Bill and Juanita, owners of Allenspark Lodge B&B, are living their dream...

running a successful business and riding as often as possible.



Friday, April 20, 2012

Fear Comes in Many Forms

Whoever said "The problem with kittens is they turn into cats", never slept in the same room with a kitten.

I have always had cats at home.  It's been sort of a tolerate/hate relationship.  I find them a necessary evil for rodent control, rather like a barn cat, and they do require a lot less "face time" as compared to, say, a dog.

Last Valentine's day we lost our 18 year old cat.  That left us with only our eight year old female.

Having two cats is like having one cat, because they will play with, clean, sleep with and generally annoy each other and leave me the heck alone.  This is important, because here at the lodge, they are required to stay ONLY in our bedroom because so many people are allergic to cats.  Having only one cat means she needs input from people for socialization.   Since I am one of those people with cat allergies (or "contact sensitivity"), this is a bad thing.  Having one cat is like having ten cats.

Enter our oldest daughter.

"Hey, guys!  Since you lost Voodoo, and my cat just had a litter..."

Now we have an eight week old female kitten our daughter called Scout, because she was the first to do everything.  She is fearless.

Upon introduction to our dog, she marched up and touched the dog's nose.  Dog was puzzled, but she is a good dog, so she wandered off.

Upon introduction to the adult cat in our room, Kaboodle, the old cat, marched up to the kitten and HISSED and HISSED and HISSED within about 2 inches of the kitten's face.  The kitten stared at the older, MUCH larger cat in fascination.  Then the kitten looked over at me as if to say "She's crazy, isn't she.  I've heard about these..." and then calmly looked back at the older cat.

The older cat was completely unnerved. She said "Oh no!  She isn't afraid!  She must have some sort of super powers!"

And the MUCH bigger cat ran under the bed and hid there, growling, for two days.

At night, the kitten sleeps some of the time, but often wakes up and looks for something to play with.

"Ha! Fingers!"  Bite/bite/wrestle/bite/wrestle...

"Ha! Foot!"  Pounce/jump/pounce/bite...

At "Ha! Nose!" the kitten hit the floor.

"Ha! Dog!"

And in the dark, I heard the poor, old dog, jump up out of her bed and walk around the room, groaning as she was being pursued by 12 ounces of fearless play.

After a while, I took pity on the old dog, climbed out of bed and grabbed the kitten again, pinning it to the mattress until it fell asleep.

So now, with the allergies, my nose is running and my eyes are red and watering.  It looks like Old Yeller just died.

Benadryl works well for me, but it makes me sleepy, and that is already a problem.

Now there's a thought!

What do you suppose the dosage is for a 12 ounce cat?


Bill

Foot Note...  The cat is definitely a  fearless explorer, so she has been renamed "Pounce deLion".

I REALLY hope she does not stay forever young...

11 comments:

  1. Ha! Wonderful---though somehow I expected to see Juanita's name at the bottom of the post. Guess I don't know y'all very well, huh? D'ya know, I actually look forward to playing the word games associated with posting a comment here? They're the most entertaining ones I see. I know---sounds like I have WAY too much time on my hands, doesn't it?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm usually a little more succinct, but some blogs just write themselves.

      Bill

      Delete
  2. LOL Bill! We have the clear liquid Benadryl for our pets (traveling) prevents stains if you miss!

    Good luck with that!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Stain free is good, because I can imagine it wouldn't be easy to pour it down the gullet of a mad cat.

      Delete
    2. If you can deworm a mustang, you can benadryl a cat!

      And yeah, it didn't work all THAT well, but it was nice to get some revenge on those squalling hateful beasts.

      Delete
  3. Ha! Be careful with Benadryl. Some animals, just like humans react the opposite of the typical drowsiness and become super hyper.

    How do I know this?

    Imagine, if you will, a Mom (that would be me) on a plane with two 2 yr old twin boys, who she had medicated with Benadryl just before boarding, because someone said it would make her twin boys sleep the entire flight and the Mom would be able to enjoy a peaceful flight where she could read or just relax.

    Let me just say that there was absolutely no sleeping going on inside that plane....for anyone.

    To say that was the longest and most challenging two hours of my life is putting it mildly.


    ~Lisa

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Okay, that makes it definitely not worth the risk.

      Delete
  4. Bill, get some (generic) Zyrtec or Allegra. They work immediately, all day, with no side effects. I'm allergic to cats, dogs, hay, all pollen, and all mold. I take zyrtec or allegra every day for years now.

    ALSO
    When we moved out here, we benevolently allowed our cats to accompany us. They repaid us by meowing for the whole four days and nights we were on the road. In Kansas we snapped and stopped at a TSC for mini-syringes, and I dosed them with a crushed up Benadryl each. They slobbered like mini-Cujos and screamed even louder for a half an hour, then, FINALLY, they passed out. I laughed so hard about the slobber that I had to sit down in the parking lot. (Of course, I hadn't had a decent night's sleep for three days at that point...)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Sorry. I got nothing. Just laughing at the self-torture you guys put yourselves through :) Looking forward to meeting the newest member of your family!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Bill & Juanita! This is Nancy one of the three sisters that stayed at your Lodge over Easter weekend. We just introduced a 6 week old feral kitten to our 10 year old male cat. It was the same wild ride only our older cat tolerated her a little and eventually became the boss but the little one is a relentless bundle of energy and it is a hoot to watch them! Would be nice to find a way to calm the little down! Ha! My sister Jane & I are big cat fans...Jane has 4 cats. We would have loved to meet your cat. We had such a pleasant relaxing stay at your place that our sister Jonann really needed so thanks again! By the way I use generic Zyrtec (Cetirizine) the only allergy pill that works for me! Nancy Hull

    ReplyDelete

I had to turn verification back on. Ten "spams" an hour is making me crazy...