Loudmouth's Journey Inside

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

Both cats settled down eventually. I don't know if that's just their crepuscular behavior or if it's got something related to Baker getting sick. I hope they don't kick back in later on, because Mrs. Prof isn't going to be home until late.

[CritterKeeper 1,102]

21 hours ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

He was pretty pissed at her (hands /me the list).

 

21 hours ago, mlooney said:

/me makes a notation.

Who got the notation, Loudmouth or the Prof?

Quote

Both of "my" cats started out as rescues that my then wife did.  Vickie was some what less than thrilled about her doing all the work of bringing them inside and they decided that I was their human, not her.

Birds are notorious for doing that.  They're devoted to the person that raised them....until they reach the age they want to mate, and then suddenly they love the other person in the house and want nothing to do with their "parent" figure!

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

Mrs. Prof FINALLY managed to capture the elusive Dumbass B! He's in the process of being transported to the pet adoption center for tomorrow's TNR surgery sessions.

And so ends his baby making days.

[The Old Hack 2,448]

4 hours ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

Mrs. Prof FINALLY managed to capture the elusive Dumbass B! He's in the process of being transported to the pet adoption center for tomorrow's TNR surgery sessions.

And so ends his baby making days.

I still think it is a little unfair to call him Dumbass when he was so hard to capture.

[mlooney 3,417]

3 hours ago, The Old Hack said:

I still think it is a little unfair to call him Dumbass when he was so hard to capture.

Maybe it is short for "Makes me feel like a dumbass trying to capture him"

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

4 hours ago, The Old Hack said:

I still think it is a little unfair to call him Dumbass when he was so hard to capture.

I think she was going with the "too dumb to find the food in the trap" motif. When she captured him, there was other non-trap food all around the area. This time, he picked the one in the trap.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

We definitely got the Elavil pill down into Baker last night. I hope it makes a difference. At least Mrs. Prof will be working from home today to help separate the kids, if absolutely necessary. Baker's already up. We should be letting Loudmouth out of the cat room shortly, once Mrs. Prof is up.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

This morning, Mrs. Prof put Baker's food back where it had been before Loudmouth came in. We didn't see any real reason to keep it there, because feeding time had become so tense. Plus, it was dangerous, because we had to step over his tail when he was eating. That would freak him out further.

Now, Baker hasn't eaten. Loudmouth has, but Baker hasn't. He's played with his mouth, chased Loudmouth, done just about everything else, and is presently lounging across the hall from where his food had been. But he isn't eating his food.

I say give him the day to find it and eat it.

And NO TREATS.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

... aaaand Baker has found his food!

Of course, Loudmouth has been eating his own for some while now. Gravy first, then meat. Who thought of that idea for cat food? Where do cats get gravy in nature?

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

Why the hell does Baker charge down the hall, chasing Loudmouth? Is it dominance? Play? Wanting to do damage to another cat that has entered his domain? I don't get it.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

Well, whatever it was, I calmed Loudmouth down with a good ten-minute-long nuzzling session (him doing the nuzzling, not me). Mrs. Prof and I agree: Loudmouth's probably the equivalent of an old geezer—like me—and, like me, he can't stand this darned kid chasing him around on the lawn.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

I think Mrs. Prof is bringing Dumbass B home tonight. He'll probably bolt the second the trap is opened, so don't expect any photos.

She spent some time at a volunteer meeting last night trying to hone her camera skills. We've got an old Fujifilm FinePix S6000fd digital camera (looks like an old SLR) that she uses instead of her phone camera. Still works great, even though the instructions have "Designed for Microsoft Windows XP" on the front page. Normally, she lets the camera fly on autopilot for cat pictures through cages and behind the glass. She decided to start learning how to fly it on her own last night. Said the auto settings came out better than her manual ones. I assured her that it'll just take a lot of practice, which is a LOT less expensive now that film isn't an issue. (You should have seen some of my experiments with an old Pentax K1000.)

[CritterKeeper 1,102]

14 hours ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

... aaaand Baker has found his food!

Of course, Loudmouth has been eating his own for some while now. Gravy first, then meat. Who thought of that idea for cat food? Where do cats get gravy in nature?

Blood?  Squishy bits?

14 hours ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

Why the hell does Baker charge down the hall, chasing Loudmouth? Is it dominance? Play? Wanting to do damage to another cat that has entered his domain? I don't get it.

Could be any of the above, or a combination of all three, varying according to situation and mood.  The hope is that play becomes the dominant factor.  Also that grooming, companionship, and snuggling eventually take their place in the line-up, too.  If it seems like Baker has too much energy for Loudmouth, you can try wearing him out with laser pointer, Cat Dancer, fuzzy mice toys, and the like.  You might even get Loudmouth interested, albeit likely for shorter and less vigorous sessions than the younger Baker.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

1 hour ago, CritterKeeper said:

Could be any of the above, or a combination of all three, varying according to situation and mood.  The hope is that play becomes the dominant factor.  Also that grooming, companionship, and snuggling eventually take their place in the line-up, too.  If it seems like Baker has too much energy for Loudmouth, you can try wearing him out with laser pointer, Cat Dancer, fuzzy mice toys, and the like.

That's been the hard part. Since Loudmouth's arrived, Baker's lost all interest in toys and lasers. Indeed, he's focused like a laser on Loudmouth. Well, Mrs. Prof got the Elavil into Baker again tonight, so hopefully it'll have more effect tomorrow.

RE: bed pee, we haven't had any in two days. Mrs. Prof has put litter box attractant in the boxes both days. Lord, I hope we've found a secret weapon, because I HATE having to lock up Loudmouth in the cat room overnight. I truly think that once we've broken through the bed peeing problem, we'll have two cats 24/7 who can practice getting along with each other.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

9 hours ago, CritterKeeper said:

The hope is that play becomes the dominant factor.  Also that grooming, companionship, and snuggling eventually take their place in the line-up, too.  If it seems like Baker has too much energy for Loudmouth, you can try wearing him out with laser pointer, Cat Dancer, fuzzy mice toys, and the like.

Another problem that Mrs. Prof brought up was that she's the only one doing all of this. I'm just flat-out physically unable to contribute here beyond a petting session, and even those leave me in horrendous pain because I've got to stand up to do them. Sitting down with a laser pointer sounds like it's not much effort, but when the cat's not that interested and when it hurts to sit in the right position to get him interested, well ... there's not much else to be said.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

I tried getting Baker to play with the laser yesterday, to get him out of stalk mode. Didn't work. He just wasn't interested.

We were thinking about letting Loudmouth stay out of the cat room last night, since he'd gone a couple of nights with no bed pee and since his interaction later last night with Baker was improved (we caught them asleep on the same bed once!). Guess what? Bed pee in the cat room last night.

The only thing we haven't tried is using the Elavil on Loudmouth. We might start doing that, since it's supposed to be indicated for inappropriate peeing. It's probably going to require a re-appointment with the vet, since we diverted it to Baker to deal with his bullying first. Sigh. Medical difficulties abound in this household.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

Mrs. Prof caught a good shot of Baker and Loudmouth on a cat tree:

Baker is up in the tree, while Loudmouth is sitting on the carpet below. Loudmouth would be so mellow if Baker would just let him be ...

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

There are distant thunderstorms in the area again. Baker and Loudmouth have taken refuge in opposite corners of our master bedroom. Baker has the high ground, while Loudmouth prefers the softness of the folded comforter lower down.

I think I confused the hell out of Baker earlier. He was trying to get into stalk mode, but I kept giving him the laser in his field of vision. He didn't know whether to fish or cut bait.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

The storms have stopped, and Baker has decided he doesn't need to keep Loudmouth in his sights anymore today. He's moved to his window perch and is scanning the back yard for birds. Loudmouth is still in his comfy corner.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

Mrs. Prof caught Baker watching Loudmouth taking a poop. For what reason I have no idea.

She also managed to get Loudmouth playing pretty vigorously with a laser. He was enjoying the hell out of it, while Baker watched. No strife so far tonight.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

ATTENTION:

Loudmouth is sleeping outside of the cat room tonight.

That is all.

So far.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

As far as I can tell, there is no bed pee yet. I woke up several times overnight, and each time I saw that Loudmouth was sleeping next to Mrs. Prof while Baker was in his typical box next to the sofa with me (it's not a marital situation—she just keeps that room too damned cold and windy, and cats have fur). No bed pee elsewhere, but traces of use of a litter box. It seems as though the experiment was successful at first look. Mrs. Prof is still going to put the waterproof cover over the master bed before she leaves to take care of residual business from the feral cat roundup (24 cats this time!), just for safety's sake.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

Still no evidence of any trouble from last night! The cats have been moving from room to room, getting comfortable.I'm definitely having more fun with Loudmouth, since he'll cuddle no matter where. Baker's the prettier and softer cat, but he has jealousy problems out the wazoo. He's definitely the least mature of the two.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

We've decided to wean Baker from the Elavil, since we're not seeing aggression issues (just jealousy) after the night out. Things are going much better than we expected, so tonight, no 5mg dose of Elavil. Baker will get doses Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, if I can help on Saturday (the day after my procedure). After that, no more Elavil.

[CritterKeeper 1,102]

8 hours ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

We've decided to wean Baker from the Elavil, since we're not seeing aggression issues (just jealousy) after the night out. Things are going much better than we expected, so tonight, no 5mg dose of Elavil. Baker will get doses Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, if I can help on Saturday (the day after my procedure). After that, no more Elavil.

Again, I caution you guys not to be in too much of a hurry.  If it's been helping, but you're still seeing some problems, why not wait a bit longer and see if you can get the situation truly stable?

Quote

• For adjunctive treatment of behavior disorders amenable to tricyclics (extra-label): [doses removed]. Start at lower end of dosing range and gradually increase as tolerated....If discontinuing, gradually taper off dosage.

From Plumb's, the bible of pet drug dosing.  So yes, tapering instead of just stopping is important!  He hasn't really been on it very long, so a relatively short taper should be okay.  But usually we're talking about using these drugs for several months minimum.