Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Sundance and the vet tech

Although she had been uncooperative about taking her thyroid meds for a couple of days -- which meant I usually was able to get her to do it but it took three or more tries -- when we took Sundance to the vet yesterday, her thyroid levels were exactly where they wanted them to be. As usual she acted calm and collected at the vet's office. I suspect Steve, the vet tech, thinks we are imagining her shenanigans at home. At any rate, they had no suggestions beyond "wait and see what happens" with regard to other issues.

Based on his own experience as a member of a cat's staff, Lee made a good suggestion about the litter box problem and I will give it a shot. Hint: It involves a concrete mixing pan and it is NOT what you might think.

Sundance these days calls to mind the immortal words of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:
There was a little girl,
            Who had a little curl,
Right in the middle of her forehead.
            When she was good,
            She was very good indeed,
But when she was bad she was horrid.
Apparently when you are a famous poet, you can get away with anything.

On the other hand, now that Tom has taken to barricading Sundance in his room at night, I have been getting some sleep. She wakes him occasionally, but he is a sound sleeper and is not as easily disturbed as I am. And he falls asleep as soon as his head hits the pillow, which means when she does wake him, he falls right back into a deep slumber. There are days when he has to go back to bed for a couple of hours in the morning, though.

In Tom's room/suite, Sundance and Cassidy -- who also spends the night there -- have access to a litter box, to water and to food. And to someone to get up and serve them if they can rouse him. Why Sundance didn't pester him all along is a mystery to me. Perhaps it is because he does not reinforce her bad behavior by telling her how annoying she is.

As soon as he lets her out in the morning, she heads for my room and gets me up. Even if she has just been fed, she still thinks there is no excuse for me to be asleep when she is awake.

See what I mean? Horrid! 

Of course Sundance may subscribe to Mae West's variation on Longfellow's verse: 
When I'm good, I'm very, very good,
But when I'm bad,
I'm better.   

6 comments:

Bob said...

Cats.
There is neither rhyme nor reason.

Moving with Mitchell said...

My mother was forever reciting the Longfellow poem. I much prefer Mae West. I wish I could sleep like Tom!

Michael Dodd said...

I also wish I could sleep like Tom. Some sources say most people fall asleep in ten minutes or so. I imagine it takes me a minimum of half an hour, most times closer to an hour. So when Sundance was waking me every hour, I was getting virtually no sleep at all. Add to that the old man's need to visit the facilities in the night time ...

John Going Gently said...

What a sweetie......they make a house a home do they not?

Anonymous said...

Interesting... someone who is good at meditating and focusing their thoughts BUT not good at falling asleep. Seems paradoxical.
I'm pleased Sundance's health is undercontrol. If only she could understand that human's need their sleep.
Kato

Michael Dodd said...

Jeremy,
I am sure you hit the nail on the head with "primary feeder and care giver." For most of the time when we lived in the Dells, although I was the primary feeder and litter-cleaner, I was away at work most days and Tom was in the house. She followed him around when he went outside and spent more time with him. Since moving to the apartment, not only have I continued to be the caregiver, but Tom tends to stay in his room and I am the one who wanders from place to place. This gets her attention and she follows me.