Yesterday when we brought Tiger home from the vet, he had a bright pink bandage on his left front leg, where the vet had placed the IV needle. The vet said we could take the bandage off after an hour or so. HOW, I wondered were we going to hold Tiger down long enough to take that bandage off? Tiger is a nice cat, but he will NOT allow himself to be handled. After a while I noticed that Tiger's paw beneath the bandage was swollen and I was afraid the bandage was too tight. I was worried about his swollen paw, so I decided we had to catch him and get the bandage off.
We knew catching Tiger wasn't going to be easy. Initially, our strategy was to barricade all the inside doors and confine Tiger to as small a space as possible. Then husband and I would close in on him, one on each side, each of us holding a blanket with which to ensnare him. This entailed a lot of running around, with Tiger outmaneuvering us at every turn. We finally cornered him in the dining room, where Tiger decided he was not going to run anymore. He simply planted himself squarely under the dining room table and refused to budge.
We stood on either side, talking to him gently, trying to persuade him to come out. When we finally gave up, he ran to an even more inaccessible spot, behind the sofa. Once again, we ganged up on him, one on each end of the sofa. I stuffed my end closed with pillows so he couldn't come out that way. Husband waited at the other end with a large fishing net, ready to snare him. He was protected by thick gloves so he could hold Tiger in the net. When husband had tiger in the net and reached down to hold him, Tiger jumped up and scratched him across the face. Husband let go and ran off to survey what was left of his face (it's not too bad).
After a while, husband shouted to me to come quick. Somehow he had managed to corner Tiger in the basement stairwell, with the door closed behind him. I ran to get boxes and pillows to block off the top of the stairway, in case Tiger managed to get past husband. Husband threw the large fishing net over Tiger. Funny thing is, once Tiger was caught, he calmed down and held still, while I I ran down the stairs and managed to cut the bandage off through the mesh of the net. Then he was free to go. He is hiding from us now.
So, now Tiger is free of the bright pink bandage. But I don't know long it will be before he trusts us enough to be in the same room with us. I guess when he gets hungry enough, he will come around. As for us humans... we are exhausted!
That's a pretty funny story. I know what you mean, catching a cat can be one of the hardest jobs imaginable! I can't count the amount of times I've chased one of my cats around the house trying to get them to stand still. It's darn near impossible! Then when you DO catch them, they scratch and bite you until you drop them again and the chase starts over.
ReplyDeleteHi Nikki! Yes, catching a cat is exactly the way you describe it!
ReplyDeleteCongratuations on your first blog.
Judy
Of course, I meant congratulations... I need spell check!
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by for pie.. I love it too, my hips not so much!
ReplyDeleteWe have a cat that is acting restless too... howling loudly day and night. Well let's see he's 18 so maybe that explains it!
Hope you are feeling good these days.
i love that picture.
ReplyDeleteBearette, I know, it makes me laugh.
ReplyDeleteI also experienced catching a cat, he was a stranger in my house, I want to catch him because he ate my food for lunch and I hate him very much for what he have done.
ReplyDeleteI try my best to follow the direction he was going, he was running to swiftly so I thought it was very impossible to catch him but I still tried my best and in the end?!
He was able to escape and I was left empty handed and starving...sad :(
cat sneezing