Mweowdy All!
Well it’s been a little more than a week, and I’ve been keeping an eye on both Aphrodite and Ares. Ares has been growing bigger and stronger almost every day.
After ruling out CH on Aphrodite, well, she was still limping and falling over when she walked and strutted around. And I’ve been making sure Ares doesn’t do any leaps on her either. Anyway…
Sunday is their bath day. After letting them run around and tire themselves out a bit, as they were cuddled up next to me – I picked up Ares to check and clip her nails. She really has gotten accustomed to it, so I had no problems doing it as she lay still and comfortable in my lap.
Next one up was Aphrodite. She’s been through it before, and never had any problems in my checking and clipping her nails. However, this time, as I checked her paws, she really got fiesty and squirrely on me. So much so that she kept twisting and mewing to get away.
I don’t really know what happend next. Well, actuallly, I do. We really got into it. I straightened her legs out and held her so she couldn’t move. She kept mewing so loudly, I just carried her over to the litterbox and dropped her in.
She promptly let out a big crap, climbed out of the litterbox, and fell over. Over as in convulsions and spasms over!
I picked her up and she was limp!
Oh My God, I just killed Aphrodite!
I held her for a few minutes wondering what to do next.
Oh My God, I just killed Aphrodite!
Then like a flash, she wakes up, leaps out of my arms; and begins scooting down the hallway. She kept turning around and giving me the meanest most hateful eyes I ever saw on an animal.
As I sat down in the computer/bed room to watch her, she put a paw on my foot. Her signal for me to pick her up and put her on the bed. I did so.
However, she just lay there and looked at me with big dark eyes. If looks could kill, she had them at that moment!
Then Ares returned, jumped up and began licking her. She was also laying on her sister, so I had to stop that.
As Aphrodite fell off to sleep, several times I heard her wheezing. She was having difficulty breathing.
Oh My God, what have I done?!
I picked her up and gave her mouth to mouth.
Upon being revived, she kicked and wanted to lay down again. Okay, no problem; just don’t die on me!
As this went on for awhile, I thought if she is going to die, she’s going to die clean.
I bathed both Ares and Aphrodite. Sure, they both struggled a bit, but overall they each did quite well.
I kept my eye on both. Aphrodite would start wheezing again; and I’d give her mouth to mouth again.
Several hours – as well as calling myself a monster more times than I care to remember – went by.
Finally, Ares woke up. She was hungry so I carried her to the food center. Not even a few minutes had passed, and Aphrodite was off the bed and coming down the hallway to join her!
She looked up at me; but gone was the anger! Instead, she just scurried by me on the way to her plate.
Within a short time after this, Aphrodite was up and about like she was before. Meaning, she hardly limped and fell over. Meaning, she was actually playing with Ares as she did before. Not only as before, but also as if she was stronger and bigger than before!
Oh My God! What a fighter! What a survivor!
No wheezing; just purring. All is good! And I hope it stays that way for a long time too!
And me with them? Well, believe it or not, we certainly have a connection going on somewhere somehow.
Seeing them fight but not really hurting each other…Well, I don’t believe Ares will or would hurt her now — As who would she have to play with on her level?!
Anyway…
I watched that new program on Animal Planet called “My Cat From Hell!”
On it, the Cat Whisperer talks about how cats need to have space to explore and get higher up in their environment. He says there are land crawlers and tree dwellers. And from his many years’ experiences, the tree dwellers are happier cats.
So I created some steps and climbing access so they both can get up and see things differently around the house. I sat them up and gave them treats; and I thought they would start going higher.
Thing is, they more or less stay closer to the ground than I would like. And I’m hoping to find out how to get them off the ground and up on the higher settings.
Early on, both would crawl under the couch. Using whatever’s handy – shoes, boxes, blankets, etc. – I blocked off all access to that. However Aphrodite, being the smaller one, was still able to squeeze her way under using some of her secret passages.
Well, I’ve blocked them off now too. So she can’t get under the couch no matter what.
Which brings me to my questions. To wit:
Is it normal for kittens not to want to climb up on things and view the room from higher up?
Besides just giving them treats, which they promptly eat then jump off, how do I get the kittens to want to go higher up?!
Or is this just a wait and see? Meaning they will over time?!
Any help you can give me on this is greatly appreciated.
Thanks for reading!
Smiles!
Purrfully yours,
Drake