He is one massive cat, weighing in at 19.7 pounds. Usually, he lives to lounge about, draped over various ends of furniture or atop a pile of pillows on the ledge in front of the window. He's a great big lump of a kitty, and one incredible mouser. Overall, he is a polite gentleman, getting rowdy only when bacon and smushy canned cat food are in the vicinity. He may be giant, and ferocious when hunting the mice and voles, but he is one big pussycat at heart.
Lately, he's been acting a little nutso.
Randomly, he will jerk awake from a sound sleep or leap into the air while walking along, as though someone has come along and pinched him in the rear. Whirling around, he starts to bite and snarl and act as though his tail is a foriegn kitty that must.be.destroyed. It would be amusing, if it wasn't occurring multiple times during the day and the night. As in, middle of the night, on my bed, when I am trying to sleep.
This morning, after being awakened abruptly around 2 AM by sharp claws impaling my backside and the screeching of a one-cat cat fight, I was in no mood for this to continue. I held him down and took a look, trying to see if there were any fleas or pinched things or big sores...nothing. After a call in to the vet, to confirm my suspicions that I was dealing with something out of the ordinary when it comes to feline behavior, we went in for a consultation. The diagnosis is possible flea bite reaction (although there's no hint of a flea anywhere), resulting in deep dermatitis. Beezle wound up with a shot in the butt of depo-something-or-other to combat the itching response, and a different flea preventative to try, just in case there are fleas coming in on the frontline-dosed dogs.
If this doesn't work, we'll be moving on to psychotropic medications next. Possibly for me, but definitely for the cat.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for taking the time to read and leave a comment! All comments will be reviewed before posting. So, comment away--I look forward to reading your thoughts!