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If you stare long into the void cat…
Tuesday, July 30th, 2024 10:39 pm… the void cat stares back at you.
On the first weekend of last July we got Pearl from the Boulder Humane Society. A slim gray cat with splotches of white and dull orange, she might camouflage well in a boulderfield. They told us she'd probably had a litter of kittens, and had been sent from Texas, which apparently is the source of a lot of shelter cats. Yet another teen mother fleeing Texas for Colorado for better reproductive health care. A teen in cat years, she was long and lanky, with an unusual running gait of paws crossing in front of each other. It took some time to get her comfortable with close human contact.
As an adult Pearl is still long, but looks less like a teenager trying to grow into her own body. She's comfortable with her two humans, but on her terms: she doesn't like to be picked up and hardly ever sits on a lap, though she often sleeps next to us in the bed. A cat with strong boundaries, like Kelly's first cat Joan. She rarely meows. She's a clever problem solver and a determined huntress: she caught four mice in two days this winter. She'll do incredible acrobatic maneuvers to catch a hair tie, and after defeating it in fierce battle she may carry it to her food bowl before eating a bit. This cat is not food motivated, she's hunt motivated.
We've long thought that Pearl would do well with a kitten adopted sibling as a partner in play. Humans can only shoot so many hair ties before they need to go to work or keep fussing with a laptop. Two cats can chase each other up and down the hall any time of day or night. We needed to wait for the right time though, "We'll be out of town for two weeks later this month" isn't good "introduce a new cat" timing. As coincidence would have it, "the first weekend of July" is apparently cat acquisition time around here. Maybe it's because the 4-day weekend provides enough time to clean enough of the house that a cat's not immediately going to get into object-oriented trouble.
The first kitten we played with was very into us, determined to play, fine with being held, and even hung out in my lap despite all the excitement. Black with a white toe, a white patch on her belly, and two white whiskers like a Fu Manchu beard. It seems odd to decide to live with a mammal for more than a decade after just half an hour of play, but she's worked out well so far. She didn't make much noise at the shelter but boy howdy did she holler whenever we left the room as she was adjusting to the house. She's the least hesitant cat when exploring new spaces that I've ever seen: as soon as she can break through the threshold she's never passed before she makes a beeline for who knows where, only stopping to sniff around once she's well beyond familiar territory. Our catsitter dubbed her Little Miss Runs-Like-Water." Time cycles are shorter for juvenile mammals and she can quickly transition from chase-every-toy-around-the-room to curl-up-and-purr-on-your-feet. During the first night her territory expanded from the closet to the bedroom she tried to nurse my beard, longing for the mother cat she didn't have. She realized the beard won't bear milk, but she still goes after my armpits. Curling up and purring on my chest while I lie in bed is absolutely adorable, though.
I've long thought that philosophers would make good cat names. This rambunctious kitten didn't seem like a Lao Zi, but Nietzsche seemed like an excellent choice for a void cat intent on fearlessly seeking discoveries in a world much different than what her parents knew.
Integration of the cats took a couple weeks. Pearl isn't very food-motivated, so attracting her to one side of a baby gate with treats wasn't a reliable strategy. Nietzsche's first several adventures outside the bedroom featured a lot of exploring while Pearl watched with suspicion and disapproval. They would tolerate each other's presence for awhile, then Nietzsche would do something rambunctious like jump towards her, Pearl would start bapping, and hissing would ensue; back to the bedroom. Wrangling cats took up most of the energy of the evening, and would've been completely overwhelming without two people.
Over the last week they've finally warmed to each other. There's still a lot of wrestling and bapping, but it seems to be claws-free and neither cat seems particularly upset about it. Nietzsche still has no fear and will charge Pearl in surprise, Pearl will strike back, Nietzsche adopts a submissive position, they reach an agreement, then Nietzsche withdraws and plans her next move. They'll both chase each other and can happily relax within a few feet of each other. They've got some time before they start snuggling each other, but there was some motherly forehead licking last night.
So now we've got a cat with strong boundaries and a cat that loves to break on through to the other side. A watcher cat and a doer cat. An independent cat and a lap cat. A cat that will chase any toy and a cat that wants the hair ties to fly just so. We've got a yin cat and a yang cat.
On the first weekend of last July we got Pearl from the Boulder Humane Society. A slim gray cat with splotches of white and dull orange, she might camouflage well in a boulderfield. They told us she'd probably had a litter of kittens, and had been sent from Texas, which apparently is the source of a lot of shelter cats. Yet another teen mother fleeing Texas for Colorado for better reproductive health care. A teen in cat years, she was long and lanky, with an unusual running gait of paws crossing in front of each other. It took some time to get her comfortable with close human contact.
As an adult Pearl is still long, but looks less like a teenager trying to grow into her own body. She's comfortable with her two humans, but on her terms: she doesn't like to be picked up and hardly ever sits on a lap, though she often sleeps next to us in the bed. A cat with strong boundaries, like Kelly's first cat Joan. She rarely meows. She's a clever problem solver and a determined huntress: she caught four mice in two days this winter. She'll do incredible acrobatic maneuvers to catch a hair tie, and after defeating it in fierce battle she may carry it to her food bowl before eating a bit. This cat is not food motivated, she's hunt motivated.
We've long thought that Pearl would do well with a kitten adopted sibling as a partner in play. Humans can only shoot so many hair ties before they need to go to work or keep fussing with a laptop. Two cats can chase each other up and down the hall any time of day or night. We needed to wait for the right time though, "We'll be out of town for two weeks later this month" isn't good "introduce a new cat" timing. As coincidence would have it, "the first weekend of July" is apparently cat acquisition time around here. Maybe it's because the 4-day weekend provides enough time to clean enough of the house that a cat's not immediately going to get into object-oriented trouble.
The first kitten we played with was very into us, determined to play, fine with being held, and even hung out in my lap despite all the excitement. Black with a white toe, a white patch on her belly, and two white whiskers like a Fu Manchu beard. It seems odd to decide to live with a mammal for more than a decade after just half an hour of play, but she's worked out well so far. She didn't make much noise at the shelter but boy howdy did she holler whenever we left the room as she was adjusting to the house. She's the least hesitant cat when exploring new spaces that I've ever seen: as soon as she can break through the threshold she's never passed before she makes a beeline for who knows where, only stopping to sniff around once she's well beyond familiar territory. Our catsitter dubbed her Little Miss Runs-Like-Water." Time cycles are shorter for juvenile mammals and she can quickly transition from chase-every-toy-around-the-room to curl-up-and-purr-on-your-feet. During the first night her territory expanded from the closet to the bedroom she tried to nurse my beard, longing for the mother cat she didn't have. She realized the beard won't bear milk, but she still goes after my armpits. Curling up and purring on my chest while I lie in bed is absolutely adorable, though.
I've long thought that philosophers would make good cat names. This rambunctious kitten didn't seem like a Lao Zi, but Nietzsche seemed like an excellent choice for a void cat intent on fearlessly seeking discoveries in a world much different than what her parents knew.
Integration of the cats took a couple weeks. Pearl isn't very food-motivated, so attracting her to one side of a baby gate with treats wasn't a reliable strategy. Nietzsche's first several adventures outside the bedroom featured a lot of exploring while Pearl watched with suspicion and disapproval. They would tolerate each other's presence for awhile, then Nietzsche would do something rambunctious like jump towards her, Pearl would start bapping, and hissing would ensue; back to the bedroom. Wrangling cats took up most of the energy of the evening, and would've been completely overwhelming without two people.
Over the last week they've finally warmed to each other. There's still a lot of wrestling and bapping, but it seems to be claws-free and neither cat seems particularly upset about it. Nietzsche still has no fear and will charge Pearl in surprise, Pearl will strike back, Nietzsche adopts a submissive position, they reach an agreement, then Nietzsche withdraws and plans her next move. They'll both chase each other and can happily relax within a few feet of each other. They've got some time before they start snuggling each other, but there was some motherly forehead licking last night.
So now we've got a cat with strong boundaries and a cat that loves to break on through to the other side. A watcher cat and a doer cat. An independent cat and a lap cat. A cat that will chase any toy and a cat that wants the hair ties to fly just so. We've got a yin cat and a yang cat.
Scarcity of free summer weekends
Monday, July 31st, 2023 10:25 pmSome time in May I looked at my calendar and realized that every weekend in June was spoken for, and that July and August were looking pretty tight. This led to yet another summer where most of my free time has been spent either having fun away from home or preparing for said fun.
The first weekend in June was Untamed a pagan gathering in its second year, led by some of the core people from the now defunct Beltania event. It featured workshops, rituals, craft vendors, neo-highland games, a day of music performances, and drum circles. And rain. Lots of rain. It's been a wet year in Colorado, so I was expecting a wet and chilly event, and it definitely delivered. I wound up sleeping in tights plus two pairs of pajama pants, hiking socks under mucklucks, a T-shirt under a long-sleeve shirt under a sweat shirt, and a winter hat. I think the cold and damp helped the drum circles find some really neat rhythms and reflective grooves, and everyone had the good sense to bring drums that wouldn't detune too bad in the damp air. There was also a ham radio Parks on the Air event that weekend, and since the festival property is right next to the Pike National Forest I hung a wire antenna in the trees on the other side of the fence and made some contacts while keeping dry in my tent. Unfortunately, after I'd made a bunch of contacts around the 20 meter band and started to call for people to contact me ("calling CQ") my high-end radio from the early 1990s suddenly got stuck in transmit mode and I noticed a distinct electronics smell. The problem persisted when testing at home where it was warm and dry, so I've got a circuit board investigation project to do when I get a free weekend. Which will maybe be October? November. Sheesh. At least the maker space at my office should be back up and running by then.
As soon as I got home I had to unpack the truck, start packing suit cases, and plan two lobby meetings for CCL's return to Capitol Hill. Kelly and I flew out Friday and stayed with a friend's parents in northern Virginia. Spending three days at an in person conference is so much more invigorating than a day and a half of a virtual conference via Zoom has been. And I love "magical hallway conversations" that emerge; I ran into people from the Before Times that I didn't even know would be there, had some great conversations with folks I knew I'd find. Even the thirty second connections with folks are so much better than a Zoom breakout room. I also took advantage of the conference hotel's location next to Rock Creek Park to do a Parks on the Air activation with a small radio and portable antenna I brought. Band conditions were challenging and it's hard to get a lot of power from a small radio but I managed to secure enough contacts for the activation to count. While I was at the conference on Saturday, Kelly went to DC Pride and got into a bit of good trouble, engaging in "lawful annoying" peacockery to establish a perimeter in front of the homophobic street preacher who probably makes money suing people who punch him for being an obnoxious jerk.
Our day lobbying Congress was great. In the past we've been very focused on putting a price on carbon emissions. This is the most effective available solution to fighting climate change, but it's a topic that has trouble gaining traction in some Congressional offices due to their philosophical outlook or the political climate in their district. This year we had carbon pricing and clean energy permitting reform as dual focuses with the meeting lead and member liaison choosing the topic that's the best fit for the office. This seemed to work quite well; we had some great conversations with offices where we've previously received a tepid response, and a lot of members were quite excited to see us. I was even involved in literal magical hallway discussion: a member was in a committee meeting all day, but really wanted to meet with CCL, so her staffers took us down the elevator and around the building where we had a ten minute conversation on a whole bunch of topics before their scheduler dragged them back in to mark up a bill. I also had the honor of leading a half-hour face-to-face meeting with Senator Hickenlooper who's been a big supporter of both carbon pricing and clean energy permitting reform.
We took advantage of the CO2 expenditure of flying to Washington DC to take a small vacation around the Chesapeake Bay region. Our first leg took us to Williamsburg Virgina by way of the Edgar Allen Poe Museum in Richmond, in part so we could pet the resident black cats. We checked into a B&B where all the rooms were themed after a U.S. president, ate some amazingly delicious mussels steamed in a chorizo sauce, walked down Colonial Williamsburg's Duke of Gloucester Street at sunset (good historic architecture vibes, cool fireflies, and reduced chaotic energy from tourist hordes). The next day we visited both Jamestown historic sites. The State of Virginia and the National Park Service both run a site focused on the first English settlement in the U.S. and its interactions with the native people. The State-run one is significantly more tourist-oriented, featuring people in period dress engaging in 17th Century crafts, recreated sailing ships (there was much quiet singing of I'm On A Boat"), and a folk park style buildings recreating Powhatan buildings and the Jamestown Fort. The National Park version is more of an archaeological site than a folk park, though it does have a working recreation of the Jamestown glassblowing site. The site is also quieter, with more of a chance to connect with the landscape and the James River, giving something of a sense of how the settlers and Indians might have experienced the place. (For one, the English woolen clothing must've been incredibly uncomfortable in June.) We finished the evening with another Parks on the Air activation from a small strip of sand at the edge of James Island. I was able to contact Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and attracted a hunter from Spain which felt pretty good for a 15 watt radio.
After a fun crossing of the Chesapeake Bay bridge and tunnel we spent the weekend in Maryland's eastern shore. The book themed B&B with a charming English hostess was much more our style. We'd hoped to take a canoe around Janes Island but the wind speed would've made paddling too difficult so we hung out at a picnic table coloring and playing ham radio. Band conditions were awful due to a geomagnetic storms, so getting the needed ten contacts for an activation took two hours. We then enjoyed a delicious crab cake lunch and then listened to Seldom Scene at the Crisfield Bluegrass Festival we didn't know was happening.
On the way back to NoVa we visited the Harriet Tubman Museum, a fairly new state park and national monument that does a really good job sharing and contextualizing Harriet Tubman's life and slavery in the mid-19th Century. Throughout the trip I was impressed with the care taken by museum curators to feature the slavery and Indian parts of the stories in meaningful ways, far beyond a token land acknowledgment.
The fourth weekend of June was ARRL Field Day when ham radio clubs across North America set up a temporary station and fill the airwaves with contacts. I've been in California for the last two Field Days, so I was excited to be able to check out the great setup the Boulder Amateur Radio Club does at Betasso park west of Boulder. I'd intended to set up a tent and operate into the late shift of this 24-hour event, but I realized that the generator would make falling asleep quite challenging and opted to get one Saturday night of the month in my regular bed. Sunday was spent recovering from the month that was, and mowing the grass that had been going bonkers from all the rain this year.
The Fourth of July long weekend brought Dead and Company to Folsom Field on their final tour. The shows were sold out or close to it, but I was able to find some spots with enough room to dance a bit. There were some really good performances, including some stellar drums & space, but I was a little disappointed with the set list. I think they only played two songs that premiered after 1979 (Standing on the Moon and So Many Roads). I knew they weren't likely to play any Pigpen or Brent Mydland songs, but it would've been great to hear something from the '80s like Tons of Steel or Throwing Stones or bring out a song that left the repertoire after the '60s like Viola Lee Blues. We also got a cat on July 1st (we'd been targeting this month for cat adoption for quite some time), so all my non-Dead energy for the weekend went into making the house safe and comfortable for a feline.
I spent the next couple unstructured weekends preparing for Burning Man. Given the amazing heat last year and the likelihood of wild and wacky weather from El Niño this year, I want to up my shade game so I have a hope of sleeping a little longer. I decided to drape a large piece of aluminet over two military surplus camo net poles, forming something of an A-frame. My ability to visualize objects and then make that imagined plan meet reality isn't one of my strong suits, so hopefully a test run of this shade structure will go well at Dragonfest (where shade that lets rain in isn't a huge win, but when else am I going to have time to try it?). I spent the final July weekend at a Ranger training campout near Ward. This was great fun, including the drinking-and-joking-around-the-campfire session, but its late season timing means I've got one less Burning Man prep weekend, and don't get a full weekend to prep for Dragonfest. Fortunately "camping in Colorado with a bunch of Pagans" is packing I can do without too much thought. I'm quite glad I decided not to go to the Ranger command team training the previous weekend, otherwise I'd have all the info for Burning Man and none of the actual necessary stuff.
August's weekend lineup features Dragonfest, then Pack For Burning Man Weekend, then Burning Man Opening Weekend, then Man Burn Weekend, then Get Home, Unpack, And Fall Asleep Weekend. That's usually followed by Clean The Dust Off All Your Stuff and then, wouldn't you know it, it's autumn equinox and time to do some kind of anniversary/birthday weekend getaway.
Yeesh. Maybe one of these years I'll spend a summer just hanging out.
The first weekend in June was Untamed a pagan gathering in its second year, led by some of the core people from the now defunct Beltania event. It featured workshops, rituals, craft vendors, neo-highland games, a day of music performances, and drum circles. And rain. Lots of rain. It's been a wet year in Colorado, so I was expecting a wet and chilly event, and it definitely delivered. I wound up sleeping in tights plus two pairs of pajama pants, hiking socks under mucklucks, a T-shirt under a long-sleeve shirt under a sweat shirt, and a winter hat. I think the cold and damp helped the drum circles find some really neat rhythms and reflective grooves, and everyone had the good sense to bring drums that wouldn't detune too bad in the damp air. There was also a ham radio Parks on the Air event that weekend, and since the festival property is right next to the Pike National Forest I hung a wire antenna in the trees on the other side of the fence and made some contacts while keeping dry in my tent. Unfortunately, after I'd made a bunch of contacts around the 20 meter band and started to call for people to contact me ("calling CQ") my high-end radio from the early 1990s suddenly got stuck in transmit mode and I noticed a distinct electronics smell. The problem persisted when testing at home where it was warm and dry, so I've got a circuit board investigation project to do when I get a free weekend. Which will maybe be October? November. Sheesh. At least the maker space at my office should be back up and running by then.
As soon as I got home I had to unpack the truck, start packing suit cases, and plan two lobby meetings for CCL's return to Capitol Hill. Kelly and I flew out Friday and stayed with a friend's parents in northern Virginia. Spending three days at an in person conference is so much more invigorating than a day and a half of a virtual conference via Zoom has been. And I love "magical hallway conversations" that emerge; I ran into people from the Before Times that I didn't even know would be there, had some great conversations with folks I knew I'd find. Even the thirty second connections with folks are so much better than a Zoom breakout room. I also took advantage of the conference hotel's location next to Rock Creek Park to do a Parks on the Air activation with a small radio and portable antenna I brought. Band conditions were challenging and it's hard to get a lot of power from a small radio but I managed to secure enough contacts for the activation to count. While I was at the conference on Saturday, Kelly went to DC Pride and got into a bit of good trouble, engaging in "lawful annoying" peacockery to establish a perimeter in front of the homophobic street preacher who probably makes money suing people who punch him for being an obnoxious jerk.
Our day lobbying Congress was great. In the past we've been very focused on putting a price on carbon emissions. This is the most effective available solution to fighting climate change, but it's a topic that has trouble gaining traction in some Congressional offices due to their philosophical outlook or the political climate in their district. This year we had carbon pricing and clean energy permitting reform as dual focuses with the meeting lead and member liaison choosing the topic that's the best fit for the office. This seemed to work quite well; we had some great conversations with offices where we've previously received a tepid response, and a lot of members were quite excited to see us. I was even involved in literal magical hallway discussion: a member was in a committee meeting all day, but really wanted to meet with CCL, so her staffers took us down the elevator and around the building where we had a ten minute conversation on a whole bunch of topics before their scheduler dragged them back in to mark up a bill. I also had the honor of leading a half-hour face-to-face meeting with Senator Hickenlooper who's been a big supporter of both carbon pricing and clean energy permitting reform.
We took advantage of the CO2 expenditure of flying to Washington DC to take a small vacation around the Chesapeake Bay region. Our first leg took us to Williamsburg Virgina by way of the Edgar Allen Poe Museum in Richmond, in part so we could pet the resident black cats. We checked into a B&B where all the rooms were themed after a U.S. president, ate some amazingly delicious mussels steamed in a chorizo sauce, walked down Colonial Williamsburg's Duke of Gloucester Street at sunset (good historic architecture vibes, cool fireflies, and reduced chaotic energy from tourist hordes). The next day we visited both Jamestown historic sites. The State of Virginia and the National Park Service both run a site focused on the first English settlement in the U.S. and its interactions with the native people. The State-run one is significantly more tourist-oriented, featuring people in period dress engaging in 17th Century crafts, recreated sailing ships (there was much quiet singing of I'm On A Boat"), and a folk park style buildings recreating Powhatan buildings and the Jamestown Fort. The National Park version is more of an archaeological site than a folk park, though it does have a working recreation of the Jamestown glassblowing site. The site is also quieter, with more of a chance to connect with the landscape and the James River, giving something of a sense of how the settlers and Indians might have experienced the place. (For one, the English woolen clothing must've been incredibly uncomfortable in June.) We finished the evening with another Parks on the Air activation from a small strip of sand at the edge of James Island. I was able to contact Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and attracted a hunter from Spain which felt pretty good for a 15 watt radio.
After a fun crossing of the Chesapeake Bay bridge and tunnel we spent the weekend in Maryland's eastern shore. The book themed B&B with a charming English hostess was much more our style. We'd hoped to take a canoe around Janes Island but the wind speed would've made paddling too difficult so we hung out at a picnic table coloring and playing ham radio. Band conditions were awful due to a geomagnetic storms, so getting the needed ten contacts for an activation took two hours. We then enjoyed a delicious crab cake lunch and then listened to Seldom Scene at the Crisfield Bluegrass Festival we didn't know was happening.
On the way back to NoVa we visited the Harriet Tubman Museum, a fairly new state park and national monument that does a really good job sharing and contextualizing Harriet Tubman's life and slavery in the mid-19th Century. Throughout the trip I was impressed with the care taken by museum curators to feature the slavery and Indian parts of the stories in meaningful ways, far beyond a token land acknowledgment.
The fourth weekend of June was ARRL Field Day when ham radio clubs across North America set up a temporary station and fill the airwaves with contacts. I've been in California for the last two Field Days, so I was excited to be able to check out the great setup the Boulder Amateur Radio Club does at Betasso park west of Boulder. I'd intended to set up a tent and operate into the late shift of this 24-hour event, but I realized that the generator would make falling asleep quite challenging and opted to get one Saturday night of the month in my regular bed. Sunday was spent recovering from the month that was, and mowing the grass that had been going bonkers from all the rain this year.
The Fourth of July long weekend brought Dead and Company to Folsom Field on their final tour. The shows were sold out or close to it, but I was able to find some spots with enough room to dance a bit. There were some really good performances, including some stellar drums & space, but I was a little disappointed with the set list. I think they only played two songs that premiered after 1979 (Standing on the Moon and So Many Roads). I knew they weren't likely to play any Pigpen or Brent Mydland songs, but it would've been great to hear something from the '80s like Tons of Steel or Throwing Stones or bring out a song that left the repertoire after the '60s like Viola Lee Blues. We also got a cat on July 1st (we'd been targeting this month for cat adoption for quite some time), so all my non-Dead energy for the weekend went into making the house safe and comfortable for a feline.
I spent the next couple unstructured weekends preparing for Burning Man. Given the amazing heat last year and the likelihood of wild and wacky weather from El Niño this year, I want to up my shade game so I have a hope of sleeping a little longer. I decided to drape a large piece of aluminet over two military surplus camo net poles, forming something of an A-frame. My ability to visualize objects and then make that imagined plan meet reality isn't one of my strong suits, so hopefully a test run of this shade structure will go well at Dragonfest (where shade that lets rain in isn't a huge win, but when else am I going to have time to try it?). I spent the final July weekend at a Ranger training campout near Ward. This was great fun, including the drinking-and-joking-around-the-campfire session, but its late season timing means I've got one less Burning Man prep weekend, and don't get a full weekend to prep for Dragonfest. Fortunately "camping in Colorado with a bunch of Pagans" is packing I can do without too much thought. I'm quite glad I decided not to go to the Ranger command team training the previous weekend, otherwise I'd have all the info for Burning Man and none of the actual necessary stuff.
August's weekend lineup features Dragonfest, then Pack For Burning Man Weekend, then Burning Man Opening Weekend, then Man Burn Weekend, then Get Home, Unpack, And Fall Asleep Weekend. That's usually followed by Clean The Dust Off All Your Stuff and then, wouldn't you know it, it's autumn equinox and time to do some kind of anniversary/birthday weekend getaway.
Yeesh. Maybe one of these years I'll spend a summer just hanging out.
Mental Images
Monday, August 6th, 2007 01:28 pmFrom the Quote of the Day iGoogle plugin:
You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat.
-- Albert Einstein
I also got a spam message today from an address @portlandhottub.com. While I assume that domain is owned by someone who sells hot tubs in Portland, the first thing that came to mind was every person in Portland, OR lounging in a very large hot tub. Now that would be my kind of city.
Pill Pockets: Fantastic Feline Feature
Monday, February 19th, 2007 09:27 pmI and two other people list low-tech solutions as an interest. I periodically try to think of a good example to explain this interest, but usually draw a blank. But late last week my cat developed a urinary tract infection. I took him to the vet, who prescribed antibiotics. The last time Smoochie took antibiotics, it took five minutes of struggle to get half a dropper of bubble-gum flavored liquid into his mouth and half all over his face. With that in mind, I requested pills to try something new. Saturday night, it took a struggle to force a gravy-coated pill into his mouth. After a few tries, he swallowed it.
Enter my new favorite low-tech solution: Pill Pockets. It's a cat (or dog) treat open on one side. It's easy to slip a pill in, and if it's small you can mould the treat over the pill. Then set the treat in front of the sick cat. He'll sniff it once and eat it without thought. Brilliant and well worth the $11 I spent.
Enter my new favorite low-tech solution: Pill Pockets. It's a cat (or dog) treat open on one side. It's easy to slip a pill in, and if it's small you can mould the treat over the pill. Then set the treat in front of the sick cat. He'll sniff it once and eat it without thought. Brilliant and well worth the $11 I spent.
