Three On Thursday

Two things about Fred . . . and one thing about George . . .

1. Fred’s surgery was successful and the doctor said he expects him to make a full recovery. I picked him up yesterday afternoon and was told he was very feisty and he still had a bandage on his hind leg from the IV because every time they tried to take it off he thrashed around and it would start to bleed again. That’s my Fred.
2. The collar is proving to be the most challenging thing so far. He can’t eat or drink with it on and, while they said I can take it off for him to do that, he’s a cat and he’s constantly changing his mind. Or wanting to graze. So I’m doing a lot of standing around in the kitchen, trying to follow his cues. We have a fountain for their drinking water and we’ve had to turn that off because he goes up to it and the collar gets under the stream of water, runs down the cone, gets Fred soaked and makes big puddles on the floor. He also seems unable to settle into a comfortable pose with the collar on and is just lying down on his belly with his head straight in front of him, rather than lying on his side and curling up like he usually does.
3. George is completely freaked out by the collar on Fred. He went into full Halloween cat pose (big tail, arched back, hair on his back standing up like a mohawk haircut) when he saw Fred and he has been staying away from him ever since. On the one hand, this is helpful because they told me to keep then apart for 24 hours. On the other hand, I hope George figures out that it’s still just Fred and he doesn’t need to be afraid of him. Or shun him, which is how I suspect it might be feeling to Fred. Yes, I’m giving human feelings to my animals.

And that’s the news for now. Hopefully Fred will adjust to the collar. And hopefully George will adjust to Fred’s new look. Thanks for all of your kind words and good thoughts, it’s appreciated very much.