10/12/2009

Psycho cat! ;-)

So it was time for the vet's. Again.
This time it was Ponder's turn. The black devil is losing hair on his belly and leg, so I thought before alien parasites would take over the house (too much X-files on my mind?), we take him there to have it checked out. Not that I have seen him licking himself excessively and it was only a little red, but I didn't want to take chances.

He did put up quite a fight when we were there. A few times he almost sat on my head. I had him around the neck like a stola, I had him on my shoulder, clawing some of my best parts with his hind feet, I had him pinned down to the table and it was exhausting. And that was only when we were waiting!
While she checked him out and ripped out some hair, he tried to hit me a few times. When I agreed to do some tests for parasites, he really had "fun". It took three of us to hold him so the vet could scrape off a little skin here and there. I wish I had brought the camera, my sister could have taken a picture. The assistant holding him by the neck and his front legs, the vet holding one hind leg and scraping away and me holding the other hind leg and his tail out of the way.

The good thing is - no parasites found. The bad thing is - what is the problem? She asked me if anything had happened lately and I told her about Gandalf and that Ponder likes to pounce Meffi since Merlin is gone.
Possible diagnosis - I have a psycho cat. She thinks it could be psychogenic alopecia. Either the boy is frustrated, sad or a freak. No, I made the last one up.
Since he is full of energy, it's possible that he does the licking during the day when we are not there to play or cuddle with him. For the others he is playing too rough sometimes.
So now we put up Feliway diffusers with pheromones hoping that will help and he will need
even more playtime. I might get some more scratches when playing kitty monsters with him (my hand under the blanket, him pouncing it), but so what? He is so worth it!
If this doesn't make any difference in the next two to three weeks, we'll go back to searching what it could be.
Psychogenic alopecia is a controversial topic, but hey, I always knew he is special ;-)

6 comments:

  1. I love "kitty monsters"--we have a similar game at our house called "bed mice" (anything that moves under a blanket is a bed mouse) and another we call "fingers" (hiding fingers down the sides of the seat cushions and making scratching noises). Fingers is an especially hazardous game since both ours have all their claws......

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  2. Yes, we play kitty monsters in our house too. :D I hope Ponder brightens up again soon, bless him. Where did you get the Feliway diffusers from? I tried to pick some up in the UK last time I was there, but wasn't successful.

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  3. My cat doesn't understand the rules of "kitty monsters" or "bed mice" -- I run my hand under the cover to tease him and he attacks my forearm that is not under the covers! I thought cats were supposed to pretend it was a mouse under the protecting covers....not go for the unprotected parts!
    lol

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  4. Poor Ponder, big hugs to him, he's probably really feeling his loss.

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  5. My cat does the same thing, she is definitely neurotic. She responds to my illness, often before I know it! She once had her entire tummy and legs "shaved" clean off!

    You might like my other persona, I'm visiting via the Starving Artist blog where you were featured but I also write here: www.angelntaz.blogspot.com (the Cat blogosphere LOL)

    Pam
    prairiesunshine
    SJA

    ps, your wire crochet is awesome!

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  6. Thanks for your comments - international kitty monsters! ;-)
    Pam, thanks for your comment (I recognized your name from SJA :-)), I'll definitely check out your kitties' blog!

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