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My fur-baby is such a klutz


Deb

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Anyone who says cats are graceful never met Napoleon. Part of it is that he's cross-eyed and partially blind in one eye........he tends to spin around and bump into walls or fall off of things because he has no depth perception. But he's never really hurt himself until last night.

For a 13 year old cat, he still behaves like a kitten and one of his favorite things to do is run thru the house at full speed, up and down the stairs. Lately his launching point has been a chaise lounge in the den. He launches himself off the top, builds up full speed and then blazes down the stairs into the family room jumping from the middle step to the floor and trying to make it into the recliner in one bounce. Usually that works pretty well, but last night he misjudged something and instead of going down the down-stairs, he slammed face first into the bottom riser of the up-stairs. He cried so hard! We got him calmed down but he wouldn't open his eyes more than a squint for about an hour. I think he was seeing stars. We stayed up with him most of the night and then took him to bed with us, waking up about every hour to check on him. By around 8 this morning, he was tap dancing on my head and telling me he wanted breakfast. His nose is a little swollen and tender, but otherwise, he's back to his normal self. <huge sigh of relief>

I was ready to find an animal ER that was open at 3am but then he started opening his eyes more and he never did have any problems breathing so it must have just rung his bell. It really scared the heck out of Bruce and I.

Deb

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You might still want a follow up at the vet's, Deb. Sometimes kitties develop seizure disorder and have to go on neuroleptic meds, and a head trauma of any kind is nothing to ignore. Poor fur-baby! Give him lots of extra cuddles.

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Poor Napolean..

Do you think cats have a strategy plan when they do these crazy things?

*okay..I am going to run full speed down the stairs taking 3 steps at a time..then I will bank right into the diningroom and leap 4 feet in the air to catch the ceiling fan tassels.. My best time was 3.44 seconds...Lets see if I can beat that!*

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Deb, I'm glad to hear Napolean is ok. George has had a hard time lately getting into DH new full size pick up, he was use to judging his jump for the small Dodge Dakota and now he can't seem to get the hang of jumping higher. DH has about got him trained to letting him be picked up and placed in the truck, to avoid any more nose smashing against the seat.

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I agree, you might still want to take him in for a check up. Cats are pretty delicate in spite of their antics.

I swear Tigger and Poe put on their little army boots and run up and down the stairs all night too.

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Poor kitty. Discuss this with your vets office and make sure you know what to do if this happens again and he injures his neck. We have a cat about the same age, he was a feral kitten so is sort of in poor condition for his age, loosing teeth, one bad eye and one bad ear, so he topples over and missjudged distance all the time but like your guy very active.

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Poor little guy, I'm glad he's doing better. My Sapphi is also noy a graceful kitty and she loves to race through the house and stop dead on the rugs so that they lide across the floor. She occasionally will misjudge her speed down the stairs and take a tumbll down them, luckily she has not hurt herself yet. :)

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Deb -

Please continue to keep a vigilant eye on Napoleon. Head injuries can be serious. The poor little lamb. Missymew sends cuddles. Trinity says she's sure she wouldn't like him anyway (she doesn't like anyone, but Ray and I ... and Missymew (sort of)., so she just went back to sleep after I told her.

Is his little nose still very sore?

Hugs for Napoleon, Bruce and you.

-Susanne

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Aww I am glad that he is ok.

The only time my cat runs around like that is when she is doing what we call the Potty Dance. We know when she has to use the litter box when she does this. I don't know why it is that she has to announce it to everyone. LOL LOL

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Poor Napoleon! I hope he bounces back with no repercussions. Our cats also love to race up and down the stairs, and bound all over the furniture. Sometimes they slide right off the staircase, and my heart leaps into my mouth whenever that happens. For such dignified creatures, they sure can get goofy.

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Do you think cats have a strategy plan when they do these crazy things?

*okay..I am going to run full speed down the stairs taking 3 steps at a time..then I will bank right into the diningroom and leap 4 feet in the air to catch the ceiling fan tassels.. My best time was 3.44 seconds...Lets see if I can beat that!*

LOL!! That's pretty much how it works!! I swear he's got a little day planner somewhere so he can keep track of when, where and what.

Do they make cat helmets?

If they do, I'm gettin' one for Napoleon! A little football helmet with a face guard would be perfect.

We have a cat about the same age, he was a feral kitten so is sort of in poor condition for his age, loosing teeth, one bad eye and one bad ear, so he topples over and missjudged distance all the time but like your guy very active.

That describes Napoleon almost to a t. He was a feral farm rescue and when I got him, he'd recently recovered from some serious injuries. The vet said that he'd broken a hip, his breastbone and had a scar on one eye. We're not really sure how much vision he actually has in that eye. I'm not sure how the farmer caught him and got him into a cat carrier, but when the door of it opened in my living room, he blazed out and hid under my couch. It took me a week of laying on the floor talking to him before he'd even come out. He thinks of Bruce and I as cats and is very adoring, but the rest of the world still terrifies him. He won't go in a room if there's an open door to outside, he's claustrophobic, and if we have to take him out of the house, we have to sedate him to put him in the carrier. Most of our friends have never even seen him because he won't come out from under the bed if anyone is here. But we love the little furball to pieces.

Is his little nose still very sore?

The swelling has gone down almost completely and he's back to his normal self now. We're still watching him closely but he's not suffering any ill effects at all. He's eating, using the litter box (and he does the run-thru-the-house-announcing-the-deed thing too), playing, talking, purring and chasing his toys all over the house. But I still wanna get him a helmet.

Deb

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... if we have to take him out of the house, we have to sedate him to put him in the carrier. ...

I had a cat with that problem. The vet suggested transporting her in a pillowcase tied off with string or a shoelace There's plenty of air to breath through the fabric. She couldn't see, so didn't have a major panic attack. We put her on the floor in the back seat. The motion of the vehicle seemed to soothe her, so when we got to the vet, she wasn't a basket case.

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The vet suggested transporting her in a pillowcase tied off with string or a shoelace There's plenty of air to breath through the fabric.

That's how I used to transport my pet snake!

I'm so glad to hear that Napoleon has no ill-effects from the accident. He's such a sweetie, please give him a cuddle from me.

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oh, deb, bless his lil heart!

we're very glad that he's OK!

sending many gentle pats on his ears,

from gracie, sylvie and newt

************************

ps:

the Katz say, "Foolish, silly mommy! Helmet, schmelmet. Just pad the house for him."

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