Caturday Saturday

 Why, every day is Caturday around Furrydance!

Teri has another busy day today! She is going to the train station to pick up a woman who took the train down from Connecticut to meet Toby, and Teri is hoping she likes this person in person and that she and Toby "click" and he will "spoken for" and start his new life (being a good boy, of course!). The visit today will include showing her how to bath Toby, clean his ears, trim his nails and clean his nailbeds. Most CRex are prone to yeast overgrowth in their ears and between their toes, and sometimes chin/belly--any skin. This makes them smell "cheesy", which some people think is a normal Cornish Rex smell. It's not!

It may be due to their very short fur letting the skin oils attract the yeasts that are just naturally in the environment, or can have allergies as a cause for their presence, but keeping it under control is just a normal part of Cornish Rex maintenance care and my cats are used to monthly baths and all the rest of their "spa days". Here's a link to info on Malassezia (yeast) issues in cats:

Nail Bed Debris in Cats

This woman is moving to Iowa this summer and we decided it would be best to put Toby through the less changes possible, so she wouldn't actually be "taking possession" of him til after she gets moved and settled in and the weather permits (it has to be between 45-85 degrees to fly a kitty in cargo).

Toby has been behaving very well, having only sprayed twice in the two months he's been in the library room (if you remember, he's a rehab kitty--so cage, then bathroom, then bedroom...) and in the bedroom he was spraying a little still by the door, more than likely because he could hear and smell the other cats there. So I moved him to the bedroom/library room and he's been behaving well.

   

He is on anxiety medication still (Buspar) and I will leave him on that for a few months after he is settled into his new home too, to ease his transition. And of course, just like with all the Furrydance cats I have raised, if he doesn't settle into his new home, and his bad behavior returns...I will take him back with open arms.

Then after taking the visitor back to the train station, Teri is going to visit a couple who adopted a Cornish Rex through rescue, who are having some issues with this kitty and spraying. They came to meet Teri many months ago when they were considering adopting a Furrydance cat. But while they were waiting, this kitty came up through rescue and they fell in love with her. They have had her almost a year now and her issues returned, and while they never completely went away, something made her start peeing on the bed and spraying more!

They took her to their vet for a thorough exam and tests and even had her teeth cleaned and treated in case oral pain was affecting her behavior. It didn't help and they made the difficult decision to return her.

Well, they only lasted 24 hours without her and missed her so much that they went back and got her, and have now set up a large cage for her and I am going over to help with getting her settled and doing a walk through of their home to see if I can help "cat proof" it for them, pointing out any areas that might be attracting her to spray and also taking over some supplies for cleaning and to make her cage setup nice--pretty curtains, a "custom" litterbox (actually a 21 gallon storage box with high sides she can't spray over and an entrance opening cut in one end--like this:

This is a very sweet kitty, and they don't have any other pets, so it seems like the perfect home for her, and they missed her presence so much that they would rather adapt and work with her issues than give her up. She may be a cat that would benefit from anxiety medication too, so we will talk about that also.

So, today will be another day where I can end my day knowing I helped someone take care of their cat better, helped educate and inform them and that's a great way to end a day...isn't it?!