Scratchings-and-Sniffings

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Care Cats - Just Misunderstood? Posted: 04 Aug 2009 06:36 AM PDT I did a post over in the Shine petblog about "care" cats - that's what we called the hard to handle cats that came into the Cat Dr's office, back when I was a veterinary techician. Since I owned a care cat, I had sympathy for these misunderstood pets, but...I was also wary of dealing with them. When cats are angry or aggressive, they don't just lunge with their face, like dogs. Cats use all their teeth, and all four feet - and an unwary person can be seriously injured if she isn't aware of what's happening. The best bet, for us, back then, was to wrap the care cat in a big, heavy towel. That made it hard to examine the cat, but we managed. Because our cat, Big Guy, a randy, sleek, tiger cat, was a care cat for the rest of the world (and did sometimes hiss and spit at ME, too), I tried to understand the care cats that came in. With Big Guy, I knew he just didn't like other people. He liked my daughter, Chloe - he was her cat and she babied the heck out of him, and he tolerated me because I demanded respect from him. But, he really didn't want to deal with anyone else...including the dog (who was deathly afraid of him) and he tried to kill Wabby, when we first got her. No, seriously...he did. We saved her and he eventually came to like her. I wonder if it isn't the smell of the veterinary office that sends some cats into the stratosphere. All those cat odors - including those from un-neurtered males, and females likely to be in heat, have to cause some response. This article at the NSPCA says, "The sense of smell is related to the number of olfactory cells adapted to receive smell molecules, and to the area in the brain dedicated to processing these signals into recognizable smells." And, they go on to note that dogs have greater sense of smell than humans or cats, but that cats surpass humans, and to me, that means all those cat smells (or dog and cat smells in other vet's offices) have to drive some cats crazy! In the end, care cats are dangerous. Some might just be mean - after all, dogs and cats have personality, too. But, I suspect most are just either scared or annoyed. And, I don't blame them. Sometimes I feel the same way when I visit my doctor. But, if I spit and hissed at her, I'd likely end up in a funny, white suit... in a sterile white room. So, I behave...mostly.

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