Saturday, October 31, 2009

Oh, that Sophie...

So I posted before about my cat Sophie, and her peeing issues and the struggles with medicine. Well, we took her to the vet, this nice one that we had early on that we hunted down to in his brand new practice, Dr. Smets. We told him that we had tried so many options, from multiple litter boxes, to different litter, to getting rid of the futon where she used to pee, even to a cat anti-depressant. We needed a solution.

Well, after giving her an examination, to make sure it wasn't a physical problem, he prescribed a couple of things. I had told him how I hated the effects of the clomicalm, and he said that there were other solutions. 1. Feliway, a cat pheromone diffuser that apparently makes cats happy without side effects and 2. Zylkene, another drug to make cats calm, but totally natural, actually made from some chemical found in cheese! So no dopey, drugged up cat side effects! Yay!

So the first thing I got was the Feliway, because as much experience as I have giving cats pills (oh Phil...), I didn't want to stress Sophie out. So the diffuser has been plugged in for over a week now, and no accidents on the new sofas, or anything else! That's good, though who knows if she would have peed on anything without the meds anyway, it's pretty sporadic. So then yesterday, I got the Zylkene, thinking, oh well, it wouldn't hurt to have it on hand. Well that evening I was showing it to Miguel and we were trying to decide whether to give it to her. I shook the bottle, and the cats came running (I guess it sounded like treats?)! I put one on the floor for Sophie to sniff out. When Cleo tried to approach, Sophie grabbed it in her mouth and ran off! She was protecting her pill!

She went into the corner, and proceeded to try to figure out what it was. She would try to eat it, but it stuck to her little kitty lips and she couldn't get it off. Then she would drop it, pick it up again, and the saliva would stick it to her mouth like glue. She even had to pull a squirrel move, using both of her front paws to try to get it in, all the while protecting it from Cleo. Eventually, while trying to chew it, she punctured it, and white powder spilled out onto the floor.

This she tried to sniff, and ended up (while exhaling) blowing some of it into her face. She then licked it all up and walked away. Such a strange little cat!

So we thought ok, this is probably a one off, she won't do this again tomorrow... I shook the bottle again, and took out a pill and put it on the floor, and sure enough, as soon as Cleo came near, Sophie was off with that pill, and when she finally punctured it, she licked up all the powder! So there you have it! My strange little cat who won't eat ham or chicken scraps (while her sister will devour them), and who is apparently stressed or depressed, will happily self-medicate! Problem solved!

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