Update on the Cats

It’s been almost a year now since my sweet boys began their war. And it still goes on! We’ve gotten into a routine where we leave the gate open between the bedrooms and the living room when we are out here but make sure it is closed when Jake is here alone. Simon continues to resent Jake and Jake in his fear of much larger Simon hisses and growls often enough to keep Simon on edge too. Some of the time, it appears that Simon would like to be friends–he rolls over in his submissive way, but looks much more serious when he tries to chase Jake. Once upon a time, I fantacized letting them work it out, but Simon cornered Jake under the rocking chair and it looked pretty scary with loose fur flying.

It is winter again–4 inches of snow and cold (warmer today at 20) and windy. At this rate, winter is a long time.

Enter the Gate

Just a brief update about the animals–still fighting, still hissing and growling. We bought a “Pet Gate” which is like a baby gate but taller and so far the aggressive cat (Simon) is too fat to jump it, so Jake is safe on the other side. But of course, we spend most of our time opening and closing Simon out of the room, while Jake appears to own the front part of the condo. We have cat boxes two different locations and at least four locations for food.

New Subject – The Clearing.

Only six weeks to go til The Clearing week. I sent my ms. off to Blei and sync’d my printer with my new computer. May doesn’t appear any warmer at its start than was April. Some sunshine but a cold wind. We’re lucky here in my area–no floods or tornados, so am grateful for south central Wisconsin.

I’m loving my Apple MacBook Air. I’ve had three instruction classes at The Apple Store and otherwise the transition is painless. I truly love it and take it with me everywhere. I keep my desktop stickies current with questions so I have things to ask and learn about when I go. A lot of it is common sense and just having the close and minimize buttons on the other side of the screen has become second nature, in fact, when I use the Dell, I find myself on the wrong side trying to close down the pages.

By the way–the above photo shows how much more I resemble my grandmother than my mother. Too bad, Mom was beautiful all the way to the end.

My Fall From Grace

My son and I share an apartment
he gets the master bedroom with its own bathroom,
I get the other bedroom and kitchen.

We have separated the living room into two sections
for our separate chairs and cabinets of stuff!
I believe my section is by far the neatest,
he tends to disagree, of course.

The other day I had to close the window (his side)
and gingerly stepped over three pair of shoes,
a week’s newspapers, a plastic bin
of more newspapers and magazines, and the final
obstacle, a stack of two cardboard boxes. Well,
you have the picture in your head already.

Just as my one foot was planted firmly between
the bin and the shoes, I raised my other leg
to circumvent the newspapers and straddle the box
when the foot on the newspapers slipped. With much
gesturing, swearing and trying to hold balance,
I skated less than gracefully forward while falling
backwards seat-first into the cardboard boxes.

Where I couldn’t get out.

Without calling for help from you-know-who.

Who was asleep in his master bedroom with its own bathroom.

I do admit it was almost worth it to see the sheepish look
on his face when he saw me ass-over-teakettle in his box
and I was damn hard to remove from the angle around his stuff.
It seems my fall worked a miracle, the area is much neater
and when the window needs closing, there is a cleared path
and the boxes are missing.

I guess there is some point to having a mother
ass-fall into your box of important stuff.

 

The Never-ending Story

It is the middle of the night in my house
Everyone is asleep but Simon cat and me.
Think the vitamins make me wakeful
when taken too close to bedtime.

The boys still rage at one another,
in spite of the Prozac, Jake ever watchful
Simon not knowing he brings on Jake’s wrath.

We’ve put a bell on Simon now
he clanks when he washes himself
or more importantly when he enters a room.
It sounds more like a bunch of keys rubbing together
not ringing his way around.

In fact, I picture him like the Canterbury ghost
wrapped in chains, walking the night away
in a dark castle.

Update on the Cats

As of today, the cats are on Prozac. The other medicine didn’t seem to help and we still have hissing and yowling going on whenever they meet. We’ve moved Jake’s catbox out into the mud room which is off the kitchen. This side of the house has become his territory–kitchen, living room and store room. Simon comes and goes to eat and check on Jake but it always brings about the posturing and hissing etc. This medicine is more difficult to give as it is a liquid that I must squirt into their mouths. The other was just a cream I put on the inside of their ears and they didn’t mind it a bit; this new stuff will be a challenge. Jake seems all right mentally and plays and socializes with us when Simon is asleep in the bedrooms. Neither one seems as frazzled as we are. I don’t know if this will work or not. Most of the literature says to separate them for at least a month and then reintroduce them to each other again. Eric absolutely refuses to consider sending Simon away and I’m not sure where we would do it anyway. Fred is a suggestion but not a very positive one. I guess we’ll try this for now.

Spring is Here; I’m Dreaming the Future

Small Gifts

The quilt covers the sheet with a whisper,
pillows soft and fragrant with sachet,
flowers sway in the breeze from the window
and ruffle the black fur of the cat laying there.

Outside the sun is pressing its golden arms
around the trees and green grass, birds peck
at seeds borne from afar and small chipmunks
race from crevice to earthen hole.

These small gifts are presented to me each day.

WHATTA NIGHT!

NOT!

Woke up at 4:30 a.m. with a cat fight on my lap. I’d been sleeping in the chair out in the living room with Jake on my lap. Apparently Simon decided to jump onto my lap and must have jumped onto Jake and all hell ensued. If you’ve ever had a cat fight on your lap in the dark, you know it’s like being awakened with ice water. They carried on for less than a minute but in the process I got two bites on my hand, one of which bled profusely. We’ve now got them separated again–Jake in Eric’s room, Simon free.

Things got worse yesterday between them; more than just hissing and growling, there was serious chasing, snarling and blood curdling cat calls. We cancelled plans for dinner out with Fred and watched over them. Jake does seem to feel safe (or did) on my lap and spends most of his time there or on the soffit in the kitchen. We’re trying to ride this out but it’s hard. The last thing we want is to give one of them away.

Taking the Cat to the Bathroom

This fight between the two brothers is getting old, believe me. Not only do we have to have a different food dish for the kitchen counter for Jake, but along with two differently located cat boxes, we now take turns carrying him to the cat box to do his business. Whenever he is on the floor, Simon tries to get friendly with him and the hissing and snarling begins from Jake, then Simon, rebuffed, picks it up and if Jake runs, Simon chases him and what screaming comes from that about flattens out our ears. So it’s just easier to carry him once in the morning and again at night, which seems to take care of his litter box needs.

I had been giving the medicine to both of them, but switched over to just Jake, who it was prescribed for by the vet. That has been the easiest part because of just rubbing it on his ear. Simon seems as laid back as usual, sleeping and acting like everything is fine unless Jake starts something. I don’t know how long this can go on–forever? At least they can be in the same room now which is some improvement.

 

The Fighting Cat

Well, things are some better although not perfect. Jake is spending more time out of the cupboard and on my lap but there is still some hissing and wailing when they get face to face. Yesterday on two occasions, they were both on my lap very visibly ignoring each other. Simon climbed up while Jake was asleep (or pretending to be) and lay next to him. I woke in the night to some hissing from the living room but no out and out fight like a few days ago. Wish I knew if this is for real or the medication. I’m still negative about drugging them with the antidepressant but they are calmer and both sleep a lot. We go on day by day watching–at least the medicine isn’t difficult to give, they don’t mind having their ears rubbed and apparently it doesn’t irritate them and they don’t seem to lick the residue from the fur.

Here is a photo from a couple of months ago where Jake was posturing and Simon was showing respect. This would be wonderful to see again–or even the other way around with Jake being submissive, but no deal. They are both aggressors and it doesn’t seem to be getting any better. We are giving Jake the anti-aggression medication, which is massaged into his ear flap (much better than a pill, believe me! Today, Jake came down from the soffit and he and Simon spent some time in the same room while the Cable Guy was here and they didn’t fight, but then back to the same hissing and snarling. Jake comes down to eat and I try to get him into Eric’s room so he can use the litter pan in Eric’s bathroom, but I worry he might not get there often enough. Most of the time Simon acts completely normal, playing, sleeping, getting pets etc., but they he spies Jake and he chases him back up on the soffit. I called into the Vet portion of the 5 o’clock news and he suggested progesterone–anyone hear of that? Or tried it? Well it’s one a.m. and quiet in the house, think I’ll try for a little sleep.