That wasn’t the answer I was expecting, but of course that’s why Animal Communication is so important. It definitely helps us understand the animal’s perspective.
Melissa is now almost 4 1/2 years old and quite a fierce hunter. She has caught and on occasion killed mice, chipmunks, snakes, dragonflies, moles, various other insects, and once a red squirrel.
Inside the house, she controls the mouse population. There are nights when she doesn’t go to bed until 3 am or later. She’s been “on patrol.”
During the day, he goes outside for a while. This is to save me having to replace screens regularly, and also because she gets miserable and frantic when confined indoors.
When she was younger, Melissa would bring her prey back alive. This was to show them to me and play with them. When they came loose… the game was on.
He was trying to stop him from bringing in his catches, so Melissa became Demosthenes, the Greek who had trouble speaking clearly and used pebbles in his mouth to improve his speech.
At first, when he got to the door with a latch, I could tell by the sounds he made that his mouth was full of something. This was true the first 2 times.
For the third time, I could no longer discern that Melissa had something in her mouth.
Eventually, Melissa would bring home a catch that was already dead, and after playing with it for a bit while I praised its hunting skills, she would let me take it and leave it outside. Once she did that, she would ignore it. She would then take her body and place it where some other animal could benefit from her death.
But eventually, Melissa just couldn’t resist eating her catch, despite my efforts to make sure she left with a full or nearly full stomach.
And the consequence of that is… PARASITES.
All wild animals (birds and mammals) that a cat will eat have parasites. And by eating the animal, the cat becomes infected.
It has become clear to me in the last 2 weeks that Melissa has worms and needs to be dewormed.
There were 3 main symptoms:
-
- hungrier than usual;
- constipation; and
- a cough that occurs when the larvae, which have been maturing in the lungs, are ready to return to the digestive system.
So today I bought a dewormer from my vet for Melissa, and some syringes that I can use to give her the medicines in paste form if I can’t get her to eat them with her food.
The thing is, Melissa has a very sensitive nose. And this dewormer is supposed to go in the cat’s food. Would I get away with this approach?
Melissa’s sense of smell is very powerful. She will not eat food that is slightly older in one bowl than the other bowl.
I’ll serve the food that was left over from the day before, but it’s still good to eat, according to my nose and Starlight’s nose, but Melissa won’t touch it and always chooses the newest food in the other bowl.
Remember, my cats are on a raw food diet. Food is not left out for hours on end. They get it at mealtime and within 2 hours, they have eaten. I save any leftovers. It’s still perfectly good to eat, unless you have Melissa’s nose telling you otherwise.
So could you give him a deworming medicine in his food? Could I really get away with it?
Therefore, our conversation:
Nedda: “Melissa, what is your favorite food?”
Melissa: “Mouse.” [This is said without hesitation or consideration, and very matter-of-factly.]
Nedda: [Laughing very hard at herself for not asking the question correctly.]
Nedda: “Melissa, of the foods I give you, do you have a favorite?”
Melissa: “Not really.”
Nedda: “What do you think of fish? Like salmon? Or sardines.”
Melissa: “They’re fine.”
Well, I’m not going to serve Melissa mouse.
Melissa needs 3 doses of medicine for 3 days. Today, Day 1, she had it in some of the raw chicken mix topped with a small amount of sardines.
I tried to serve it without the sardines, but after trying it, Melissa walked away. And she had been asking for food, so she was hungry.
So far, so good.
Will I get away with tomorrow and the day after?
Stay tuned for the update.
A few more things I have to keep in mind.
- Melissa will not stop hunting, so she will need to follow a regular deworming program.
- Starlight may or may not catch Melissa’s worms.
Oh darling. I will have to stop feeding the birds this winter to prevent Melissa from attacking them. She can easily jump up around 4 and a half feet and shoot down a bird in the air. I’ve seen her do it!
I will miss the birds… and they will miss this feeding station.
Sigh!
Such is life with a Jungle Kitty!
