I’m Just A Drug Dealer For Cats Now

All over the internet you hear people talking about how much their dogs are loving having them home all day every day. I’m of the VERY strong belief that cats could not only care less, but they are quite pissed about it.

I’m pretty sure mine are sick of me at this point. Between the move and the quarantine they are about over me.

That said, I’ve officially moved and have been working on getting settled into my new home. I guess the big perk of not being able to work right now is that I’ve had the time to actually get things in order and whatnot instead of living out of boxes and tripping over crap for weeks on end because I don’t know what a day off is.

I still have some boxes I’ve been ignoring but the bulk of the work is done. Lord knows I have plenty of time to deal with the rest.

The move has been interesting on the cat front. Where Burger and Guinness came down with me from Massachusetts and we’ve lived in a few different places- Lemon has only known the one home. We’ve all been there for about six years so they were nice and comfortable in their kingdom.

The movers had come earlier in the day so Guinness and Lemon were both high stress as they hate strangers. The two of them managed to rip chunks out of me, which was loads of fun. After the big move happened, I came back to get them. I figured they’d feel better with familiar smells and whatnot everywhere. I had gotten some things set up and unpacked for them.

The cat move went about like anyone who knows them would expect. Burger walked herself into the carrier with no problem and fell asleep like it was another normal day. Guinness fought the carrier but relaxed a bit once she realized there was no escape. Lemon, however, fought tooth and nail getting into the carrier and SCREAMED the entire car ride- aside from the day I brought her home and a couple vet trips- she’s never really been in the thing.

It’s been about two weeks now and they’ve gotten pretty settled. I mean Burger is the most unbothered cat in the world so she was owning the place within minutes of us arriving. Guinness took a bit to warm up and Lemon even longer. We all got there for the most part.

Lemon has always been a little more on the anxious side and she’s been a bit rough over the past couple months with all the stuff going on around her. She certainly picks up on my anxiety and it affects her which makes me feel bad. She’s taken to over-grooming herself and she’s got some pretty decent bald-spots going.

Since it’s near impossible to get near a vet right now with everything going on, I did some research online about what could be the problem. It seems like stress is the big thing. Since I’m home a lot right now she seems to be doing better but little things still freak her out. A lot of noises to get used to.

Today I ended up buying a calming collar for her after reading about them online. I’m buying a special diffuser for her but the shipping is taking longer than I would have liked so the collar was the best option for now. She seems pretty okay with it so I’m letting it be. The thing has some pretty… interesting reviews online when it comes to safety so I’m mildly concerned about it. There’s a good chance I’m going to take it off of her when I’m not going to be around for extended periods. I’ve got the diffuser on order so for now we wait.

In an effort to make sure they were all getting love, attention and proper stimulation I decided to buy some new toys. They obviously have their toy box but they don’t seem too interested in any of their old toys. I found some compressed catnip toys that seemed perfect for the three so I snagged them. Needless to say the results have been interesting.

Since catnip really holds their interest for a short period I don’t get it for them that often. The three of them went INSANE. Even Burger, who doesn’t like to let anyone see her act like a cat, went a little nuts which was hilarious.

Catnip seemed to have various effects on them. Lemon, who was a bit pissed about the collar had some fun with it but preferred her favorite toy instead. We call it “Sparkle” and if you even mention it to her, she gets all excited. She loves to play fetch with it. Since it makes her so crazy, I have to keep it locked up unless it’s playtime. She was quite happy to see it.

Burger passed out and looked hilarious while she did it.

Guinness got a wild case of the zoomies like I have never seen before and went bolting around the house like a crazy cat. She ended up behind the TV where she knows she isn’t allowed but I wasn’t about to stop her.

Now we are all just hanging out. The catnip mice are in the freezer to keep them fresh as was recommended to me by the internet. So it’ll be a fun surprise in a month when I forget what is in that Tupperware container in the freezer.