Sunday, June 18, 2006

Cat Baths and Lug Nuts

Cat baths are always funny. Had I been thinking, I would have had my camera with me prior to giving my cat a bath, but I didn't. Bean's fur was getting a bit questionable from shedding and airborne allergies, so yesterday afternoon I decided to give him a bath. Fortunately we had him de-clawed many months ago, so I don't look like a heroin addict after giving him baths anymore.

Like most cats, Bean hates baths (I did have one cat that liked baths, really). He hates them even more recently since I got him medicated shampoo that has to stay in his soggy, cold fur for at least 15 minutes. Aside from a wet and sudsy cat being funny all on its own, this time he figured he could outsmart me. He spent the entire 15 minutes trying to sneak out of the tub. He would sit and stare with his eyes furled, and as soon as he thought I wasn't looking he would try to clear the side of the tub. No such luck for him though. I caught him every time and his back claws skidded across the tub at least 20 times. I'm not sure where he planned to go since all the doors were shut. He did let me know how unhappy he was by using his best "vet voice", which is a cross between growling and yowling.

After rinsing him off and wrapping him in a towel, Scott came to his rescue and helped him towel try the rest of the way. It took him at least three hours to lick out the rest of the water. Now he is fluffy, soft, and he smells April fresh!

Also, this week my most wonderful sister decided to make new allergy cards for me to take to restaurants in English and Spanish. She carefully looked up all the ingredients, checked the online translator, and went so far as to ask a Spanish-speaking guy at her office if her translations were correct. She printed off enough to last me another three years, carefully cut them to business card size for my wallet. Then later that evening, at our aquarobics class she decided to check with one more person whose first language is Spanish. Turns out she had put that I have an allergy to lug nuts, and expressed that I may have to be taken to the hospital should I ingest them. It figures that we went out to eat right afterwards and had to use the card in a restaurant where the entire kitchen staff speaks Spanish. Needless to say, the cards have been corrected now, but I plan to continue not eating lug nuts. Besides, what do you even wash them down with?

2 comments:

Ann said...

Both stories had me laughing out loud, Ali! I didn't realize that cats needed baths, but the image you painted in my head was super-funny!

Anonymous said...

I didn't realize that cats needed baths either until I had one with allergies. It turns out airborne allergies don't make cats and dogs sneeze, it makes their skin flake.

I don't recall Spooky or Mitzy ever needing a bath for that reason. They only needed baths for general doggie grossness (you know, rolling around in dirt, dead things, and the like).