NeuroTalk Support Groups - The things of Life

It was time.

Yes - that time of the month.

Time to de-flea the cats. Moi saw his opportunity one Saturday morning.
All three cats were in the house at the same time and he knew he had to make his move.

Science has advanced to the point that keeping the annoying hoppers (fleas) at bay is a cinch. At least in theory. All you have to do is take a tiny tube of medicine and squirt it on the back of the cat's neck. It then absorbs into the cat's system and gives a death sentence to any flea that dares bite the cat. The trick is getting it on the cat's skin and not on the fur. And it has to be where the cat cannot reach to lick it off.

Simple.

Minnie was easy. Still a kitten in size and nature, she is game for anything and is easy to handle. One quick squirt and she was done.

Jedi - cool cat that he is - sat there and accepted his fate. No fanfare. No sweat.

Okay. One cat to go.

Lillie.

Now you need to know that Lillie is the most neurotic cat I have ever met. (I think it because Moi used to get a kick out of startling her with the noise of plastic grocery bags when she was a kitten- but, that is just my opinion). De-fleaing Lillie has never been easy. Besides neurotic, she is also the smartest cat I have ever known. She will "sit" on command, "lay down" when told...as long as there is a treat to entice her. She has proven that she knows many words (in 2 languages) by disappearing to the word "bath" and "vet".

The moment of truth was at hand. Lillie was lounging on the overstuffed chair. Moi entered the room and whispered that it was time and he needed my help.

Experience had taught us that it takes at least 2 humans to put 1 ml of flea medicine on Lillie and we needed a plan.

We went to a nearby room to form our strategy. It was finally decided that Moi would hold her with a towel when I squirted the stuff. We rehearsed and practiced until we were sure we were ready.

Smiling innocently, we approached Lillie. Her eyes widened...her instincts telling her that something was up.

Moi tried pretending that it was strictly a social call and asked her how her day was going. At the last minute, it was obvious that she was on to us. In one last desperate tactical move, Moi yells "Look at the gecko's!".

Unfortunately, the change in game plan was lost on me. Instead of his words distracting Lillie to look out the window, it was I who looked and said, "Really? Where?"

Fortunately, Moi was as quick a mover as a thinker and was able to grab the frantic Lillie as she ran from the chair. It became obvious to me that he had been talking to Lillie when there was no gecko in sight, so I re-grouped and put the few drops on her neck, as she yowled and squirmed like she was being killed...or bathed...or something.

Done!

Moi and I sat there, wiping the sweat from our brows and tears from our eyes from laughing so hard.

After catching our breath, we placed the sticker on the calendar to remind us to de-flea the cats in one month.

One month. Maybe that will give us enough time to form a new strategy.

:inlove:

This, I think, is the stuff that life is made of. So simple. So silly. So good.