Wednesday, October 04, 2006

No beer for a week

I'm on antibiotics. Arm has just come out of sling. Can barely use left hand at all due to the precise location of a deep tooth-shaped wound between the tendons of my wrist. Every time I feel like a beer, which for obvious reasons is frequently, I have an almost overwhelming urge to kick the cat from one end of the house to the other.

But I don't. Though I'm more wary of him, his trust in me, despite the fact that he copped it immediately after he savaged me, is as strong as ever. He sniffs around the wound then rests against my arm, purring, as if to say forget whoever did that to you dad, I'll make you better.

Cats have neither a memory for finer nuance nor a sense of irony.

The altercation's had a bigger impact on Minh-Minh, who has been a bit out of sorts and melancholy ever since. I'm attempting to fix this with prolonged shoulder rides (she's a shoulder riding kitty) and lots of reassurance.

We need a new house. Everyone with a 3 bedroom Calibung in the area between Westgarth and Bell Street please step forward.

4 comments:

Kerryn Goldsworthy said...

I vividly remember the story of the introduction of Minh-Minh, and I have a suggestion to make.

Three psychotic episodes, right? First was Minh; then the cattery, with, presumably, assorted strange cats; with this recent episode, you don't know what happened while you couldn't see him, so is it possible that there was another cat under the house (you say Mao stayed there much longer than usual)? That would mean all three psycho episodes have been about confrontations with other, strange cats.

Vets talk about something called (I think) 'referred aggression', which means that when a cat is feeling aggro but unable to get to the object, it will turn and beat up anything it can get at. I have seen this happen with my own two cats several times. It might explain the state of your left hand.

This doesn't actually help with the immediate dilemma, I know. But that's what it sounds like to me. I think the previous commenters are right and you should go to the vet and ask questions.

Daniel said...

Why don't we just admit that cats are often unpleasant and unpredictable animals! Cheers!

Anonymous said...

Armagnac, we're looking for a house too...our ambitions don't extend to a 3br Calibung (cool word) in that zone, however, more like something dark and poky in a rightly forgotten suburb, but even so, it's not fun is it?

Armagnac Esq said...

No...snot fun at all!

Forgotten suburb? Try preston north of bell street. There's a cool cafe there now in the old fire station...