DING DONG THE CAT IS GONE...........

Ok, I griped because my daughter's little angel, "Peaches", was staying with me and my lovely little angel, "Coatie".  But now that she is gone back home...........I miss her.  Let me explain.................

When Peaches first came to visit for a week and a half, I thought since she had lived with us once before, she would be fine, and so would my own kitty.  Um.........NO!  They fought constantly for the first two days, and my Coatie kept chasing Peaches into the dark dismal corners of every room.  I had to separate them completely, putting Peaches in her "closet" room, to feed them.  I had my daughter come over one day to help ease the tension, and to let Peaches know she wasn't being abandoned.  After my daughter left, Peaches changed drastically.  She would let me pick her up and love her without shredding me.  But she still wasn't getting along with Coatie. 

As the "vet" day got ever closer, Peaches started doing clever little things to endear me to her further.  She used to "bark" when I had her before, and she started doing that again.  She would meet me at the door when I would come home, and then bark at me.  She would rub against my legs, hiss at Coatie to let her know it was not her turn to love on me, and then run off to the room where her food dish was.  The clincher was just a few days before "vet" day.  I awoke in the middle of the night to find Peaches camped out next to my head on the bed.  It was the first time Peaches had even been on the bed, other than when fleeing Coatie.  I figured if Peaches was on the bed, Coatie had abdicated her throne at the foot of the bed on the heating pad (I know, she is spoiled).  But I looked, and nope, there she was, sound asleep, paw over face and curled up.

Peaches didn't stay long, but when I awoke again, she was back.  She took a place next to me, and went to sleep till the alarm went off.

The next night, I awoke to find Peaches on her usual human perch, my hip.  She loves to lay on the highest point of your body to sleep.  I guess she has a "Princess" or "Queen" thing going on in her head.

This procedure went on for the rest of her stay with us. 

I had purchased a laser pointer for my cat Coatie, but never knew how well that $1 would be spent.  Coatie loves laser pointers.  Even though she is a very large bellied cat, she is quite agile.  She chases the beam of light up the wall and everywhere else, sliding across the hardwood floor where the carpet ends.  Well........Peaches wasn't going to stand idly by.  She decided she wanted to play as well.  So she involved herself in this little game.  I have never seen a cat jump so high.  My house has the original rooms and it is 110 years old.  The ceilings are at least 12 feet up.  Peaches managed at least 8 of those 12 feet.  It was very entertaining.  Once I played a really mean trick on the two of them.................I made them run into each other in the den.........not actually physically run into each other, but close enough that they stopped dead in their tracks and began a hissing match, then retreated to safer territory.

Then, it was "vet" day eve.  Peaches couldn't have anything to eat or drink after 10 pm, so when I got home from work, I took up everyone's food.  Coatie looked at me like I was crazy.  Of course, every move I made was closely watched by four green/gold eyes.  Peaches even managed to shoot out the door when I opened it to go to the kitchen to get MY OWN supper.  Then both cats sat at equal distances on opposite sides of my chair, and STARED at me while I was eating.  I felt badly for both of them, but knew I couldn't let Peaches eat, and Coatie could live off her flab for one night.

We went to bed late, and Peaches settled down on my hip, and we three got about 2 hours sleep.  Then it was "vet" day.  I got up and dressed, and managed to get Peaches to come to me, and put her in my "ghetto" cat carrier...........an egg box, with holes at the bottom and handle grips on each side.  It works really well, as long as the cat inside doesn't um, let any body fluids loose.  So far, so good.

I arrived at the vet's 10 minutes early (7:50 am) and waited for them to open, realizing the sign said they don't open till 9 am.  My daughter had given me very harsh orders to be there by 8 am.  I saw an employee entering an employees' entrance and asked what should I do, and she said they would open in a few minutes.  While I waited, another vehicle drove up, a man got out with a cat carrier, and tried to poke the cat at the woman...........he was obviously on a mission to take the cat to the vet before he went to work..........that way he was the bad guy, and not the wife and kids, lol. 

They finally opened the doors and we went in.  Now, my daughter had gone in the day before and filled out all the paperwork and paid in full for everything that had to be done.  But the receptionist wasn't all that bright.  She kept asking me questions that I had no answers to.  I told her everything should be in the file.  She said nothing was marked as to what was to be done...............duh...............are these people for real??  Now I know why I don't use that vet.........the one I use costs a whole lot more, but they treat you like family.............they make the experience nicer for you and the pet.

After finally getting everything taken care of, I took my ghetto cat carrier back to the car, went home, and entered a quiet house.  Coatie looked at me, like she was wondering if she was next to go, or if just Peaches was exiting the building.  I cuddled Coatie and assured her she was fine and we both went back to bed.  I later went back by the vet's to see how Peaches did and they said "he" did fine (which makes me worry a little, since Peaches is female and went in for spaying.........I hope they removed the right stuff, lol).  But she did well and as far as I know, my daughter picked her up this morning sharply at 9 am.

It has been 36 hours now, and I hate to admit it, but I miss Miss Peaches.  Coatie does too, but not in the same way.  She misses having a target.  I miss the little bugger's barking and cute personality. 

As Greg pointed out, it is time for my daughter to take care of her own responsibilities.  I really shouldn't have taken Peaches and put myself through unnecessary aggravation.  But I must admit, after Peaches "normalized", she was rather enjoyable. 

Will I have  the intestinal fortitude to say NO next time???????????????  I hope so, lol.