Rosie eats her breakfast ("I protest in the strongest terms at being caged")

Last night, Rosie was whining most pitifully in the cage. I was a little worried that she was holding her urination as the vet had said her bladder was full when we were there (which was at 7pm) and it was approaching midnight. Holding the urination for so long isn't good, I thought. There was no urine in the litter box (lined with newspapers) but Rosie had scratched at the newspapers and thrown them out and also messed up her box with the towel.

And she was looking at me and whining. I want out, I want out!

So I thought I'd put her on the harness and take her for a walk. I had always done that for Ginger during the times he had to be caged for treatment. My main reason was also to let her urinate. Maybe she's only used to urinating on the grass.

Harness on.

But she is so much smaller than Ginger so I had to adjust and tighten the harness A LOT.

It still wasn't as tight as I'd like it to be, but never mind, I thought.

I put her on the grass, and she didn't want to urinate. Instead, she went onto the tiles.

No pee.

Then she went near the car.

I wasn't quick enough. Rosie had probably felt that the harness wasn't tight enough and there was an opportunity for escape.

She had a plan...(and she was three steps ahead of  silly ol' me).

Suddenly, she went UNDER the car. Oh, oh, by now, I realised. I had lost. She's definitely going to wiggle out of the harness and escape. There was no way I could catch Rosie with my bare hands as she was facing me and she'd bite (and it would be bad). Weighing the odds, letting her escape was the lesser of the two evils as a cat-bite can be bad, especially when Rosie is free-roaming and is a hunter.

My husband was watching tv in the living room so I shouted for a towel.

Quick, quick, bring me a towel!

Husband came out with a towel and I told him to approach stealthily from the back and throw the towel over Rosie, then grab her.

At least that was my plan.

But by the time he was about to throw the towel over her from behind, Rosie did the wiggle and effortlessly slipped out of the harness.

She did not run, though, she just stayed underneath the car.

Husband asked if I still wanted to forcibly catch her and I said no.

I didn't want to create a whole lot of unnecessary stress for Rosie and frighten her so much until she runs away from home. The chances of catching her at this point in time were almost zero. Here's a big porch with the gate out there, two humans and one cat. I would be a total moron thinking that we can outsmart a cat in such a scenario.

So I made a judgment call and decided to leave Rosie be. I figured she had already eaten, which is always a good sign (for a sick cat). She's strong enough to have kept protesting all night. She seems well enough. Caging her was so stressful for her and this does not augur well for healing. It might even do more harm.

So we shall let Rosie be, at least for now. Let's see how things go for the rest of the night (but it was already midnight by then).

Rosie sat in her favourite place in the porch, beside the car.

Oh good, she is not running away (and not going hunting).

Ginger sat nearby.

Rosie started grooming herself.

Okay, the cage wasn't conducive enough for grooming, I get that.

At around 1.30am, I checked and Rosie was still in the porch.

I doubt she would go anywhere, which also means she's not that angry or turned off by whatever I had done (taking her on that stressful journey to that strange place called the vet's clinic, letting strangers poke her, caging her, etc.)

I know there is a chance I could catch her and cage her again, but I didn't think that was necessary. She'd just be whining all night and that would have been too stressful for her.

Before I went to bed, Rosie was still at the same place. That's good.

This morning, when I came downstairs, Rosie was with everyone at the patio. Phew...good, good. She's waiting for breakfast, which means she is probably hungry.

As I was preparing breakfast, Rosie and Daffodil outside the window.

Food is coming!

Now, I needed a plan. Should I let her eat in the cage or what?

Technically, I didn't need to feed her her Doxy until this evening, or I could change the timing to a morning dosage (it's only half tablet once a day).

I decided I'd take it slowly. So I put a tablespoon of Monge into a bowl, sprinkled Transfer Factor (which I thought most cats loved) onto it, squirted 0.5ml of Vetri DMG into it and mixed it well.

I went out armed with the bowl and everyone's big bowl of food. Rosie was there with everyone and very quickly, I scooped her up and before she could protest, I put her into the cage and put her bowl inside.

Rosie was caught unaware and looked at me, protesting.

Then she smelled the food and refused to eat. And she whined.

Oh oh....she has no appetite? Maybe she had eaten almost a whole can of Monge last night at 11.10pm, so she isn't hungry now?

Nope, I know she is hungry because she had come to the patio to wait for breakfast.

I am NOT eating inside a cage!!!

So I let her be for awhile while I fed the rest.

Rosie still refused to eat and looked at me, whining. She does this sort of whining whenever she wanted extra food. She would come into the house, walk towards the kitchen and let out this I-want-some-food whine.

In any case, I thought since I'd caught her, I might as well give her her Doxy plus Vetri DMG, so I wrapped the two tiny tablets in some wetfood and plop it down her throat. I even managed to forcefeed her some wetfood.

But she refused to eat from the bowl.

More whining and more looking at me with those eyes.

Okay, okay...I'm going to let you out now, Rosie. Judgment call again.

So I let her out and she scuttled hurriedly away from the patio, towards the bench. I did not follow her immediately (that would have been quite intimidating and she might run away).

So, after a minute or so, I walked out slowly and found her sitting under the bench. She looked at me.

You want some food, Rosie?

I quickly went to get a fresh bowl of food (not the one laced with Vetri and Transfer Factor). By then, I think either Heidi or Timmy had walloped that bowl. No harm eating Transfer Factor or Vetri.

I placed the fresh bowl of food in front of Rosie and waited.

She sniffed at the food. Not laced, right?  

Yes! She is eating!

I stood and just watched. No further action needed. Don't overdo things....

Soon, Daffodil came out followed by Vincent.

Rosie stopped eating when Vincent approached.

I had to intervene and chase Vincent off, but with the least possible movement so as not to create any stress.

So I had to keep humouring Vincent and let him bite my foot.

Oh my....the things we do for our cats!

Willy was not at his Canopy Cafe today.

Mr Zurik came that called for more intervention to keep the peace.

Each time Vincent looked in Rosie's direction, she stopped eating and hissed back at him.

Finally, Rosie left her bowl and went towards the porch. She had already eaten most of it, though she did not finish everything.

It was good enough.

At the patio, Timmy and Ginger were polishing up left-overs.

Rosie went back to her favourite spot in the porch and groomed herself.

Can you see all four of them?

From left: Ginger, Timmy, Rosie and Daffodil.

So it IS a colour-thing, isn't it? You don't find Vincent, Heidi and certainly not Mr Zurik here.

Timmy is an associate member, I suppose since he does have orange patches.

I suppose being here in the sun is far better than being caged up.

I know the sun is healing.

 

I don't see a need to cage Rosie since I am able to give her her medicine.

We'll play it by ear and see how it goes.

Meanwhile, Happy Mothers' Day, everyone!