Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Mental Ward

The Goo Mental Hospital for Rebel Cats is going well. Our patient has been on Prozac since Friday. A quarter-tablet of human med is tiny and very difficult to administer to a squirmy 12-pound wiggler with sharp pointy teeth. She managed to spit out tonight's dose twice even after I chased it with water. The final product was pretty soft and eventually caused her to foam at the mouth--it's a bitter pill. Cara seems more mellow but is still opportunistic in chasing her siblings. She has less of an appetite but still eats, so no worries there since she needs to lose weight anyway.

The rescue recommended a harness so we can attach a bell to her. Our little Houdini has managed to escape and choke herself on regular collars, so they thought a harness is safer. I bought one today. It doesn't fit. It appears that our little girl isn't so little. I also bought her a wand toy since many of her toys are hand-me-downs. She loves it. I'll buy another one (or two) when I exchange the harness for a dog-sized one.

Overall, I think Cara is doing well. She seems to appreciate the time I spend with her, seeking pets and headbutting me. I must say, I can see how human children, even as adults, can perceive a parent's favored treatment of a sibling. I have been thinking about Cara constantly and miss her when I am away from home. That's not to say I don't love Angel or Davis, or that I love Cara more. It's just that Cara needs me more and my attention right now. A few of us were discussing parents recently and someone said that parents tend to favor the (Cara is purring right now! She NEVER purrs!!!) sorry...parents tend to favor or focus more attention on the troublemaker/failure/black sheep kid of the family because they cause parents more worry, even as adults. Is it true that parents tend to "favor" and focus more on the "bad" sibling? Obviously a blanket statement like that is just not valid, but I wonder if there would be a trend there if all parents answered a survey honestly. Maybe parents don't love one child more than another, but love each one differently. That's how I feel, at least. I assumed I loved Cara "less" since she's had less time to build up a reserve in my heart. Based on recent events, I'd say that my love for her is just as much as her siblings.

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