Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Never Get a Tortie Cat!



Tortoiseshell cats, or torties as they are affectionately known,  are often high spirited, obnoxious troublemakers.  While tortoiseshell refers only to the coat colour and not to a specific breed itself, any tortie owner knows they are indeed a breed apart.  They are the feline equivalent of the stereotypical red headed, freckle-faced child - mischievous, hot tempered, but incredibly endearing.  Anne of Green Gables on four furry feet.

Allie is the quintessential tortie.  A devil in fur. A thorn in my side.  As likely to lash out and slash you as to nuzzle your chin and meow for treats.

For the past several days she's been under the weather (just one of several under the weather pets and people in my life right now).  At first I thought 'hairballs', as she had thrown up a few times in recent weeks, and so I pulled out the hairball medicine and a fresh pot of cat grass. She's an indoor cat, so lives in a pretty safe environment.  Not much to cause her harm here.

Then I came home Sunday to find her totally spooked by something, eyes big, slinking under furniture and hiding out behind the toilet.  I knew it wasn't the dogs' fault as they were all with me.  And so I watched her carefully.   Noticing she wasn't jumping, climbing, pouncing, talking, kneading, biting, or even eating, I wondered if she had fallen somehow and hurt herself.

She would eat and drink when I put food or water right in front of her, but mostly she just hid under a blanket on a chair in the corner of the living room.  I moved the litter box from the bathroom to her side, put an x-pen around the whole area to keep the dogs from getting in her space, and continued to monitor her.  She'd pee at night, she did a very small poop one day, but she very definitely wasn't her usual self.

So I made an appointment to take her to the vet.  That is a decision not made lightly - she is every vet's worst nightmare, and they are no happier to see her than she is to see them.

An hour before the appointment, I pulled out the travel crate, walked over to the lump under the blanket, and picked her up.  She took one look at the crate, stretched all four limbs out as wide as possible, extended claws and fangs to grab onto anything within her reach - drapes, blankets, edges of crate, and any part of  the only person in the world who gives a damn about her, and with a quick twist of the body and a large chunk of the gloved hand that feeds her, she flew across the room hissing and growling and standing her ground.

The chase was on.  No amount of Temptations, sardines, cajoling, swearing, chasing, blanket tossing, or pleading was going to get her within my reach.  After half an hour of trying to get her,  I ended up cancelling the appointment.

I'll just let nature take its course - if she can race all around the house trying to avoid letting me put her in the carrier, then she's not as close to death's door as I feared.

Allie, there are thousands more where you came from -  if you die through your own silly fault, you can be replaced!

Okay, I don't really mean that, but if anyone wants a cat with attitude, I might have a deal for you.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

But I LOVE tortie cats! They are my favourite! One of mine was like yours and the other was as mellow mellow could be!
Aileen

Caroline A said...

If I were you Jean, I'd sleep with one eye open tonight, hehe.

I love cats, love their independence, love their spunk, and love that I am their servant.
But when it comes time to go to the vets, my beloved little angels also turn into possessed entities from you know where, and the drive to the vet office is usually one giant blood curdling scream!

Temptations are for afterwards, so you can attempt to get back in her favor. LOL

Anonymous said...

I adore our tortie persian..she has quite the personality..has no hesitation in thwacking the dogs, hissing at anyone but also wants desperately her cuddles.she is an amazing traveller..she goes with us to Mexico in the RV and is so laid back..at the vets she totally lets them do their thing so we are lucky..she is 15 now and still has a glossy coat and ready to take on anything and everything big and small...
Cheryl & Amber the tortie

Anonymous said...

Has she forgiven you yet????


Else

Dom said...

I 100% agree about torties!!! I always glove up when I see them at the clinic. I actually had a tortie once. I made the mistake of naming her Pandora. I can't even recount all the ways she got herself into trouble (starting with pulling a step stool over on herself and breaking her foot as a kitten. She wound up costing me $800 only to find out there was nothing to be done, but wait for it to heal). I think my favorite one was when she pushed open my second floor window while I slept and JUMPED OUT OF IT. She was fine, but you should have heard the neighbor scream...

Zazie Todd, PhD, for Companion Animal Psychology said...

I have a tortie too. She still climbs the curtains every day. I thought she would grow out of it once she was no longer a kitten, but no. I love how sweet and talkative she is - she will have little conversations with me about how her day is going.

I hope Allie is back to normal now

Axelle said...

I have two kittens. A torti and a black and white male kitten. I adore them both. They do not however, adore each other. The male kitten was a feral when we bought him and the torti at the same time from the same shelter. My little black and white just wants to play, but miss torti ain't having any. She hisses and growls, so I have to keep them in separate enclosure. Lol