Conference misery::feline

    
    ...Ms. Orange Fur Ball hides my watch on me!  I've been without a watch
    for four days now!  

    
    ...Fargas decides to stand on top of me when I'm lying in bed, and
    chooses to put both front feet on one breast and both back feet on the
    other.  He weighs 13 pounds.
    
    Ouch!
    

    
    ...Rocky snuggles up to me in bed, kneading my bare armpit with his
    needlesharp claws.
    
    ...Robin sits on my chest with her butt in my face, purring up a storm,
    then turns around and shakes all her drool in my face.
    
    ...Blueberry begs for the fourth time in as many minutes for more
    cookies, with her irresistably sweet cry, because I know I shouldn't
    let her manipulate me like this but I will anyway 
    
    ...Floyd ignores my warnings to not chew on the lampshade, and I have
    to shoot him with the waterpistol
    
    ...Merlin absolutely refuses all offerings of fresh water, and instead
     licks up the soapy water off the bottom of the tub
    
    ...any one or more of the above decide to help me: read the newspaper;
    fold my laundry; make or eat my breakfast, lunch or dinner; ...
    
    ...respond to my request to stay put in that uniquely photogenic pose
    by following me as I hurry to get the camera
    
    len.
         

    
    ...Pamina steps on my forehead on her way to drink out of MY water
    glass in the headboard.
    

...somebody leaves a poop right next to the covered litter box on the carpet

...Oliver pulls the toothbrushes out of their holder and dumps them on the
	floor. Actually, I don't mind but Deb is none too thrilled.

...Sunny goes into the neighbor's house through a hole in their screen door and
	eats the food from one of their dog's dishes. Actually, since Sunny
	makes friends with everyone and everything, they apparently don't mind  
        all that much, but I think they'd prefer he not grab a bird from their  
        feeder for dessert on the way out.

    ... humans torture animals.
    
    Forgive me putting this in here, I do not want to spoil the party...
    But I feel only humans can be evil, no animal.
    
    Sorry. If Mod's hat has to be set on, delete this: I had to let this out -
    just now. Please don't ask why.
    
    Nat
                                      

    ... Kostas, who is on a diet (my goal was to slim him down to 20 lbs by
        summer) finishes his food and then inhales anything that anyone
        else didn't eat (and he always goes to the most highly caloric
        plate first!)
    
    ... someone steps on the remote and you miss the one phrase that you
        were waiting all night to hear, or that might let you understand
        the plot.
    
    Deb

    Red parades very deliberately up my body and stands on my
    chest at 4:30 in the morning to let me know I should let him
    out on the screen porch.  Red weighs 25 lbs.
    
    I wake up in the morning to find Rocky sleeping peacefully
    with his chin on my shoulder.  He turns towards me, put his paw on
    my forehead.....and SNEEZES in my face.
    
    When Moki decides I haven't paid enough attention to him,
    he gets in front of my feet when I'm walking and stops dead.
    I'm surprised he hasn't killed us both yet.
    
    Mary-Michael
    

    
    ....when Crunch sneaks up behind me, sits down and when I back up
        I step on something warm and furry!
    
    ....when I'm on the couch and one of the cats jumps up from behind
        scaring the daylights out of me!
    
    ....when I let Crunch out the bedroom window in the early a.m. 
        because she's asking to go out, then 2 seconds later asks
        to come in!  (Going out the window is her choice of exit)
        She also likes the view from up there.

    .... when I have to Pee and my big 18 pound Dewey decides he
         wants to do pushy paws on my belly!!!
    
    .... just as your ready to eat you hear bllluuuu blluuuu 
         blauuuuuuuuuu and your cute little furface left you
         a nice present to clean up.   We call those "precious
         moments".
    
    Sandy
    

    ...I wake up with 5-6 cats in the room/on the bed and realize 
       that Dolly still hasn't integrated in with the other cats well 
       enough to join us.
    
    ...Amelia has gotten so comfortable on the bed in a position that
       totally pins me in under the covers and I have to get up for
       something and can't get her to move.  (I must look ridiculous
       climbing out over the top of the covers to avoid picking her up
       and moving her.)
    
    Jan

    ...when I have to say goodbye to all my notes friends.  I've been
       notified that I will be notified on Monday.  This will be my last
       entry in notes.  I'll spend some time at home then will look for
       bigger and better things.  Thanks to all of you for your advice and
       support. Especially for understanding just how special our feline
       friends are in our lives.  I've had some great furry comforters the
       last couple of days.  Good luck to all of you...
    
    	Nancy, mom to Wizard and Ms. Marple

    I hate it when.....
    
    I accidently step on poor Tigger's tiny paw or long tail and he cries
    and runs away from me and won't come near me for a couple of hours.
    
    

    
    IRH when the kitties "decided" that mice and moles are 
    quite delectable even though they can't digest the darn
    things whole. Now that I don't have to clean the litter 
    as often (they prefer the mulch outdoors), I can spend 
    the time cleaning up recycled food material off the cement
    basement floor. I just don't get it, I would think after 
    a couple of unpleasant hydrochloric acid displacement,
    they would associate eating the animals with throwing up
    afterwards ;-(. Maybe I shouldn't complain, since they
    leave the indoor plants alone now. Everything in life is 
    a tradeoff ;-).
    
    
    Eva
    

    
    IHIW:  You hear your cat throw-up in the middle of the night - and you 
    even know the area it should be in, but when you wake in the morning
    
    YOU CAN'T FIND IT ANYWARE!!!
    
    :-(
    
    Louisa 

    
    When you get home, turn off all the lights and walk around barefoot. 
    You'll find it, believe me 8^/.
    
    8^)
    
    Signed,
    
    The_Voice_Of_Experience
                 

    IHIW my cats (male) begin to pee over the reling. That means they start
    normally in the litter box, then slowly they stand up, make a back and
    ballistic pee over the sim of the litter box and the bathroom is
    swimming. And smelling.
    
    BTW, have you something against that? A bigger box? Or?
    
    Nat

    
    re .17: Nat - how about a covered box?
    
    Now, if we could only solve the litter-tracking problem.  My kids go
    through amazing contortions to avoid stepping on the pad that's
    supposed to tickle the litter from between their toes.
    
    len.
     

    >through amazing contortions to avoid stepping on the pad that's
    >supposed to tickle the litter from between their toes.
    
    my guys could put the Olympic gymnists to shame. While I haven't
    entirely solved the tracking problem, I've found that by placing some
    non-rubber-backed rugs from the box to the bathroom door it cuts down
    on a lot of the problem. Of course, the wind wind up scattered as they
    zoom out of the box to where ever they are in a hurry to go...
    
    Deb 

    re: -1
    
    why a "non rubber backed" rug?
    

    Re: .20
    
    The "rubber" backing contains a chemical that smells like
    pee to cats, so they think it's okay to pee "again" on those rugs.
    

    I use those cheep multicolored woven rugs. They are ugly, but they are
    inexpensive, washable and not used as "targets".
    
    Deb

    
    re: .21
    
    Thanks for the tip!

    re .18: They don't go in!

    Bits has two boxes, both with a wall or some kind of barrier on three
    sides, so far I have noticed, when he starts to back up and bumps his
    bum on something solid, he squats down and does what he was going to
    do.
    So far he has not turned around and gone for the open side.
    
    As for taking the litter out of the box, I think he holds it in his
    paws until he gets to the kitchen, where I walk on it every morning.
    
    joan

    When my little critter takes a running leap and crawls up my drapes!!
    
    Marilyn

    IHIW
    
    	Taila can hear me but won't stop scratching the couch untill I get
    up and get just within reaching distance, then she bolts away!
    
    	Oscar sometimes is in too much of a rush to play with Taila again
    that he does'nt cover his "poopies"
    

  I hate it when the thermometer reads 95 and Sophie wants a lap.  It's way 
too hot so after a couple of seconds she just sort of oozes off my lap and then
off the chair.  I swear kitties can turn to liquid sometimes.  (I also hate it 
when people say you don't NEED air conditioning in the Bay Area -- grrrr!)

				SQ

    I hate it when the temps are skyhigh and I have to leave home with
    the fans going so I don't end up with heat-stroked kitties.  I'm 
    so uncomfortable leaving electrical things going when I'm not there
    but I feel guilty leaving them to swelter in the heat instead.
    
    These are no dumb cats though...I looked down the hall last night
    and found 5 cat sprawled out on the bathroom floor, 1 perched on
    a table under the ceiling fan and 1 on the coffee table by the
    other fan.
    
    My other I hate it when is...IHIW the temps cool off significantly
    outside and my apartment still reads in the 80's or 90's.  I could
    use the air conditioner but it only cools the dining room area right 
    in front of it anyway so what's the point.  [picture:  7 cats all
    vying for space on the dining room table to catch the cold air...
    you can be sure none of it gets to the rest of the house since the
    blasted thing is so weak.]
    
    Jan

    When Bits always thanks me for his food and water by giving the hand
    holding the water dish head butts,
    
    I feed him in the morning, therefore, I have to spend time drying up
    the kitchen floor each morning.
    
    Then again, if he did not do this, I would proberbly worry, so maybe
    this is not something to hate:-)
    
    joan

    
    	When Crunch sits and cries at me because its my fault its
    raining and she won't go out in the rain!  Now she goes to the
    front door and looks out, turns around, runs to the back door
    and cries there until I open the door and she sees that its 
    raining outback too!  I try to tell her its raining in the 
    whole yard, she doesn't seem to want to hear it!
    				Sue

    Re: .29
    
    Sounds like my house.  I leave the dining room air conditioner
    going on low during the day, otherwise the house would be an oven.
    I also have the heat lag effect where the hot air in the attic
    radiates and heats the house all night while it's cool outside.
    I gather installing a fan in the attic would draw out the overheated
    air, but my qualms (sp?) about people working in the house when the
    cats are there plus having holes cut in the house have kept me from
    doing this.
    

    
    ...One of my kitties *somehow* turns on the organ and walks across the
    keyboard at 5:07 a.m. on a Sunday morning!
    
    Nancy

    ....Around 3 AM, Polly, the mommy, moves all three five-week old
    kittens out of their pen and lets them crawl around the living room.
    The kittens try unsuccesfully to get up on the couch where mom is.
    This terrorizes poor old 12-year old Fred, so he yowls at our door
    until we get up and do something about it. At this point, Noogy, Fred's
    cranky old spinster sister, who hates cats, is so furious she swats
    anyone who comes near. Benny, Polly's husband, stays busy teasing and
    harassing everyone, including the kittens.
    
    This morning, my husband and I are exhausted, but all the cats are
    sleeping peacefully, not a care in the world. My husband and I fight
    the urge to blast our old Jimi Hendrix tape at full blast, with the
    treble turned up all the way, right next to where the cats sleep.

    You hear that urp...urp...urp noise and go running to the affected
    cat just in time to see them backing up as they urp therefore 
    covering the widest possible amount of space with the products of
    said urp.
    
    Jan

    
    
    	Don't you just *hate*  that??!
    

    I have a funny story based on what happened last night with Zachary, my
    very talkative Maine Coon.
    
    I'd taken poor Zach into the Vet's on Tuesday to have a checkup, his 3
    booster shots and a grooming.  He was NOT a happy camper by the end of
    the day and was listless that night and all the next day (yesterday).
    
    Being a gorgeous silver gray tabbyI'm sure he was a bit mortified that
    he now had 3 shaved areas on his body.  It's his own fault for not
    letting me brush him in certain places!
    
    When I came home around 9 p.m. last night, he seemed more animated,
    following me around per usual.  I was sitting at my terminal when he
    suddenly came out with what sounded like "Oh my God" (in kitty
    language) and I knew he was going to be sick.  I ran over to him and
    had just enough time to push him off the carpet so he could eject onto
    the wood floor.  I had a friend in the house at the time and she
    couldn't believe that he could make his intentions so very clear.  
    
    And then he was purrfectly fine an hour later, purring and kneading all
    over me and the book I was trying to read and waking me up every few
    hours all night just to show me how much better he was.
    
    You gotta love these guys.   
    
    Gita

    Don't you feel guilty when you hear "urk, urk" and the first
    thing you do is attempt to reposition the cat away from the rug,
    etc. instead of comforting him or her?  I do :-)
                              

    
    8^)))) It's hard to break oneself of the habit of gasping, "Oh no, not
    on the rug, not on the rug!"
    

    
    Oh no, not the bed. Oh no, not the couch.
    I guess the rug is OK...
    
    
    Eva

    Ahhh...if your quick you can slide a paper plate or newspaper
    under the urk urk urk.....so it won't matter where they do it.
    
    My best one is when they are on the top tier of a 6 tier
    cat tree and start the urk urk urk...and end up throwing up
    on many tiers of the tree...the windowsill...the curtain...
    Then they get nervous and jump down and still end up throwing 
    up on the rug.
    
     Ya just got to love them...
    
    Sandy 

    I do feel guilty but not so guilty that I don't at least try to
    get them herded in a better direction.  Carrie's urp this morning
    was on the glass part of the dining room table.  At least that's
    fairly easily cleaned.  Amelia, on the other hand, urped in a 
    nice semi-circle pattern on the rug the other day and Carrie's
    usual/favorite places include the top of the entertainment center.  
    She has been known to urp across the keyboard of my PC too.  Now
    that's a big drag to clean up.
    
    Jan

    
    Funny thing is out of my three only one urks's. The maine coon and 
    the looka like, allow me to brush them daily and I have never cought
    them doing the fur ball thing. Ziba on the other hand prefers to handle
    her own grooming. She doesn't care much for brushing, she can only 
    stand the zoom groom for a few seconds. Being a long hair, angora 
    type, she has them long fur balls that sometimes look like poopies. 
    When I'm around and hear her getting ready, I try to run and slide a 
    paper towel under her. But most of the time I feel real guilty to 
    interfer with that activity. 
    
    Shaw

    
    .40 - you took the words right out of my mouth
    
    And the ultimate, "Oh no, not in my lap!"
    
    One of my crew (never identified) once tossed his/her cookies on a
    pile of bills...
    
    Their way of saying "here's what I think of you sending our money to
    those greedy people"?
    
    If only we could teach them - "THIS bowl if for INPUT, and THIS bowl is
    for OUTPUT".
    
    len.
    
    

    
    Recently I and some friends of mine who have cats who occasionally
    "urp" have come to refer to this as "practicing to be an Olympic
    hurler".
    
    len.
    

    We call them... "special moments".  

    
    
    	Len,
    
    	So how did you explain the 'urp' stains to the people
    	you sent the bills to?   =)
    
    	Sandy,
    
    	Hey, great suggestion for a paper plate or newspaper.  Of course,
    	that doesn't work at 3 a.m. when they're 'urp'ing in the bedroom.
    

    
    re .47
    
    Didn't explain anything.  If they can't recognize a "gift" when they
    see one, that's their problem.
    
    You mean, you don't keep a strategically located supply of paper plates
    in every room of your home, for those magic moments?
    
    len.
     

    My elderly cat JFCL, who very seldom upchucked when she was a
    youngster, has learned to try to make a run for the tile floor in the
    bathroom if she starts urping.  She doesn't always make it that far,
    but you have to give her points for trying.  She's always been an
    unusually polite cat.  I don't know why she goes for the bathroom floor
    rather than kitchen floor, but either one is better than either the
    carpet or the furniture.  If I'm home and awake when she loses it, I
    scoop her up and put her on a non-rug area, so she has learned to go
    there all by herself.  Smart kitty!  Her young and boisterous
    companion, Melody the Maine coon kitten, has never urped - too young, I
    guess, and with a robust digestive system.  Good thing I like cats...
    
    /Charlotte

    
    	I hate it MOST when you're sound asleep...and
    	wake up, in the dark to the strains of urk urk.
    	Where ARE you urking ??
    
    	as previously stated..ya gotta love em !
    
    	db

    
    
    	Interesting this conversation.....
    
    	Sasha chose to do it in the wee hours this morning (first night
    	in almost a week I haven't been up all night coughing too!).
    	My poor SO got up to go get something to clean it up, only
    	to step in the biggest hairball ever, right outside the bedroom
    	door.  Good thing he loves my cats.  I just wish she'd stay in
    	one spot!  She hit 5 different areas, three of them being on
    	our off-white carpet.
    

    Its a funny thing, but Boots used to upchuck quite often, where as Bits
    has only done it once, after the first time he went out this spring and
    tried to eat every green plant he could reach.
    I wonder if the fact that Boots used to roam and Bits is limited to a
    smaller area has anything to do with it.
    Bits can not *hunt* the way Boots could, so most of his range is made
    up of garden things, Boots on the other hand would wonder the
    neiborhood and who knows what she might have eaten.
    
    joan

    1. Listen for 'umma umma umma'
    2. Look for siamese
    3. If siamese begins to sit awkwardly,
    4. take siamese
    5. point with siamese's muzzle in right direction (e. g. mother-in-law etc)
    6. ... and "URK URK URK"
    
    ... the .44" ACME Vomit Thrower in in use!
    
        Nat

    
    
    Well, my peppers in the garden weren't doing too hot last week, so I 
    decided to fertilize the plants with fish emulsion, which is supposed
    to be a great plant food. The mistake that I made was to let the cats
    out shortly afterwards. Sam, the junvenile abyssinian, went nuts after 
    that fish aroma and dug up my pepper plants - looking for a piece of 
    scrap to chomp on. Well, she didn't find any fish and guess what, she 
    didn't backfill the peppers either. I discovered what happened the 
    following day after work, too late for a couple of the plants. We almost 
    had fried cat for dinner that night!!! 
    
    
    
    Eva

    I don't care for peppers, so I don't know if this will work on them,
    but I have found that if something pulls up one of your plants, or digs
    in around the roots (like ants), if you can replant the plant ASAP and
    water it real good with miracle grow, the plant can usually be saved.
    
    Deb (who saved 1 tomatoe, 3 brocoli, 2 cauliflower and a few melons
    this way).

    And does anyone have any tricks to keep your cats out
    of the Flower Garden.  I love my flower gardens and spend
    a lot of time preparing them in spring.   Well my darn kitty,
    Moses (aka Maniac Moses) has decided that these big beautiful
    plants make great hiding places.  He sits smack right in the
    middle of them so now they are all laying down flat. (arrgghhh)
    So all my lilies..hostas...Iris look like they are dead and
    summer has just begun.
    
    Sandy 
    

    
    Thanks for the miracle grow tip. 
    
    Well, my other cat, loves to sit next to the snow peas for shade,
    which is ok except that he is too big, he squashes the brocollis
    next to the peas. So, I put down good sized pebbles, 3 inches apart 
    or so, so that it would be really uncomfortable to lay on. That works. 
    I don't know how that will work in a flower garden. I have seen
    cat and dog garden repellent for sale but I don't know how well they
    work. 
    
    Eva

    I almost invariably snap a tomato seedling in half when I'm
    planting, and they are virtually always savable(sp?) if I plant
    the top half and water a lot for the next week.  I find that
    the large-size bark chip mulches discourage cat sitting and digging
    in the garden.  There's plenty of other dirt in other garden beds
    in my yard or in the wild area in the back of the yard where the
    cats happily dig.
    

    I hate it when Ryan jumps up on a hot woodstove and burns his little
    feet! 
    
    Karen.

    
    That reminds me of many many moons ago when my blue point siamese
    was a juvenile. We were having a cookout on the deck. Yummy smell
    of burgers and chicken was getting to his head. We were done with the 
    grill and were moving indoors. We heard this "YEEEOOOW" and saw this 
    flash of a flying cat dashing off the grill, off the desk, into the 
    woods. Fortunately, the grill wasn't blazing, maybe that's why he
    thought it was safe ;-(. 
    
    Eva

...and I thought I had problems with my 
guys trying to sniff burning candles. 

    
    re. natural instinct against fire
    
    I don't know, but the same cat spends all the cold nights on top of
    our gas burning furnace in the basement as that furnace is the warmest
    place in the whole house once the thermostat sets back around 10 pm.
    A giant heating pad for his arthritics ;-(. I can imagine him trying
    to do the same with a woodstove!
    
    Eva

That reminds me of some fantastic footage on a 
program I videoed over here a while back on a 
cats program - 

it's the blacksmiths cat, sitting at over 100 deg. 
(I think they said) on the brick shelf that overlooks
the forge fire. A kind of Singey Gingey chap. 

Phew! 

Even the blacksmith's sweating!

    >A giant heating pad for his arthritics ;-(. I can imagine him trying
    >to do the same with a woodstove!
    
    My woodstove (actually it is a wood pellet stove) has a fan that blows
    the hot air at a point at about 3 feet in front of the stove, aimed
    right at the floor. My cat's plop them selves right on that spot. If
    you touch them, they feel like they are burning up.
    
    Deb

>    My woodstove (actually it is a wood pellet stove) has a fan that blows
 >   the hot air at a point at about 3 feet in front of the stove, aimed
  >  right at the floor. My cat's plop them selves right on that spot. If
   > you touch them, they feel like they are burning up.
    
    Deb


	Snozer does the same thing with the fireplace. She'll lay on the
	hearth in front of it. When you touch her fur, it's so hot that
        I'm amazed she doesn't self ignite.....
	


	Red

    
    
    	Nice to know Audrey isn't the only crazy cat when it comes to
    	heat!  We haven't had many fires in the fireplace but in
    	the summer, when the sun is out, she just stretches out 
    	as long as she can.  I touch her fur and I can't believe
    	how hot it is.... she just LOVES heat.

    good(?) to know my boys aren't the only ones that do this. Here have
    been times, though, that they have given me a real scare. Once of them
    has come over to me and has been so hot, I thot he had a fever, until I
    touched the other side of him and found it cold.
    
    Deb

    As I already mentioned in this file, all the three of my cats,
    especially Old Lord Alphonse, the 13 year old male siamese, sit on the
    central heating.
    
    And you could iron your dress with them.
    Nat

	We've all notes the intense heat our kids, oops, cats endure. Question ?
	At what point does hair ignite ? Any science wizzes out here in
	kitty land ?

	Red

    re the heat .... I watched the show "The Life of a Cat" on cable-- The 
    Learning Channel last week.  Another noter referred to it somewhere in 
    this conference.  In a segment on heat and cats loving it they showed a 
    cat in a smithy -- sitting above an open charcoal fire.  They said that 
    cats originated (evolved) in a desert environment and easily handle 
    temperatures of up to 120 degrees F.
    
    If you haven't had a chance to catch this show I highly recommend it.
    
    Carel 

    and of course, Jimmy will often do "rotisserre cat". Every 15 minutes
    he rotates 1/4 turn...
    
    Deb

Oh that show.  

Anyone in the UK desperate to see it can probably borrow my taped 
copy, on condition that if they damage it I can come round and 
steal their kitties and get them to run around my lounge
every time i fancy watching it .. 

:-)

    With respect to candles, my other cat, Tenzing, once lit her tail on
    fire walking over a lit candle!  I was sitting right next to her at
    the time and was able to snuff the fire out immediately.  She singed
    a few hairs but other then fear we both got off scot-free on that one.  
    But since then I NEVER use candles unless they're in a deep holder 
    with the flame at least a couple of inches below the top of the holder.
    
    Karen.

    I hate it when they fight!
    
    The guys (merlin and rascal) normally get along just fine - sleep next
    to each other, play, eat next to each other. Just every once in a while
    they have a knock down/hissing/rolling fight with fur flying, lots of
    noise but very little damage. Except to our human nerves, thinking they
    are schredding each other....   :^)
    
    Well the other night just before midnight, we hear the
    growling/screaming start, a loud thump and the more noise. Rush in and
    pull them apart (they never seem to turn on us so we've gotten pretty
    casual about reaching in the middle of a cat fight -sometime I'll know
    we'll regret it!)  We got them calmed down and checked for damage.
    I thought I had seen a piece of loose bloody fur, but couldn't find any
    damage. Then, when we were cleaning up the tufts of fur (almost enough
    to knit a small sweater) up and down the hallway we found a tooth!  So
    - quick check again and Merlin's right fang was knocked out - a clean
    break right at the gum level.
    
    so now it's after midnight - called the all-night emergency vet. They
    said that there wasn't anything they could do  unless it looked like he
    was having difficulties, but take him to the vet the next day for
    antibiotics to ward off infection.  by this time the 2 little 
    marauders were buddies again.  merlin wasn't reacting at all to the
    lose, other than an occassional smacking noise.
    
    Next day - got him to the vet first thing. Vet said the break was
    clean, no jagged edges to cause problems. Gave us antibiotics to help
    prevent infection and a talk about what could be done further if it
    forms an abscess (yucks).
    
    We figure the thump we heard must have been Merlin hitting the wall,
    maybe with his face which might have knocked the tooth. Rascal has not
    a scratch or mark on him, though we keep checking incase it's a
    puncture wond.  Merlin doesn't have good teeth - lots of tartar - so maybe
    it was already loose.
    
    So far he's fine, not bothered by the lose. He does seem to be eating
    on the other side of his mouth. When he yawns you see the lose and it
    looks so pitiful.. little lopsided kid!
    
    A few more grey hairs and shattered nerves for Mom and Dad here. And
    now trying to give him liqued drugs twice a day is making us very
    popular. Not to mention the "after the vet" hissys we had yesterday
    between the cats.  Nice april fools!
    
    oh well - where's that note about names we call the kitties? I think I
    have a few new ones!  :^)
    
    janetb.
    
    

    Sweetie actually has a root canal in a fang, because his vet said
    when a fang goes missing, there is a tendency for the gum to get
    irritated because the opposing tooth rubs against it (or something),
    so he didn't want to extract the fang.  You might want to ask your vet
    about this, whether you should keep an eye on it, or whether Merlin
    needs the tooth capped :-) no kidding, actually.  There are vets that
    specialize in dentistry.
    

    the vet talked about some of these options. He mentioned they tend to
    cap the tooth if there are jagged edges or file off the edges (yuck - I
    hate dentist talk!).  there is nothing of the tooth left to see. He
    also mentioned that if the remaining part of the tooth (the 2/3's in
    the gum) gets infected they will have to operate. and if we wanted to -
    he could recommend a kitty dentist in Virginia who might be able to
    re-attach the tooth.
    
    Hwever, given that Merlin is around 12 years old and his other teeth
    are not in good shape - we don't want to subject him to surgery unless
    we have to. Though if no infection comes from this, we are going to get
    his teeth cleaned. We were planning to do that about 6 months ago, but
    got sidetracked with other items (and since Mom doesn't like to go to
    the dentist, it's hard for me to force him to go... I know that's not
    good, but just the way it is. I have enough trouble bringing them in
    for shots!).
    
    so - now we're watching closely for signs of infection. He's still
    eating well and seems to be eating out of that side of the mouth. Last
    night we went through a "is that side swollen?" debate but we
    undecided. We can pet the outside of the mouth without seeing a
    reaction and the purring continues - so I guess that's good.
    
    Any advice on how long it might be for an infection to show up? what
    signs should we be on the lookout for?
    
     and should this be moved to another topic?
    
    janetb.

    I think your vet should be able to give you some guidelines about
    how to spot an infection.  he may also want to xray the tooth at some
    point in the future to see what's going on then.
    

    when Harry broke his tooth and it got infected (quite some time later),
    I knew there was a problem becuase first he started chewing funny, then
    stopped eating. 
    
    Deb

    I was shocked to have the vet tell me that a nerve had died in one
    of Sweetie's fangs, because I had noticed zilch, and apparently
    this doesn't happen without about a week's considerable discomfort.
    

    My kitty Van Gogh is almost toothless.   I believe he has
    had about 14 teeth pulled and also lost some on his own.   He
    only has ONE fang tooth left....and it is amazing that he
    can still chew dry food.
    
    Anytime Van Gogh had teeth problems...the first sign would be
    he would start to eat funny (side chewing)...and then stop eating 
    all together,    Just keep your eye on your kitty....
    
    Sandy 

    
    
    .... Pandora insists on finding plants to pee in, instead of the
    	litterboxes!!  This morning, Shane found a nice dried area
    	of kitty pee on my dining room table because she tried to pee
    	in a pot we had on the table!!  I"m getting to the point where 
    	they're going to stay in the basement when we're not home.
    	The big kitty condo is down there and I'll pick up a bed or 
    	two.  I'm tired of finding cat pee all over my new house.