A Roly Poly Morning

Tucker spent what I have to assume to be a restful night, following his dental ordeal. He was not on the bed at any time during the dark hours, which is unusual, but he was at the bedroom window when I woke, taking an interest in the outside, and then leaped from the cat-tree to the bed when he saw that I was awake. He had a dose of Metacam for pain, medicine that he will receive tomorrow and the next day, and ate a good soft-food breakfast.

When he came home yesterday, he seemed relieved and happy more than anything else. He purred constantly, flexed his paws repeatedly and rubbed against everything. He felt some discomfort at the stitches, I believe, as he was rubbing with his foreleg the side of his face from which two teeth had been taken. I called the hospital, and they assured me that he could do no damage with the action. After a few hours, he had ceased to do it.

The roly poly one was hungry after his long fast and, though I offered him several flavours and brands of cat-food, he merely licked at them and clearly wanted something else. I chopped up some of the roast chicken I was having for my dinner, and gave him that, pushing into a portion of Fancy Feast. After a couple of small helpings of this dish, he was satisfied with cat-food once more, and ate several small meals through the evening.

Ironically, I’m more worried about the other cats’ diet over the next couple of days, until Tucker is able to have hard-food again. The hard-food bowl is usually available throughout the day. Though Josie and Cammie enjoy their soft-food, only my Chubs eats enough of it to keep her going. Cammie will survive on what soft-food she will eat during the rest of the week, and will increase her consumption of it somewhat, to account for less hard-food. Renn, however, is the fussiest of the fussy, and will eat soft-food only intermittently. He may be served what he has previously loved, but will decide that today, he detests it. He always eats the hard-food, though. That’s what keeps him going. I will of course make the hard-food available when I am present, but only Josie eats from it under that circumstance. The others will eat when they will, not when I will it.

Fortunately, the new apartment is just six minutes away from my work-place, rather than the former 25-minute house, so I will ride home during my lunch-breaks over the next three days and feed the beasts what they will accept. Friday evening, when the hard-food becomes generally available again, cannot come soon enough for me - and Tucker.

And back to Tucker’s veterinary visit: he returned with a colourful bandana around his neck. I don’t know why; I suspect one of the animal health technicians liked him. He was also accompanied by a report, printed out with information, charts and photographs of the day’s events. This is a new policy of the veterinary hospital, and I like it.

So far, Tucker’s recovery is proceeding satisfactorily. If I and the other cats fare as well over the next couple of days, the weekend will be most enjoyable.