ALI...Sunny had to spend last night in the bathroom. She's still freaked out about Hobbes not smellin' like Hobbes. Cats are funny that way...she's got the confusion of her brother being away for a night (which has only happened twice before...when both of them got altered...Hobbes at four months, and Sunny at six months...so she doesn't remember, most likely), and this kitty coming back that LOOKS like Hobbes, ACTS a bit like him (still calming down from the experience of being in alert mode that whole night), but SMELLS like a thousand other animals AND people. So, she's probably of the mindset that we took her brother away and brought in an imposter of some form.
I tried to hold her (which she loves...I used to cart her around in the front pocket of my overalls as a TINY baby kitty) and bring her out here. She seemed to be okay...until I sat down on the couch and put her hind feet ON my lap (she's heavy...kinda hard to hold her for more than ten minutes). She had been sorta growling as I held her fully...but once I put her down, she started a bit of kitty screamyness, and hissing...
I looked at her, to hopefully calm her down, and she smacked me in the face (claws were out, until she realized she'd hit human skin...then retracted them RIGHT away...lucky I trim their claws, or I would have scratches across my forehead right now), and it shocked me so much, I put her back in the back room. Wow...it was a pretty intense situation...and I needed some time for my own adrenaline to calm down.
Bottom line: she's VERY VERY scared...this is horribly scary for her, and the way kitties respond to fear is to FIGHT whatever's around, tooth and nail. She's a very calm, lovey-dovey girl...but when scared, she turns into a chainsaw with fur like buns can! (You should hear her scream when I tried to syringe her those antibiotics after her spay surgery...OH MY!)
Anyway, it'll take time...and a THOROUGH cleaning of all the surfaces Hobbes touched when he first came home. I'm pretty sure he's almost completely bathed away the foreign smells...but she can still smell it in the carrier he came home in (I haven't had a spare amount of time to clean it...I've been watching Hobbes and caring for him), so it'll take some cleaning of the floor and that carrier...which will happen here shortly.
As far as Hobbes...he's doing fine...MUCH improved, though still cried in the litterbox earlier...so still some progress to be made (obviously). He has this NICE vanilla smell about him. I keep calling him my big ol' ice cream kitty.
(If you put a dab of natural vanilla extract on the back of the neck of a kitty, it helps to neutralize the smells they carried home from the vet's...I put a dab on each kitty...so they smell YUMMY!)
Bassetluv...the vet said it would take a few days...so we should know around Tuesday. But I venture to guess that he does indeed have an infection, as the antibiotics have helped TREMENDOUSLY already.
He's no longer licking his "ya knows" as frequently as he did before...he's no longer inappropriately peeing...that I've found...he's pretty sneaky, so ya never know, but it's not OBVIOUS. The day we took him in, he was peeing in places right near me, while looking at me...and he hasn't been doing that, so that's a good indicator. He does mew every now and then as he goes around the house, but I believe it's because he wants Sunny.
So, there ya go! Updates!
Thanks for asking, guys...it's nice to know we're thought of. This is taking a lot of my energy, as when one of my kids (or my husband) is sick, I give them every ounce of energy I've got. Danny took me out to eat last night, and we took Em to see Alvin and the Chipmunks (which made her squeal, hehe), and we had to put Sunny in the back of the house while gone...but it was nice to get out of the house and do something fun.
Hugs!
Rosie*
