It’s been a couple of days now since I last blogged about the household and its general absorption of Hot Mess Monty, for no real reason than that I’ve had other stuff to do - and also, I suppose, that progress right now is rather incremental. Greyson is kind of “winning” the “who will befriend the kitty first” race - mostly by accident. He politely ignores Monty, or gets up and moves if he seems to be lounging someplace where Monty wants to be; otherwise, he just holds real still and pretends to be asleep when the cat approaches. This means he gets sniffed, investigated, and generally ignored in return. Greyson does not want to chase the kitty, or play with him, or steal his food. So as far as Monty is concerned: The old man dog is A-okay.
Lucy, on the other hand. Lucy is trying SO HARD you guys. So hard. She wants to be friends so bad, that she has a hard time… not chasing the kitty, or trying to play with him, or steal his food. But every day, she gets a leeeetle closer, and Monty reacts with a leeeetle more chill.
In the last 24 hours or so, Monty has begun to return some of Lucy’s interest in playing. He watches for her to come inside or come upstairs, and gets very excited about it - even reaching out a grabby-paw through the stair rails to try and engage her on the way up. These efforts would be better received if he had not bullied the crap out of her for the last week, but whatchagonnado. We’re all just figuring this out as we go.
Gray tabby missing a rear leg lounges insouciently on a blue loveseat, leaning against two pillows like the spoiled little man he is
As I think I already mentioned, Lucy and Monty both have a vet appointment on the 16th - Lucy is just getting booster shots, Monty will be checked out for a Getting To Know You visit, and I’m keeping a list of things to ask about. I’ve been taking pictures of the sore? scar? whatever it is, on the inside of his lip where the fang is missing, whenever I get the opportunity. I want to see if it’s something that’s healing, or something that’s stable, or something we need to address.
He also grooms himself to excess, and seems to be generally kind of itchy. Mind you, I know he got the big ringworm dip while he was in the shelter- and I’m sure it’s tough on the skin by design; but that would’ve been several weeks ago by now (I think?) and I wonder how long he’ll keep doing this. We have seen no sign of fleas - on him or the dogs, either - so we don’t think that’s it, and he hasn’t yet chewed any holes in himself, but I fear that we’re headed that direction. Maybe it’s a food allergy or something, and we’ll have to do some experimenting. Hm.
Or maybe it’s indirectly due to the amputation, since a lot of his licking/chewing happens on his joints, and in the spots where his muscles are probably adjusting to the new situation. It’s only been nine days since he arrived, and only 3-4 since he started getting a lot of exercise via playtime and climbing around the house, running up and down the stairs, etcetera. I’m sure he’s getting a little sore in unexpected places.
But in general, he seems to feel pretty darn great. He gets wild-ass zoomies on the regular, he climbs all over the place, and he’s a big fan of feather wands and mousies - as well as the larger “kick” toys that he wrestles into submission. He’s figured out that he can still go FAST even with three legs, and is really having a marvelous time with it. He also has a new scratcher.
Gray tabby lounging inside a cardboard scratcher with a tiny tongue-blep peeking out from between his teeth.
At night, after 45 minutes or so of FULL BLOWN PARTY ZOOMIES, he usually climbs into bed with me and my husband and zonks out, purring like a little engine. He’s a good little bedfellow: not too wiggly, mostly stays put, doesn’t get weird - dragging out his toys or trying to sleep on your face or anything. Two thumbs up. Excellent snuggler.
Anyway.
Since a couple of snarky commenters asked, yes I do have other things going on in my life right now - but none of those things are as cute and funny as this little dude conquering the household, so that’s what I’m blogging about for the moment. In the event of other developments - professional or personal - never fear, I’ll be sure to make note of those things, too; I mean, the world of social media is all but imploding, and it’s good to have my own space, even if it doesn’t get social media-level traffic. Besides, I have to post all these dog and cat pics somewhere, right?
May as well make it my own homepage, which is not for sale to any bananapants billionaires, or subject to their baffling whims.