It was time to take Maisie to the vet for her pre-spay wellness check and vaccinations.
As we have been frequent visitors to Heartland Veterinary Hospital the girls in the office are always happy to see how well she’s doing. Her near-death demeanour and her current sassy-cat attitude are so far apart on the energy spectrum that she brings a smile to so many faces at Heartland.
Our weight is now up to 2.89 kg (6 lb 6 oz). Considering her first weigh in did not even register on the scale (which begins at 8 oz) she’s come so far in just under three months time. Now here’s an interesting situation; when Maisie was checked over that first week coming into my care, a vet tech looked into her mouth and judging by the progression of teeth, estimated her age to be 4 – 5 weeks.
She was so very tiny, I gave her a birthday one month prior to finding her (that being August 6).
This visit the vet looked into her mouth and said, okay she has all her adult teeth, therefore she’s 5-6 months old. So now Miss Maisie has a new “birth-date” of June 1st. She’s officially a Gemini kitty.
Maisie is an old hat at getting weighed and visiting with the vet techs. All was good until Dr Mary attempted to listen to her heart with the stethoscope. OH MY! The devil-kitty personality emerged and it was a bit of a challenge to get the exam done. I was surprised at my normally good-natured kitty. With Taylor, the vet tech, assisting, the two vaccination needles in the butt were swiftly accomplished and we were on our way.
A big thank you to everyone at Heartland, as always, you take such good care of my girl.
The visit must have wore her out because she slept the drive home as well as most of the evening and night. We are due back for boosters in December. Let’s see how THAT visit goes.
A 3 1/2 month old kitten is similar to sharing your days with a toddler. Wild is wild in my books. When toddler-kitty is bored – watch out! The kitty starts getting into mischief. As Maisie grows (and oh how she’s grown since I first brought her home) she is able to reach higher, jump higher, thus exploring a whole bunch of new objects in the apartment. Today I seemed to have reached my breaking point with patience.
In the morning Maisie would have swung from a chandelier, had there been one on the ceiling. Her next best option was to climb up on top of places she normally wouldn’t attempt. This process involved knocking over anything and everything in her path. There was chewing of envelope corners on the desk. The clipboard. The kitchen drawer handles.
Maisie hanging (and chewing) the kitchen drawer handles.
The timing of what seemed to be the birth of “crazymaisie” is also whereby we are at the end of a full moon. October’s moon is called the Hunter’s Moon and this was so aptly named for the behaviour exuded by Maisie the past while. My ankles were repeatedly attacked. She loves to bite my toes through my big thick winter socks (thank you Mark’s Work Wearhouse) of which she doesn’t penetrate or more likely her play isn’t to kill my toes just grab them (I’m still learning the art of kitty prey play)
Either her energy peaked today or I’ve used up all my patience in the past two days. The full moon peaked on the 24th. Whatever the reason, the two of us cooped up in the apartment was just a recipe for getting on each others nerves. She, ever the curious kitten, doing normal kitty exploring activities seemed bent on getting her way. Negative attention is just as good when you have a kitten needing some human interaction. When Mama’s face is glued to the computer screen for work, there is one surefire way to get her attention.
There was some serious selective hearing going on with the refusal to acknowledge or respond to the word “no”. From ankle attacks to clawing at the recliner upholstery(right beside me I might add) to flinging litter across the floor, it was one heckuva trying day for this kittymama. Even the squirt bottle didn’t evoke a response. I swear she just looked at me and emitted an evil laugh. She simply proceeded to leap at my arms and bat at them. Since I have been distracted with work (it’s my busy season) I let her nails grow a bit too long.
The score today sits at Maisie 1 – Mama 0
Thanks to Jackson Galaxy (the cat guru) it was evident my hunter cat was simply taking my ankles for prey. His recommendation of placing an overstimulated kitten/cat in another room for a timeout was just what I needed. Maisie spent the next 10 minutes in the bathroom and I in my recliner with peace, glorious peace. It was definitely the right tactic and I wish I hadn’t waited until I was at my wit’s end to bring this forth. After the time out Maisie did seem a bit calmer and go figure she rubbed against my leg. She got me right where she needed. My mood softened and my voice sang out “awwwww pretty kitty. You feeling better now?” Then she went into the bedroom and took a nap. I should say so – that was quite the display of energy output!
Although she continued to be “bad” (so to speak as in there really are no “bad” kittens just as there are no “bad toddlers” ) the break made the rest of the evening manageable.
My question is: Had the full Hunter’s Moon hyped up Maisie another notch? Was the sharpening of claws with such frenzy and frequency her need to be ready for the next round?
I’ll be happy when the moon wanes to a point where, hopefully, her wild moon energy decreases to a much more tolerable level. A wild eyed and equally wild bodied kitten is no match for the “No” command or the squirt bottle. What do I have to face next month’s full moon? (The Beaver Moon)
As Jackson Galaxy said – cats can get over stimulated easily and it’s our job to pay attention to the signals. Today was definitely a learning curve for me.
Maisie the Cat 