Saturday, November 29, 2008

There was play and then there was ...

True to her nature as we knew it for the past week, Noodle spent last evening hanging out with us in the living room, including sitting fur to fur with Bag on the couch. Later she leapt up and must have accidentally poked him with her rear claws, because he hissed at her/me like he had never before. Dave grabbed and cuddled with him but he was still growling while I cuddled with her to let her know she wasn't at fault.

So throughout the evening, we were nervous that they would remember this incident. Somehow though, it seemed to cause us anxiety and them none at all because they started up their usual nightly routine of cat and mouse, the hunter and the hunted.

So all night long, the sounds of chasing and taunting went on and on. Amazingly we got a few hours of sleep, along with some playful clawing to the feet and boxsprings.

At 5 or so this morning, we heard Noodle in the main litterbox so Dave got the lucky chore of checking. A few minutes later, he called for "assistance." Turns out Noodle had soft poop - the first we had experienced since she'd arrived but had been warned about - and it was all over her bottom. While I didn't see it (for better or worse), Dave said it was like "mashed potato texture." I guess it's a good thing that I've never been keen to mashed potato in the first place.

After what seemed like an eternity wiping her little bottom with wet wipes (I'm sure it felt longer for her), we decided to run her bottom under the sink. The stench was still strong and we weren't quite sure if we had gotten it all. Plus, the poor thing was squirming and we didn't want to hurt her bottom with too much wiping.

She didn't care for the bathing but it was quick. We cuddled with her to let her know she didn't do anything wrong. Soon, she was back at it with her brother. The smell was still with us but it was probably deeply entrenched in our nasal passage now. It takes me back to the days of diapering my littlest cousins. That was fun ... except that they eventually grew up and now wipe their own bottoms.

A bit afterwards though, she was back in the litterbox, and so was Dave. Again, although there wasn't much this time, there was nevertheless enough to smear all over the butt. One more wipe and we three headed for the sink again. I'd like to think we are coming down with a system but in the moment, I sure was thinking ... good thing this happened on a weekend.

Same as before, she later picked up with her brother. Around 9 or so (which seemed late for her), she settled down in her condo, where she's been pretty much the entire day. She did have several visitors whom she tolerated in her friendly way but she was eager to head back to her abode.

We made our list of Noodle-friendly supplies to establish some sort of system. And it's obvious that we'll leave her safe room intact with her litterbox, food, water, and condo there for now, until her poop hardens and we can get her back on track. We even picked up a set of baby monitor to listen in on the litterbox (Dave and I were in really unfamiliar territory in the baby aisle - we had no idea which monitor went where.)

So it was only these two soft poop incidents (so far). I hope that she isn't sick. We'll be sure to keep her on her hard food, although it kills me to see her not eating it (but will devour the canned food).

Dave just retrieved her and the 4 of us are sitting here on the couch watching "Battlestar Galactica" (old school) - good times, good times!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Poor little Noodle definately does not like having her butt checked as she is coming out of the litter area...but as soon as we do a quick check she is on her way. Was a most interesting night...