Poor Sammy!!! Long

5-month-old Sammy, along with my three adult cats (Bandit, 14, Demi, 6, and
Jessie, 5) is cooped up in my bedroom while my mother-in-law is still here
with her 3 dogs (2 large, one small) and one neutered male cat.

The male cat is being kept shut up in an upstairs bedroom, and isn't really
a problem (he's gorgeous - a polydactyl, all black, short-haired, and sweet
as can be. [Side note: my MIL had him declawed and he stays mostly outside
when they're home : ! *WHY* do people like that even get cats!??! -
AAARRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!!!]

The dogs, however, are not trained, have the run of the house (my MIL
wouldn't dream of locking up her babies), bark constantly, pee all over the
place (my MIL won't even clean it up - I have to), and the largest one even
managed to get in my bedroom (following behind my MIL) and started to attack
Bandit (well, you know Bandit, she laid there with a "bring it on, sucker"
look on her face, hissing and spitting, so it didn't bother her, but it
scared the heck out of the other three).

All my cats are on edge because of this, and Sammy is... well, Sammy. She
has all that excess kitten energy and no place to go with it, and she tries
to get the other cats to play with her. They're having none of it and are
getting really tired of her antics.

When I got in bed tonight I noticed an apple-sized spot of watery blood on
my sheet next to my pillow. I immediately panicked and grabbed up each cat
one by one to do a head to toe, microscopic examination to see who had been
bleeding (because of the above I thought maybe MIL had been careless and let
one of her dogs in my bedroom while I was at work today).

I got to Sammy last (and got several scratches and a few bites while she
squirmed around in my hands as I was trying to hold her still so I could
examine her) and I noticed a small scab right on the tip of her nose, a bit
inside and a bit outside the nostril.

What I figured happened is... One of my adult cats lost patience with her
and swatted her nose, giving her a good scratch in the process. She
immediately went to Mommy's spot on the bed and started sucking her toe to
comfort herself (which was why the spot of blood was so watery - kitten
slobber mixed in with the blood from the scratch on her nose).

I felt so bad for her I immediate picked her up to hug and scritch her, and,
of course, she bit *my* nose in the process!!!

Sorry for the vent, but as much as I love my MIL (she really is sweet, but I
know where my DH gets his ergonomically challenged nature from), I am *SO*
tired of her animals, and I am *THIS* far from telling her off (I am really,
really angry about what she did/does to her beautiful little boy cat!!!).

Thanks for giving me a place to gripe - I didn't want to hit my husband with
all this, it is his mother, after all.

Hugs,

CatNipped