<p>LTS,
Been following your adventure and the hijinx of your very intelligent new friend. What you are doing is above and beyond the call of duty! We animal lovers salute you! I think it’s a 21 paw salute.</p>
<p>I agree with Momof3sons…this is all strangely compelling, and very sweet. The feel-good story of the year!</p>
<p>I’m so enjoying this thread. Kudos for trying so hard! If you manage to pick her up again, take her into your smallest bathroom. If she escapes during the carrier ordeal, she won’t have many places to hide.</p>
<p>We volunteer with a Golden Retriever rescue group. They sent an email plea on Friday looking for foster homes over the upcoming 3-day weekend. I asked my kids if they thought we were ready for another foster and all three were enthusiastic. So on Saturday I met a transport volunteer and brought home a 5-year-old underweight male with an adorable face and great behavior. He will go to his new permanent home soon.</p>
<p>My cat does not care for the carrier, does the paws splayed thing- I just sort of “stuff” her in there…gently and kindly, but not taking no for an answer, she settles right down.</p>
<p>We had a cat before who we allowed to drive in the car w/o a carrier and he was a good traveler, until one fateful voyage, about 30 minutes from home on a 4 hour trip, he came out of his sleeping place, snuggled down on my lap, and peed on me :eek: Took forever to get that smell out of the car!!</p>
<p>If it weren’t for the issue that my car is brand new, plus I have no idea how she’ll react to the rumbling, growling noise it makes, I’d simply put the carrier into the car, and put her in the car unrestrained, and drive to the vet, and then get some of the vet staff to help get her into the carrier itself.</p>
<p>As it is, she has gone off somewhere. I guess she’s mad at me for trying to put her into the carrier. Hopefully she comes back tonight/tomorrow.</p>
<p>MaryTN the golden retriever sounds adorable. I bet he’s fun to play with, and snuggle with.</p>
<p>Three of my four cats hate the carrier. Like MaryTN, I take the carrier into the laundry room or bathroom, then go catch the cat (if they see the carrier, there is no catching them). Then I have to do the “kindly and gently stuffing” like somemom does. One good thing, when you leave the vet, they can’t wait to run into the carrier!</p>
<p>My mother used to wrap her cat in a pillow case (towel was too puffy) in order to “stuff” her in carrier to prevent getting scratched. Seemed to work well for her.</p>
<p>Good luck!!!</p>
<p>I may very well try the pillow case thing - that sounds like it might work. She did show up just now for her lunch/afternoon snack, and I felt sorry for her - plus was relieved to see her - so I gave her her food in her regular dish, so, using food to try to lure her into the carrier clearly isn’t going to work…</p>
<p>We have used the pillowcase technique as well. Just “kindly and gently stuff” the entire bundle into the carrier and leave the cat to work her way out of the pillowcase. As for the car, put down a big black plastic trash/leaf bag, then an old towel, then the carrier on top. Ours peed in the carrier and it leaked out onto the carpet … for years I had to leave one window open just a crack if I parked outside in the sun or the odor was overwhelming.</p>
<p>I have a cat who hates the carrier and I have found that the best thing to do is put the carrier in a different room so he gets carried to it, but leave the carrier on its end with the door up. Then I just drop him in and gravity does the rest and I shut the door There was no way I could shove him in the regular way. He fights like a tiger and weighs 16 pounds.</p>
<p>Yes, I should have mentioned—I also do the carrier on its end with the door up. Sometimes I still have to pry those last little claws loose from the edge!</p>
<p>That’s an awesome idea - I never would have thought of that! The whole problem this morning is that, first, I tried to put her in the carrier, then put the lid on and latch all 10 or so of the latches - that was a disastrous idea, she simply slipped out the end I wasn’t working on. Then, I tried just putting her through the door and she simply would not go. Then I tried having a conversation with her about why it was very important to go to the vet but clearly it was a one way discussion. But if I do the pillowcase and try dropping her into the thing, well, that almost cannot fail. Assuming I can get most of her through that opening, she’s sort of rolly polly lol. Clearly she has never in life missed a meal.</p>
<p>I’m laughing this morning at “clearly she has never in life missed a meal” and wondering if your kitty is leading a double life. One of our cats left home when he was around 4 years old. He discovered a neighbor left a window open for his cats. So our dear “Whiskey” moved in with the neighbor. We’d see him from time to time - or he’d stop by for a meal, but clearly what ever the neighbor offered was better than the food at our house(or maybe Whiskey didn’t like the dogs we had and was opting for a dog free home). Two years later, the neighbor passed away. Whiskey returned home. He’s our kitty again…the neighbor’s house was empty for nearly 3 years after he passed away and just this January new owners moved in - Whiskey headed back to the house across the street the minute he saw an open window. But the new kitties in the house were not interested in sharing their owners or their food and I understand there was quite a cat fight. And Whiskey has decided life isn’t so bad with the dogs and now comes “home” for every meal.</p>
<p>LOL - well - many, many thanks for the suggestion to put the cat carrier on end, and let gravity work - I wrapped her in my hooded sweatshirt and to my amazement this actually worked. </p>
<p>But then there was some drama, I had a conference call with UK this morning at 5 my time, but, the participants in UK asked to move it to 10, and, I agreed, not wanted to train wreck any more of my business commitments than had already happened, and besides I had no real reason to believe that I would be able to get her into the cat carrier. So by 9:30 I’m enroute to vet with cell in hand, and convinced a colleague on travel in Abu Dhabi to do the call for me - long story short, because of malfunctioning technology and mass confusion, I had a quite a scene in the vet’s office frantically trying to bridge a call between my office, UK and UAE, while the vet was standing there waiting and their support staff suddenly diverted from vet’s business making various phone lines available for an international call. The vet was starting to get impatient but I just had to say “sorry but this is urgent”. Meanwhile my own support staff was panicking because they had no idea why in the world I was suddenly in a vet’s office (I haven’t told them any of this - they just get distracted). It was bizarre to say the least. </p>
<p>Unfortunately the vet discovered no microchip; however, the good news is, she’s very healthy, tested negative for everything including leukemia, no fleas even, and, she is estimated to be about two years old. Apparently she has a delightful disposition - the vet told me that they did all of the deworming and the long list of tests, and she was very calm and non-combative the entire time; didn’t give them even the slightest bit of trouble. </p>
<p>So, she’s “home”, and, stored safely in my bedroom with the door closed. The vet said that it can take up to two weeks or even longer before the two cats will be able to be sociable within the same household, and, most people give up too soon. She also said female cats tend to adjust easier than male cats - anyway, we had quite a long discussion, once my call got out of the way and I could finally focus on the cat. I was encouraged by much of what she said but also it is clear that this is going to take some work, and patience.</p>
<p>Congratulations on finally getting her to the vet. I’m so glad it worked out for you! She sounds like a real sweetheart. She’s probably very happy to be indoors. You are a very compassionate person to do this. I hope you have lots of great years with her. What are you going to name her?</p>
<p>OMG - I couldn’t sell Laura Bush and I refused to accept Hillary, anyway, a week ago D and I agreed on Jackie Onassis (sp?) - it was hysterical listening to the vet’s staff call her Jackie O, over and over again…she acts rather like a first lady…she actually looks a bit like Jackie as well, very feminine, sweet, gracious, elegant, etc…</p>
<p>LOL—that’s great! Now I’ve got an image of a cat in a pillbox hat splaying her paws to avoid being dumped into a cat carrier! LOL!</p>
<p>LOL that’s pretty much how it was, too. But seriously, I am very surprised how calm, patient and sweet she is. She totally didn’t cry the entire way, etc. Just very calm and sweet…</p>
<p>Hooray. I kept checking this thread, waiting to see if she made it to the vet! She sounds adorable, and I sincerely hope her indoor transition goes smoothly.</p>
<p>The one thing the vet said that caused some concern - she said she could not tell if the cat has been spayed (sp?), and to watch out for signs of heat. I was surprised to hear that the vet couldn’t tell, but, I find it hard to imagine that this cat hasn’t been - it seems that her owners took very good care of her and I find it hard to imagine they would have overlooked this…</p>
<p>In any case, because I seriously didn’t know, I actually asked “how will I know if she’s in heat” - the vet said “trust me, you’ll know, there is no mistaking it…” etc…</p>