So good

[susandennis]

Leah - the cat whisperer - turned out to be amazing. Calm and reasonable and easy to understand and full of great advice and suggestions. She is older than I thought and has such a nice presence about her. She had treats in her bag so Biggie loved her to bits.

She originally thought that Biggie was bored or hungry and that's why he bit me to get attention. Now she believes he is just bored and needs entertainment. We talked about how to handle that. One of her thoughts was to get Biggie a cat of his own. She suggested a female who is younger than Biggie. I explained my hesitancy and she understood. Or, she said, you can wait it out a couple of years until he's older and doesn't need constant entertainment. Things to think about.

She brought us two small (3 oz) spray bottles that are a great size and really emit a burst of mist instead of a real spray. Sometimes when he snips at me, I can't get my hands in position to resettle him without getting bit again. The spray bottles are to be used instead of my hands.

She absolutely wore him the fuck out. He's now in Bill's chair sawing logs.

I think Leah thought our 10 am meeting was actually 11 and there was a giant wreck in between her house and mine so she didn't get here until about 11:30. So now it's afternoon. I had some errands I was going to run but I've lost all my incentive. None were critical.

The Mariners season opener - scheduled for tomorrow - has been moved to Friday because Minnesota built a stadium without a roof. No game today. No game tomorrow. Great start to the season.

Comments

[kaishin108]

Great news about the cat whisperer. I am so happy she gave you some tips.

More delays with baseball season, wow!

[msconduct]

That sounds great! Needing entertainment is at least easy to address. I foresee a tsunami of toys arriving from Amazon.

[carriea31]

I'm glad it went well! Do you think she will visit again or is this a one time/as needed kind of thing?

[susandennis]

probably won't be needed. we can do the rest via email

[desdemonaspace]

Yay for Leah! That's so helpful. I believe my Max is bored, too, but he doesn't play enough with the other cat. He'd rather bite me.

She absolutely wore him the fuck out.

My vet swears by at least 15 minutes of hard play with the cat, to wear them out. I can't keep up!

[jaywil]

I think the catnip is a great idea. Did she have any thoughts about that?

[susandennis]

she did. she said to get a good sized container and put the nip in it and then lay any soft toys on top of it and leave it at least overnight. all the toys will be freshly nipped in the a.m.!

except now he's not so interested any more. maybe tomorrow.

[adafrog]

Glad it went well.

[siglinde999]

It sounds like Leah’s time was a good investment. I like the idea of a second cat because that’s my go-to solution (I always have two so they can keep each other company). But I can also support the idea of lots of catnip toys.

[zoefruitcake]

go on, get another cat for him, you know you want to... ;0)

[rsc]

The Red Sox/Yankees opener, which was going to be the first game to start off the season (scheduled for earliest start), has also been postponed until tomorrow, because of rain expected in New York. This is actually mostly good for me, since today was looking like kind of a busy day. (Although there are some issues about tomorrow afternoon too, but I'll worry about that tomorrow.)

[susandennis]

ok, scarlett!

[dandylover1]

It sounds like all of you had a wonderful experience. I'm sure you'll make the right decision about a new cat, but at least you have something to help you when he tries to bite you. Have you considered a cat condo with activities, a crinkle tunnel, or other things that he can play with? Perhaps, a robotic cat that moves, or a moving toy might be a good idea. They make fish which flop around and keep cats entertained.