lornagrl

Update on the cats..

Right now Zelda is playing with the whirly toy.. she is a bundle of energy when she plays but is otherwise a very calm kitten.  She doesn't seem to be too interested in me, but would like nothing more than to snuggle up and play with Ophelia.  But Ophelia is having none of it. 

Ophelia will watch Zelda play with fascination, will stay in the same room with her, will even sleep on the same bed/couch as her but as soon as Zelda tries to engage her..the hissing starts. 

I have seen Ophelia initiate some games though.  She was swatting at Zelda's tail a few days ago.  Once when I picked Zelda up to give her some medicine, and Zelda hissed and cried..Ophelia came running up to check to see if she was allright.  I brought Zelda up to her nose to show her that everything was fine.  Ophelia took a little sniff...and ran off. 

Back in Kensington

To the one in Flushing who visits via a google search of lornagrl... you with the mindspring account..who are you?  And haven't you heard of bookmarking? 

So it's been awhile.  Getting settled in my new apartment and trying to integrate my new kitten with Ophelia.  The irony is, I got the new kitten for Ophelia.  I went back and forth for a long time about getting a second cat but I was starting to get concerned about Ophelia being on her own throughout most of the day.  Now she's very angry.  They are able to stay in the same room together and in fact, bother are in the bedroom with me while I sleep.  Once in a while, Zelda will trot over to Ophelia wanting to play and even at one point, exposed her little belly.  Ophelia was having none of it. 

Here is a video clip of Zelda playing with one of Ophelia's toys.  This kind of shows how big my apartment is.  This is the empty half of my bedroom and for now, it's Zelda's area. I didn't want to get too close to her because she still runs away from me.  She hisses when I come into the room but when I pick her up..she melts and purrs. 

Enough about the cats..

So I'm back in the old hood and I must say that I can't believe I lived so far out of Brooklyn for three years.  And walking around the area..it's like I never left.  There are a lot more restaurants on Cortelyou.  VOX POP is a lot more crowded than I remember.  The 773 has new owners, Church Avenue has more restaurants too. I walked into the dreaded FoodTown that I hated with a passion when I lived around the corner from it has been refurbished...didn't buy anything though. 

It's good to back. 

Zelda

I have been wanting to do this all along.  I work; sometimes ten, twelve hours a day plus a commute.  Ophelia is all by herself for many hours.  But the apartment was too small.  So now that I live in a bigger apartment - I decided to take the plunge. 

Zelda is a tiny calico kitten who is just getting adjusted to her new surroundings.  (Which is why I haven't taken a photo).  She is in the bathroom now, she has used the litter box, and is eating.  Ophelia on the other hand is sitting with rabid fascination.  She is very interested.  She is very angry. 

I am off today and tomorrow.  Back to work on Tuesday.  I hope this will settle a bit before then. 

Wish me luck.

NUTRO pet food recall.. is any cat food safe?

A few years back, when Ophelia was still a kitten, there had been a  pet food scandal . Both cat and dog food had been contaminated with a toxic chemical that caused kidney failure and death to many pets.  The contamination was primarily in wet food so I was quite relieved that I had recently stopped feeding her wet food.  She didn't seem to care for it anymore. She preferred the dry food instead. 

I always fed Ophelia Nutro cat food.  She seemed to like it and this company was on the "safe" list during the pet food scandal.  Now I have just learned that Nutro has instituted a voluntary recall of their cat food products.  According to the press release, some products contain high levels of zinc and not enough potassium.

Thankfully, I switched brands just a few months ago because she seemed to be getting bored with the Nutro flavors. I've started feeding her B.G. Grain which she seemd to love but I wonder when that is going to get recalled??
 

LAUNDRY!!!

Brighton Beach woefully needs more laundromats. There are only two on Brighton Beach avenue, each about the size of a walk-in closet and always crowded because, well, THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH LAUNDROMATS!. 

This is a big problem for me.  I'm really picky about how my laundry is done, and while I hate to do it I prefer to wash my own clothes.  It's the only way I can be sure that the right temperature is going to be used, etc.  The last building I lived in had laundry in the basement, but there are no washing machines in this 100 year old building.  When I first moved here I made the grand mistake of trying to do my laundry myself in one of the laundromats on Brighton Beach avenue.  But it was hot, crowded, and there was nowhere to sit down.  Kind of like the subway with fabric-softener.  I swore I would never do it again.

It was such a miserable experience  I  decided to try dropping off my laundry.  But when I brought my laundry home, I was pretty certain that they hadn't used detergent, and they definitely hadn't used fabric softener.  So I went on the lookout for other laundromats.  

I found one on Neptune Avenue, and one Jewish holiday I thought I'd give it a try.  (This was back when I worked for a Jewish non-profit and would get Jewish holidays off.) Unfortunately this was on a Monday and what I didn't know (has anyone heard of this?)  Monday is WASH day and is apparently the worst day of the week to do laundry.  The place was absolutely packed  with husbands, wives and screaming children.  I had to spend an entire two hours standing in front of the washing machine, and fight tooth and nail for an available dryer.

Then I found a place that was actually in Sheepshead Bay that was nice, clean, not too crowded and open 24 hours.  I actually used that place for awhile, but it was too far to go and one time I nearly got caught in the rain and had to duck into a funeral home to keep my clothes dry. 

It got so frustrating that I actually considered buying a car. But it seemed rather silly to take on such a huge expense for something as mundane as laundry. 

Finally, I gave the drop-off place another whirl.  I found out that they will use Tide and Downy, but you have to tell them, and you must pay $1 extra for it...

So I caved. I've been using them ever since and have been pretty happy so far.

No leash for Ophelia....

I tried a little experiment this weekend. 

Some developers built a condo in the back of my apartment building. I used to have a view of an elevated Q train running to Stillwell Avenue but since they put the condo up, this view is now obstructed. Pretty soon some idiot is going to pay $500,000 for a condo that will be even closer to the Q train than my $884 rent stabilized studio apartment.  While this is a good thing there is a trade off.  I have almost no light. This apartment is dark most of the time.

This would be a drag if I had to spend all my time here but I’m usually only home at night so it doesn’t matter. But Ophelia is here all the time.  She doesn’t get any light at all.  When I come home from work and turn on the light she blinks her eyes because she’s been in darkness all day long.

I figured being in darkness most of the time cannot be very healthy. So I thought I would try taking her outside once in a while.  Now I know that sounds crazy but lot’s of people do take their cats out on a leash.  I see them on the boardwalk all the time and in fact, I bought Ophelia a leash when she was a kitten and even took her out once or twice.  But I had cancer this summer and wasn’t really focused on leash training my cat.  I’m better now so this weekend I thought that I would give the leash another whirl.

Getting the leash on her was no problem, however when I carried her into the hallway she started to tremble much like she did as a four week old kitten, when she realized I was taking her away from her litter mates.  I thought about turning back but I didn’t want to give up too quickly.  I thought if I could just get across the street to the park and sit on a bench, she would calm down a bit but she wouldn’t stop trembling.  I set her down on the grass but she immediately tried to climb back up my leg.  She was having none of this outdoor crap.   

I figured the lack of light cannot be worse than the possible heart attack she may get if I take her outside.  So much for leash training.

Cats are nocturnal anyway.

 

Litter training...

So Ophelia has been acting up lately and I'm at a bit of a loss...

She did not come litter trained because her mother was feral so she was not exposed to a littler box until I brought her home.  Nevertheless she is a smart kitty and picked up on it right away.

Warning: If you are squeamish about cat poop you may not want to read any further..

Recently she has been defiant about using the litter box.  I can always tell when she is about to go because she cries a little bit and then right in front of me squats to either pee or poop.  Sometimes I will yell "litter box!!" and I swear, she knows what this word means because she will often run to the box to finish her business. 

Lately this has stopped working.  I asked the vet about it and he seemed to think that she may be reacting to my chemo treatments, that it was possible she could smell the chemicals, and come to think of it, she does tend to act up on the weeks that I have treatment.

Last night I was watching television when she started to show signs.  She started meowing, ran around the apartment and then, (sneaky little devil) right in front of me started to squat.  I jumped and scooped her up just in time and carried her into the bathroom and put her in the litter box.  She jumped out and I had to chase her around the apartment before I could catch her again.  When I finally did, I took her back in the bathroom and shut the door and waited. .... and waited and waited but she wouldn't go.  I would gently put her in the box and she would jump out and sit on the floor. I wasn't going to let her out and she did her business.  After about fifteen minutes I got up and left her in the bathroom by herself.  I went online and read about retraining cats.  It involves keeping them confined to one room until they learn how to behave. 

After almost an hour I had to use the bathroom myself so I went in.  Ophelia desperately wanted out but I didn't let her.  I sat on the commode and watched her.  She took one look at me and then jumped in her litter box and ...

well you know.

So I'm not sure what the problem is.  I keep the box immaculately clean, scooping it at least once a day.  I changed the size of the littler box, removed the lid, and the litter I use is the softest on the market.

What could it be? 

What ever the cause, it can't continue because I shouldn't be handling the litter box with my compromised immune system.  Also I'm having surgery in a few weeks and will need someone to watch her.  I can't very well leave her at a friends house if I know she is going to soil the place. 

Declawed

So I brought Ophelia to the vet on Friday because (gross out warning) I noticed that she had worms.  This can be dangerous with my compromised immune system.  I took her to the vet on Saturday just one day after my chemo treatment.  I wanted to get it over with before I get too ill and I tend to get sick about forty-eight hours after treatment. 

When I brought her into the office she started to growl the moment I put her on the scale.  She was having none of it.  She spit, shrieked and growled.  Three technicians were trying to hold her down when the vet came in and asked "why is a cat behaving this way?" 

I was backed into the corner.  This was the reason I was putting this off.   A few weeks ago she scratched me just one week after treatment, which is the time when my white blood cell count is the lowest.  I told the oncologist nurse about this and she had a look of horror on her face. "It's extremely dangerous if she scratches you and you get an infection." 

Apparently it doesn't end after chemotherapy either.  I am having lymph nodes removed which puts me at a risk for lymphedema.  So the dr. highly suggested that I have her declawed.

I really didn't want to do it and was putting it off coming up with excuses.  I was too tired from chemo, too  busy at work etc...  But when I had to bring her in for the worms I reluctantly left her for the surgery.

I picked her up this afternoon and right now she is curled up next to me purring up a storm and glad to be home.  She seems a little sore but the vet told me that will pass in a few days.

She doesn't seem to be too angry at me.

Cat Bite...

I have a little issue with my cat.  She has a tendency to bite.  Usually the bites are in play but once in a while for no explicable reason she will attack. 

I slept late this morning and could hear her run around the apartment crying and getting into trouble.  I suppose she didn't like the break in routine.  (I'm usually up by 8:00 am) First she climbed the curtains and they came tumbling down, forcing me out of bed so I could put them back up.  Then she ran up and down the hall crying and jumping and every once in a while jumping on my chest, purring, and getting a nice rub down.

It was while she was getting petted when out of the blue, and for no particular reason what so ever she out and out attacked me!!  I pulled her off the first time and then she did it again and this time she broke the skin and drew blood.  Now I've read that cat bites need to be taken seriously as the risk of infection is very high.  The wound is not very big but I don't know how deep it is but I washed it thoroughly with soap and water and hydrogen peroxide. 

Little shit....

Ophelia wants a Rose..

I got a rose the other day and I put it up on the wall, thinking that Ophelia would not be able to get to it.  I was wrong.  This flower is slowly driving her insane.  She stands underneath it and cries and cries then jumps to try to reach it.   She almost makes it too!