Progress continues... on the kitty and knitty fronts

This weekend was the weekend of the kitty. As you readers may remember, I started feeding a stray in our neighborhood a few weeks ago. I've been getting him warmed up to me... you know, food, love. Friday was the day to take him to the vet. Little thing hid from me of course.

Yep... every day for a week he shows up for breakfast, promptly. The day I have a vet appointment for him, no kitty. The vet's assistant says cats think in pictures and he knew what was coming. [Laugh]

He did show up for dinner Friday night and quickly got swept up into the kitty carrier and transported to the back room. Little black kitty has a pretty bad leg wound and I knew he'd probably need to stay inside for a bit after we had him tended to. I had prepared the space thursday in anticipation. So Friday night he had an overnight vacation and Saturday morning got to go see our friend the vet.

>^..^<

[I'd insert a cute little black kitty picture here but the blue cone of shame around his neck just doesn't flatter his skin tones. ]

The good news is they stitched the leg up and it's looking so much better. Other good news, kitty's been inside for about two days now and is doing pretty well. In fact, he probably didn't need any time at all to do OK. I could not believe how lovey he was with the techs and the vet Saturday. Just let them poke and prode and even purred a bit throughout. Now that he's inside he's been happy to crawl up into my lap to be petted and just eats everything you put in front of him.

We got some great little gadgets that I didn't know about before too. First off, have you ever tried to medicate a cat? I have -- I've popped a lot of pills down kitty throats. Not generally much fun for kittys or for me. Now, somebody out there (Greenies) finally did something smart and developed Feline Pill Pockets. Soft kitty treats with a hole for the pill to fit in! Let me tell you, little black kitty gobbles those things up good as gold. Check it out if you need to get your cat friend to swallow a pill.

The other thing we're trying ... cat pheromones. Litty black kitty is still all male and has been seen to spray all around the neighborhood. Now while he hasn't sprayed inside (crossing fingers and knocking on wood), the vet recommended Feliway, the aforementioned pheromone, to help reduce the spraying issue. Apparently it makes cats feel comfortable and reduces undesirable behaviors like scratching and spraying. (Do I sounds like a commercial yet?) We'll see how that works.

So for now we have a relaxing little kitty spa, complete with kitty pheromones and one loving little black kitty, in the house. The other cats and dog don't love being restricted from the kitchen and back room (the kitty spa) but don't seem bothered by the visitor in the house otherwise. In fact, the cats couldn't seem to care less. Sterling is a bit more out of sorts. I'm doing my best to share my time across the three so nobody has to feel jealous. =]

The bad news, kitty tested positive for FIV (kitty HIV). The vet says that the test does have a high false positive rate so we'll probably have him retested with a more reliable (probably more expensive) test, but in the meantime, the need to keep him separate from the other cats is even more important. We were hoping we could fix him up and continue to care for him as an outdoor cat. If he is FIV+ that won't be a good option (don't want to let him infect the rest of the neighborhood ... although since he's lived outside for three years already chances are good that everyone out there already has it). Hmm... we're taking it one day at a time. We might be looking for a home for him in the future though. Too bad... that little lap sitter has really been earning brownie points around here.

And on the knitting front... well the body of the cable luxe tunic is done!


I'm pretty pleased with the modifications to keep it from being too bell like. I think once the sleeves are knit, this will turn out pretty nicely. Next stop, sleeve island!