practice drive number one. Tomorrow. The plan is to start out with short trips around town and build up to some interstate driving in a couple of weeks. It's going to be interesting...