The ordeal is over
 

Waffles, Pickles and I had quite a morning! As I have mentioned before,
about once a year, Pickles' stomach fur gets so matted I have to have her
shaved. Since I realized she's claustrophobic, I have a mobile groomer come
here. I'm sure it's still a traumatic experience for her, but at least it's
less of a trauma this way. She is usually quite perky afterward, and seems
to have more self-confidence. However, Waffles generally treats her as an
intruder for about a week afterward.

When I made the appointment for this year, I discussed this problem. Since
the groomer always bathes Pickles after she is trimmed, I suspected that
this imparted a smell that was causing the problem. I thought that maybe
having Waffles bathed at the same time would solve the problem. However,
they wanted an extra $50 to bathe him. That's almost half what Pickles'
whole procedure costs. I did decide to let the groomer trim Waffles' claws,
since he doesn't let me do it, and they only wanted $10 for that. I hoped
that the fact that he'd been in the van might take care of his aversion to
Pickles, especially after I found that they can use an odorless shampoo on
Pickles.

The dispatcher had given the groomer the wrong address, so she called me
down from down the block to find out where I was. After I got off the
phone, I picked up Pickles. She struggled, but I managed to hold onto her.
I had unlocked the front door before I picked her up, so I watched the van
pull into the driveway, and as soon as the driver got out I opened the door.
When she opened the side door of the van, I took Pickles out. That was the
first difficult part over.

I was concerned about getting hold of Waffles to take him out for his claw
clip. He doesn't particularly like the cat carrier, but he doesn't panic
the way Pickles does, so after about 15 minutes, I picked him up and put him
in the carrier. Unfortunately, the grooming took longer than I expected,
and he managed to get out. I didn't run after him, but I had to follow him
around for a while, and he managed to get away from me a few times.
Finally, though, he settled down on my bed. To my surprise, he let me
approach and pick him up. He didn't even struggle much when I put him in
the carrier.

I sat next to him to try to keep him pacified until I heard the door of the
van opening. I picked up the carrier and took it to the door. I opened the
door and Pickles immediately jumped from the groomer's arms and ran into the
house. I gave the groomer the carrier, and she took care of Waffles.

All of that is over now. However, this time, instead of hissing and
growling at Pickles, Waffles seems to be afraid of her. I think it may be
partly because her personality seems to change when she's been clipped. She
isn't nearly as timid without all that fur as she is with it. Anyway, I'm
hoping he'll adjust more quickly than he has in the past.

Both of them have forgiven me and come into my lap, so that's a relief.

Joy

--
Joy

Thank God for Evolution! -- Rev. Michael Dowd
http://thankgodforevolution.com/book

The ordeal is over
 

On 05/31/2012 03:18 PM, Joy wrote:
Waffles, Pickles and I had quite a morning! As I have mentioned before,
about once a year, Pickles' stomach fur gets so matted I have to have her
shaved. Since I realized she's claustrophobic, I have a mobile groomer come
here. I'm sure it's still a traumatic experience for her, but at least it's
less of a trauma this way. She is usually quite perky afterward, and seems
to have more self-confidence. However, Waffles generally treats her as an
intruder for about a week afterward.

When I made the appointment for this year, I discussed this problem. Since
the groomer always bathes Pickles after she is trimmed, I suspected that
this imparted a smell that was causing the problem. I thought that maybe
having Waffles bathed at the same time would solve the problem. However,
they wanted an extra $50 to bathe him. That's almost half what Pickles'
whole procedure costs. I did decide to let the groomer trim Waffles' claws,
since he doesn't let me do it, and they only wanted $10 for that. I hoped
that the fact that he'd been in the van might take care of his aversion to
Pickles, especially after I found that they can use an odorless shampoo on
Pickles.

The dispatcher had given the groomer the wrong address, so she called me
down from down the block to find out where I was. After I got off the
phone, I picked up Pickles. She struggled, but I managed to hold onto her.
I had unlocked the front door before I picked her up, so I watched the van
pull into the driveway, and as soon as the driver got out I opened the door.
When she opened the side door of the van, I took Pickles out. That was the
first difficult part over.

I was concerned about getting hold of Waffles to take him out for his claw
clip. He doesn't particularly like the cat carrier, but he doesn't panic
the way Pickles does, so after about 15 minutes, I picked him up and put him
in the carrier. Unfortunately, the grooming took longer than I expected,
and he managed to get out. I didn't run after him, but I had to follow him
around for a while, and he managed to get away from me a few times.
Finally, though, he settled down on my bed. To my surprise, he let me
approach and pick him up. He didn't even struggle much when I put him in
the carrier.

I sat next to him to try to keep him pacified until I heard the door of the
van opening. I picked up the carrier and took it to the door. I opened the
door and Pickles immediately jumped from the groomer's arms and ran into the
house. I gave the groomer the carrier, and she took care of Waffles.

All of that is over now. However, this time, instead of hissing and
growling at Pickles, Waffles seems to be afraid of her. I think it may be
partly because her personality seems to change when she's been clipped. She
isn't nearly as timid without all that fur as she is with it. Anyway, I'm
hoping he'll adjust more quickly than he has in the past.

Both of them have forgiven me and come into my lap, so that's a relief.

Joy

Now you deserve a good rest. I'm glad they both seemed to be on their
best behavior. Best wishes for a pleasant summer. MLB

The ordeal is over
 

"MLB" wrote in message
...
On 05/31/2012 03:18 PM, Joy wrote:
Waffles, Pickles and I had quite a morning! As I have mentioned before,
about once a year, Pickles' stomach fur gets so matted I have to have her
shaved. Since I realized she's claustrophobic, I have a mobile groomer
come
here. I'm sure it's still a traumatic experience for her, but at least
it's
less of a trauma this way. She is usually quite perky afterward, and
seems
to have more self-confidence. However, Waffles generally treats her as
an
intruder for about a week afterward.

When I made the appointment for this year, I discussed this problem.
Since
the groomer always bathes Pickles after she is trimmed, I suspected that
this imparted a smell that was causing the problem. I thought that maybe
having Waffles bathed at the same time would solve the problem. However,
they wanted an extra $50 to bathe him. That's almost half what Pickles'
whole procedure costs. I did decide to let the groomer trim Waffles'
claws,
since he doesn't let me do it, and they only wanted $10 for that. I
hoped
that the fact that he'd been in the van might take care of his aversion
to
Pickles, especially after I found that they can use an odorless shampoo
on
Pickles.

The dispatcher had given the groomer the wrong address, so she called me
down from down the block to find out where I was. After I got off the
phone, I picked up Pickles. She struggled, but I managed to hold onto
her.
I had unlocked the front door before I picked her up, so I watched the
van
pull into the driveway, and as soon as the driver got out I opened the
door.
When she opened the side door of the van, I took Pickles out. That was
the
first difficult part over.

I was concerned about getting hold of Waffles to take him out for his
claw
clip. He doesn't particularly like the cat carrier, but he doesn't panic
the way Pickles does, so after about 15 minutes, I picked him up and put
him
in the carrier. Unfortunately, the grooming took longer than I expected,
and he managed to get out. I didn't run after him, but I had to follow
him
around for a while, and he managed to get away from me a few times.
Finally, though, he settled down on my bed. To my surprise, he let me
approach and pick him up. He didn't even struggle much when I put him in
the carrier.

I sat next to him to try to keep him pacified until I heard the door of
the
van opening. I picked up the carrier and took it to the door. I opened
the
door and Pickles immediately jumped from the groomer's arms and ran into
the
house. I gave the groomer the carrier, and she took care of Waffles.

All of that is over now. However, this time, instead of hissing and
growling at Pickles, Waffles seems to be afraid of her. I think it may
be
partly because her personality seems to change when she's been clipped.
She
isn't nearly as timid without all that fur as she is with it. Anyway,
I'm
hoping he'll adjust more quickly than he has in the past.

Both of them have forgiven me and come into my lap, so that's a relief.

Joy

Now you deserve a good rest. I'm glad they both seemed to be on their
best behavior. Best wishes for a pleasant summer. MLB

Thank you.

Joy

The ordeal is over
 

On Thu, 31 May 2012 14:18:08 -0700, "Joy" wrote:
All of that is over now. However, this time, instead of hissing and
growling at Pickles, Waffles seems to be afraid of her. I think it may be
partly because her personality seems to change when she's been clipped. She
isn't nearly as timid without all that fur as she is with it. Anyway, I'm
hoping he'll adjust more quickly than he has in the past.

Both of them have forgiven me and come into my lap, so that's a relief.

He has a great appreciation for his sisfur's ordeal now. :)

Have you tried rubbing a bit of vanilla extract on their heads? I haven't
tried it before, I remember hearing about that somewhere.

I'll bet Pickles looks sooo cute, like dark, slightly mottled velvet with
stylish boots.

The ordeal is over
 

"Takayuki" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 31 May 2012 14:18:08 -0700, "Joy" wrote:
All of that is over now. However, this time, instead of hissing and
growling at Pickles, Waffles seems to be afraid of her. I think it may be
partly because her personality seems to change when she's been clipped.
She
isn't nearly as timid without all that fur as she is with it. Anyway, I'm
hoping he'll adjust more quickly than he has in the past.

Both of them have forgiven me and come into my lap, so that's a relief.

He has a great appreciation for his sisfur's ordeal now. :)

Have you tried rubbing a bit of vanilla extract on their heads? I haven't
tried it before, I remember hearing about that somewhere.

I'll bet Pickles looks sooo cute, like dark, slightly mottled velvet with
stylish boots.

No, I haven't tried the vanilla extract. I will, though.

Yes, Pickles looks very cute, although the boots are almost nonexistent this
time.

Joy