Cat spay the second.

Short version: In the last five days [back in July] that seemed like aeons... we hosted another mostly tame/semi-feral cat during her post-op recovery.


{ Written 21-July-2017 }

We got Sweetpea fixed this past Monday.

Hell, once inside carrier Monday morning, Sweetpea methodically shredded every piece of paper I'd put in there. Not the towel nor the shirt, though.

Friday night we loosed Sweetpea back out into her kingdom.  My grey cat of friendliness still loved us, and proved affectionate -- but her trust in her humans was decreasing.

=-=


Like Vee-cat, Sweetie proved exciting, but in completely different ways!  First and most importantly, she attempted [and succeeded] in removing her stitches. Yes, her internal sutures.

This freaked me out... A LOT.

I resorted to the cone of shame, which is even more fun with a part-tame cat. Granted, Sweetie didn't claw us ever, and she purred whenever we were near -- even only ate in our presence. But coning her wasn't fun for anyone.

We couldn't put her into the tiny half-bathroom coned, she would've hurt herself.

That meant supervising her -- making sure the few times Sweetie tried pawing off the cone, her claw was detached; it was always just one claw. So she didn't get stuck somewhere, or fall over and hurt herself. [She seemed to just go limp, and wasn't hurt, thankfully!] And she'd purr when you went to her.

I also attempted onesies, some I made from t-shirts, and one store-bought. Fastened on with laces. Sweetie took those off.

Fun fun. :b

=-=

All week, Sweetpea didn't want to eat.

The clinic had to give her liquids, and she wouldn't drink water, so I fed her wet food. She's probably still dehydrated... except that it's raining today, so Mother Nature is giving me a hand, bless her.

She stayed in our half-bath, which she clearly considered a larger carrier for her cat carrier/sleeping den. Only clawed the floor a few times for that matter.

Sweetpea HATES to be shut up.

With such an affectionate cat, you'd think she would like being inside, but she visits inside. It is where I am -- where the food lives before delivery to cats -- where Sweetie is dried off after bad snow or rain. Not her home.

Her Milekey transition was therefore one of resistance commingled with love. My poor baby.

When we brought her home, Sweetie was immediately mobile [unlike Vee]. I suspect Sweetpea went to sleep thinking "I must escape!" and never stopped thinking that way either.

It also didn't help that her son Smoky would come in to play and eat, and sometimes invade her bathroom. ["Why don't *I* have a room??? Mommy has a room!"] And he'd get to leave again.

=-=

But now -- now my girlcat is freed. 8) We'll see how this turns out.

Vee-cat kept coming back to the house, the day we released her. Checking to make sure it was still our house, I think, and that we'd still open the door to her, and feed her... but that was in June, and her travails were different than her sister's.

This is July, and today's raining, and we have sensor-lights outside now.  Sweetpea went outside into light that suddenly happened. Despite the darkness of night.

I hope she chooses to eat soon. Any good thoughts sent her way are much appreciated!

28-July-2017 ETA: It took a couple days, but then Sweetie was able to eat around the other cats. At first, she just wanted to be with one of us, to feel safe -- and eat without being hassled or overwhelmed. She is clearly getting better, getting more used to being outside... and she still visits the house, but doesn't want to go far inside. Being free makes her happy. 

Allen says Sweetpea is thinking what if she's trapped again? That was awful!