Today I went in for my second visit to see Smudge.

For a cat that chewed on an electric cord last Sunday, she seems to be
coming along well..  She is moving well with no limp from dislocating her
hip so her hip seems to be staying in well and looks like it may stabilize
back in more quickly than originally estimated (but probably only a couple
of days less than the two weeks and the vet will have to decide that).

She is also doing well on getting combed and brushed.  Normally she might
get brushed twice a week at most and often only once.  This week I've
brushed and combed her twice for times up to an hour before she melted into
a happy cat puddle on the floor.  The vet techs are also brushing or combing
her, although I am not certain how often.  The funny thing all of us are
getting plenty of hair from this short haired cat.  I get less from Peepers
her long haired brother.

She is somewhat upset at the end that she is not leaving but she does seem
to becoming slightly less bothered by her stay that I am.  It is really hard
to put her back in her cage when I have to leave, but I haven't let the
techs do that chore.  If she has to stay, I should be putting her back in
and not a stranger - well after a week perhaps not entirely strangers
anymore.

I was a bit worried about her being left totally alone from Saturday early
afternoon to Monday morning but they do have a person come in ( can't
remember now if they said 2 or three times to check litter, food and water)
so that eases my thoughts about her being completely alone something like 40
hours.  At least somebody is coming in regularly.

I will give them a call early Monday just to doublecheck on how she came
through the weekend anyway.  Unfortunately because of their hours it won't
be practical for me to visit except on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  I will take
back the borrowed cage next Saturday and hope that I can bring her home but
the expected schedule if she is coming along normally would be Monday the
22nd of Aug.

Peepers is still trying to figure out how he wants to behave.  Should he
continue to interact by playing and only rarely be available for petting and
sit back watching me or as seems to be happening take play but press for
more petting and a lot more vocalizations than usual crossed with a lot of
backing off to sit on the other side of the room to relax and decide when he
can come demanding more time.  He is even pressing me to prepare breakfast
which in the past he has left to Smudge.

Larry Osborne