They are starting to explore a bit more — at least Smokey is.
Tiger is scared to death of coming downstairs. I think part of it is maybe Maureen didn’t have 2 stories, so upstairs & downstairs are new concepts to him. And part of it may be I use a stair-lift — He looks at it & it freaks him out.
I sat on the “Cat Lounge” floor & Lou carried him to me. He didn’t resist, but he just couldn’t relax, even with windows open, Smokey hanging out, birds chirping, pootie pad, me on the floor — nothing helped poor Tiger. He’s the big, strong one of the pair, but not as brave as his skinny little sister. We’ll let him take his time. Just gave him an invitation.
Smokey’s biopsy: It sat at the vet’s. I kept calling for results. Office staff kept saying “pending”. It shouldn’t take that long! Turns out a front desk person put it on a shelf & it sat there… GRRRRR» MrCatSlave got it back. It’s hard to get a vet to analyse a specimen that they didn’t obtain themselves. (Try handing your doctor a jar of urine & claim it’s yours — they will give you a new jar & send you to the bathroom.)
We actually use 4 Vets, so another will analyse it, but must see her first. The specimen is in Formalin, so for biopsy purposes, it should be OK. If not -It was already expired when we received it (it was 5 days old- Ideal is 24 to 48 hrs, but as far as I know, that expiration refers only to tissue-typing.). And they certainly won’t open up our sweet girl just for biopsies! This is actually our preferred Vet — She just doesn’t do house calls.
Any Veterinarians / histologists among us?
And I made a mistake last night, but nothing awful happened. We’re still trying to keep Smokey & Tiger separate from Socs & Nina. (Cheree must always be separated due to her medical condition-any change could crash her blood count- Can literally watch it crash as the inside of her ears turn white!) Socs was still lethargic from her anesthesia yesterday. I left the door of Smokey & Tiger’s room open so they could explore, but I forgot to tell MrCatSlave. And he let Nina go upstairs. She just walked into their room & hung out with Tiger (Smokey was curled up & sleeping.) Nina & Tiger weren’t bothered by each other’s presence at all. This surprised me. I thought Nina would act aggressively toward new cats. I know Socs would have!
I want to thank everyone who has contributed to this rescue in one way or another. I hope they will settle in & be very happy here. They are super-nice cats. If the SPCA had separated them or killed them, it would have been a tragedy.
This group did right by Maureen.
It takes a villiage, but we did it!