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