Going to the vet: June.

[ Written 9-June-22 ]

My SO is out of town; therefore I am currently Little Guy's main caretaker. 

I'm so used to him going and checking on LG that I keep forgetting, except that I do remember he'd need his boxes cleaned.  And my roomie has helped too -- apparently I strained my leg Tuesday morning. After twinges, my leg freaked out last night. So she kindly checked his box last night for me. 

LG has been very good, and barely hissed much at all. Heck, the last few times he did hiss were muted. Pretty much stating to us: "I am registering my dislike, but not horribly put out." 

I've been bribing LG with Churu twice a day. We have a little ritual; I take him half in the bowl, go away to let him eat, then I come back and squish the rest out so he can see it. When I return, voila! gone it is. :D 

He loves the cat pudding and we gave him meds in it previously. Sadly, that doesn't work with the new meds. They really don't consider cats you cannot just pour liquid into!  

Unfortunately, after Day One, Little Guy cottoned to what was going on. Not only did we give him all this bland food -- yuck! -- but horrors, there was medicine in it! He does NOT approve. 

=-=

Now we come to the mat problem. Before he left, my SO changed LG's litter mat. New mat is grey. His old mat was one we'd had a while. That mat got squished underneath his carrier. 

Yesterday morning, I found a weird greyish blob, and a wet spot, right where the mat ends. It looks like a hairball. The mat is grey; when he sheds, Little Guy's fur is always grey. I figure it's either caused by the mat fibers being spat up, or hairballs. This morning, more of the same. It had no scent. 

I enlisted my roomie's help. We moved LG [in his carrier] out of his bathroom, and I tidied things up, then switched the litter mats back. 

My hope is that tomorrow no grey blobs will appear -- or that they'll be smaller. I wonder if he'd let himself be brushed? I must mention it to my SO... who is the only one who gets to pet LG, when he takes LG down for field trips, aka visits to his basement office. 

Right after I opened his carrier and came back in with his bowls refilled, he was sitting in the smaller litter box. I asked how he was doing; he blinked slowly at me. So he wasn't mad, but he didn't wanna be picked up. I told him that was fine and quite understandable. 

=-=

You can tell that LG's been abused, yelled at, and probably struck. He cowers whenever he makes a mess. It's very clear that he expects and fears repercussions. 

The first time LG had dribbled a mess onto his mat, I told him he just needed to cover it up, just like in his box. I showed him too, to be sure he'd grok. LG took this to heart, and so he does indeed cover it up, whether it's a poop puddle, barf, or pee. We always tell him what a good boy he is -- and he is! 

I am very proud of him. LG is a smart cat, and he pays attention. Aside from the recent thunderstorm -- which he found very scary and understandably distressing! -- he has behaved well and also seemed in fairly good spirits.