Well, she's actually not THAT bad, but I got your attention. She is my Ariel, a silver-gray DLH with green eyes (looks very Nebelung like). She's exceptionally pretty, I think. I've had her a year. She had spent over 3 years at the shelter at that point. I got her because she was close friends with another cat I had, Sherman (who so sadly died of cancer after I only had him 10 months), and because she was unlikely to ever be adopted by anyone else.
She went in the shelter at 7 weeks old, and she may have been brought there in the first place because of her personality/temperament. They worked there on socializing her a lot. She was in a foster home for a while. She spent a year living in the office of one of the shelter directors - getting lots of attention. She was a "floor cat" for about 1.5 years - where she is among other cats and with lots of people around. She wouldn't let anyone close.
She's high strung. After a year she will come to me to be petted, if I'm sitting down. A favorite hangout of her's is on the big desk behind this computer. She lets me pet her there - even wants me to. But, if I walk over to her she freaks - starts yowling. She's always been like this, and that she lets me pet her now is big progress. I can't pick her up. In a year, I've never picked her up. I wanted to take her to the vet a couple of months ago (just a check-up) and she became a spitting, hissing, yowling, growling monster. I gave up.
But now she really had to go to the vet because her rabies shot was due and I live in a county that takes that seriously. I got the owner of my pet sitting service to come over and cat-wrangle her into the carrier. I'm just too chicken to do it myself. Even though I handle a lot of cats at the shelter where I volunteer each week, Ariel was more than I could handle. The cat-wrangler did the job, but she got scratched good in the process (bleeding even). It was upsetting to me, but the woman was fine with it.
So Ariel was in the carrier, along with the towel that had been used to get her in there, and she was none too happy. I felt shook up that the woman got hurt, and I felt bad that I was taking this difficult cat to my vet. But they were fine with her at the vet's, and Ariel was more or less fine. They picked her out of the carrier by the scuff of her neck. They handled her without gloves and got the job done. They are very gentle. They told me stories of much worse cats that they see - including about 12 a year that they can't handle at all. They go from their carriers into an aquarium that they pump gas into to put the cats out so they can be examined and given shots.
I usually only have my cats get 1 year rabies shots because they are safer and I want them to have a physical exam each year. But I asked for the 3 year rabies shot for Ariel. I'm hoping that over the next 3 years I can learn to handle her and have her learn to not freak out at being handled. She also had the Rhino/Calici/Panleuk annual shot. My plan is that she won't have that again until she has to go in for the rabies shot again - or some other reason she'd have to go in before. My other cats will all be kept undated, and therefore I'm hoping that will be good enough to protect her. She's almost 4.5 years old and had that shot every year. The head tech at the vet's seemed to think this plan was good. What do you think?
My vet, who I think a lot of and have been going to for 25 years, talked to me about declawing her. He's concerned as to how I would ever give her medication should the time come (and it probably will if she lives long). He told me about laser declawing and how much better it is than the old methods. He said I could watch a video about it on line that shows how fast a cat recovers from it. But, I'm very against declawing and I don't want to do that. Still, I'm going to think about it, long term. I have another cat also that I would never be able to give medication to. Both he and Ariel have had physical problems that caused them to have a lot of procedures and medications at the shelter. It has made them difficult to handle. I can pick him up, though. However, that took a year. I couldn't trim their claws either.
Anyway, she's home, and it's over, and only one person got hurt.
Robin
She went in the shelter at 7 weeks old, and she may have been brought there in the first place because of her personality/temperament. They worked there on socializing her a lot. She was in a foster home for a while. She spent a year living in the office of one of the shelter directors - getting lots of attention. She was a "floor cat" for about 1.5 years - where she is among other cats and with lots of people around. She wouldn't let anyone close.
She's high strung. After a year she will come to me to be petted, if I'm sitting down. A favorite hangout of her's is on the big desk behind this computer. She lets me pet her there - even wants me to. But, if I walk over to her she freaks - starts yowling. She's always been like this, and that she lets me pet her now is big progress. I can't pick her up. In a year, I've never picked her up. I wanted to take her to the vet a couple of months ago (just a check-up) and she became a spitting, hissing, yowling, growling monster. I gave up.
But now she really had to go to the vet because her rabies shot was due and I live in a county that takes that seriously. I got the owner of my pet sitting service to come over and cat-wrangle her into the carrier. I'm just too chicken to do it myself. Even though I handle a lot of cats at the shelter where I volunteer each week, Ariel was more than I could handle. The cat-wrangler did the job, but she got scratched good in the process (bleeding even). It was upsetting to me, but the woman was fine with it.
So Ariel was in the carrier, along with the towel that had been used to get her in there, and she was none too happy. I felt shook up that the woman got hurt, and I felt bad that I was taking this difficult cat to my vet. But they were fine with her at the vet's, and Ariel was more or less fine. They picked her out of the carrier by the scuff of her neck. They handled her without gloves and got the job done. They are very gentle. They told me stories of much worse cats that they see - including about 12 a year that they can't handle at all. They go from their carriers into an aquarium that they pump gas into to put the cats out so they can be examined and given shots.
I usually only have my cats get 1 year rabies shots because they are safer and I want them to have a physical exam each year. But I asked for the 3 year rabies shot for Ariel. I'm hoping that over the next 3 years I can learn to handle her and have her learn to not freak out at being handled. She also had the Rhino/Calici/Panleuk annual shot. My plan is that she won't have that again until she has to go in for the rabies shot again - or some other reason she'd have to go in before. My other cats will all be kept undated, and therefore I'm hoping that will be good enough to protect her. She's almost 4.5 years old and had that shot every year. The head tech at the vet's seemed to think this plan was good. What do you think?
My vet, who I think a lot of and have been going to for 25 years, talked to me about declawing her. He's concerned as to how I would ever give her medication should the time come (and it probably will if she lives long). He told me about laser declawing and how much better it is than the old methods. He said I could watch a video about it on line that shows how fast a cat recovers from it. But, I'm very against declawing and I don't want to do that. Still, I'm going to think about it, long term. I have another cat also that I would never be able to give medication to. Both he and Ariel have had physical problems that caused them to have a lot of procedures and medications at the shelter. It has made them difficult to handle. I can pick him up, though. However, that took a year. I couldn't trim their claws either.
Anyway, she's home, and it's over, and only one person got hurt.
Robin
