Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Wet Kitty

Poor poor Star Baby. She had a bad bad night last night. But I think it's worse than that. I think she's had a bad two days. I will explain, but as I'm always squeamish about these types of posts, I am going to use other words so that if you are squeamish, you can imagine that it's something else.

Saturday night we discovered a Horrible Object on the bedroom floor. Someone has been Thinking outside the Box, I thought and freaked out. But Greg, who got a closer look at the Horrible Object said that he didn't believe so. Since it had litter bits clinging to it, it must have been dropped there, not Thought there. Still gross! But better than someone deliberately using our room for a Thinking Box.

Sunday is a busy day for us, so we did not notice Star acting unusually, and this Monday I was back to the pain specialist for my back, which is doing great, whew! But I got a shot in my knee, which pretty much put me out of commission for the rest of the day, so again, I didn't notice anything unusual. But after the fact, I now remember that Star had been staying very low to the ground, not playing, not overly affectionate, kind of keeping to herself.

If you know Star, you know that this, in itself, isn't a huge clue that there's anything wrong. She has her anti-social moments, her times when she cares nothing at all for me. Especially on the weekends when her daddy, her favorite person in the world, is home. (Monday is part of our weekend as it's Greg's day off, he works Saturday.)

Monday night was Star's turn to sleep upstairs with the humans. But she got all freaky and hidey when it was time to go up. She does not like being picked up or carried, so we thought fine, if she doesn't want a turn, she can stay downstairs. But Greg wouldn't leave it at that and after a while, he went back down after her.

She was easier to get because she wasn't expecting it and was trying to snooze on the couch. It was when he was carrying her up that he noticed the smell. He brought her to me, apparently so I could share the aroma with him.. If I hadn't already been laying down with an ice pack on my knee, I would have fallen over.

Somehow, I said, I don't think that furball you felt on her back leg is a furball.. I think she has ..a Clingon. Considering the stench and  how it was completely encompassed in her fur, we figured it must be the other half of the Horrible Object from Saturday night. One thing was clear, that sucker had to get off of there right now!

I considered cutting it out, but thought I'd try getting it with some wet paper towels first. If that smell was bad just holding her... Well, lets just say that loud dry heaves are not conducive to keeping a cat calm while you're trying to work on her... This baby was going to have to have a bath!

So we already had a mad cat, a scared cat, now we were going to have a wet, mad, scared cat! It was just as awful as you can imagine. She screamed, I gaged, she clawed, I bled, she clawed again, Greg bled. Note to self, trim nails before baths... I made the mistake of thinking she'd be comforted when it was all over by holding her to my chest as I dried her. I bled more.

We finally got her to the bedroom on dry towel and she calmed down. No more water or grabby humans, just soft rubbing with another towel followed by tons of lick lick licking. Why does it make sense that licking, which makes fur wet, is how they dry themselves?

I'm happy to say that she was a very happy kitty after all of this. She was purry and cuddly and attention seeking. I checked her skin on the back of her leg, no sign that the extended stay of the Horrible Object caused any rash or damage, thank goodness.

I know I've mentioned Star's curly tummy fur before. But when she gets wet, all of her fur gets curly! Or wavy, same principle. I think it's just adorable, but I know she would prefer not to get all wet just to look that way.. But that didn't stop us from taking pictures!

I'm not happy, but I feel better.



That doesn't mean I'm going to forgive you right away either.



Here's a close up of her curly tail furs, isn't it adorable? If scraggly and spiked with wet..
Good luck getting a clear shot of my tail, it's tip is still twitching with annoyance!

19 comments:

Katnip Lounge said...

Ha ha ha ha ha!

Poor Star! And poor you, and poor Greg! We have had the same thing happen here, too, complete with gagging. I love her curly fur, though, it looks so soft.

You might want to give Star some hairball goo for a couple of weeks. generally the klingons and Horrible Objects are like (forgive me) pearls on a fur string that they simply can't eliminate completely. I've had to remove a few poop-chains from the Beleagered Orifice! Furball goo helps.

The things we do...

Trish

The Monkeys said...

Clingons are so uncomfortable! I'm glad you got yours off. I had to have what the vet called a sanitary trim because I had the same problem!

Bella
xoxo

Mark's Mews (Marley, Lori, Loki, and Binq) said...

Poor Star, and poor ALL of you. We are glad we have short straight fur and so dont have the Klingon problem.

Random Felines said...

Poor Star (and ewww for the parents). Been there though... fortunately it is mostly the kittens - and while they hate baths just as much, they tend to be easier to control.

ANGEL ABBYGRACE said...

Oh dear Star.
You've been through the ringer dear girl.

purrs
>^,,^<
✿•*¨`*•. ♥Abby♥Boo♥Ping♥Jinx♥Grace♥✿•*¨`*•.

Connie - Tails from the Foster Kittens said...

We too have had our visits from the Klingons.. Evil little buggers aren't they??

Although I do lover Wet Star, she's pretty all crinkly like that.. (and you are not alone in taking photos of your wet kitties, I could drag out a stack of them, many I've already posted on my blog)

Cats Herd You said...

Wow, she gets curly when she's wet! When Newton was a kitten, we had to bathe him to clean up his horrible messes from being sick, and he never got curly at all. How unusual!

Gigi said...

Oh Darling Star--You skedaddle UTB, my sweet, and I will join you there with a little saucer of milk and a jar of Gerbers. I will feeds you tiny sips and nibbles and then we can hold paws while I groom your freshly washed furs. You will feel sooooo much better! XOXOXO

Brian's Home Blog said...

Poor sweetie Star! I sure hope all is well and happy again really, really soon.

Sparkle said...

Ugh, it sounds like a miserable time was had by all - at least it is over and Star is feeling better without that thing clinging to her backside! BTW, my human's hair gets curly when it's wet too... which is why she uses anti-frizz products. Just wanted to mention that.

Ann Boyajian said...

Ugh - poor all of you! We have to trim Skootch's bum regularly, because he gets what we call "dangles". Sometimes the dangles land on the floor, sometimes they get attached to his furry bum. The poor thing - he doesn't want them on his bum any more than we do!
You have my sympathies!

Colehaus Cats said...

oh, poor Star! Love the curly fur though! Poor, poor baby.

Soft purrs,
Seth, Maxx, Newton, Tessa & Pia Bean

GLOGIRLY said...

Big (((purrs))) to Star. Please feel better soon.
: ) Katie

Cat said...

Yikes what an ordeal!!! I think cutting the terrible object out then just washing the affected area might be a good idea if it happens again.

The Lee County Clowder said...

Poor Star. Poor beans. With luck, this will be a rare evenings entertainment.

If Clinging Horrible Things gets to be a common event, maybe shaving around a bit might help. Whether shaving is easier or harder than a bath, you alone will have to decide.

Sweet Purrfections said...

Poor Star. Truffle gets those clingy things frequently and the result is usually a butt bath. I've discovered that if I immediately wrap her in a towel and hold her close after the bath for several minutes, she calms down.

The Furries of Whisppy said...

Ack! Thankfully all of our cats are short fur. Whew!
But Whisky used to get clingons, which was made worst by her sitting on them...leaving marks ALL OVER the floor. *gag* Which is why I now tie up the fur above her, "exit" where a tail should be (she was born without a tail) and clingons are no longer an issue. :)
Take care of those scratches!

Anonymous said...
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LP said...

Poor Star! We have had that happen once with Mitalee and I now make certain I trim around her "exit" area once in a while so it won't happen again! When it did happen we cut the offensive matter out and just bathed her back area since we could probably never have given her a full bath!!
Glad Star feels better now although you have a few scratches from the ordreal :(

the critters in the cottage xo