Sweet Cats

J. and I strategize and talk things through daily - and then he usually just goes off and does stuff on his own completely not recalling what we've talked about previously.  Today was one of the most prime examples of this phenomenon.

He comes downstairs with Nala in his arms, ready to put her in her carrier to go to the kitty spa for a couple days.  (We can't risk them getting out during all the in and out that will happen when the movers are here tomorrow).  I help him get her in and she immediately begins expressing her discontent.  We can't find Mufasa anywhere - so now we have one cat in their carrier crying and carrying on while the other one is MIA.

What we had talked about doing was getting both cats in the study downstairs, close them in the study, close off all other rooms (just in case they bolt) and then entice them with some tuna to get them in their carrier.

I left Nala gyrating around in her carrier - turning it on both sides, upside down whilst she tried to escape - and went to look for Mufasa - found her hiding in my closet behind a rolling cart that I was going to move out today anyway.  Jim got her and we managed to get her in her carrier, too.

While I was irritated that he started the process without looping me in on his plans to get going, it did work.  I was shaking like a leaf by the time it was over because when the cats are stressed, I'm stressed, too.  I was afraid Mufasa would hear Nala's crying and seriously hide to avoid getting crated.  But she didn't.  She was sleeping soundly when I rousted her from her hiding place.

We took them to the vet together and they were comforted by me in the back seat.  They cried but were getting more settled.  Nala is definitely far more 'chill' than Mufasa.

The vet will dose them with the sedative they prescribed on Tuesday morning - no guarantees it will render them asleep for the entire drive but a lot of it, we hope.  We're going the back route which is about 45 minutes less of a drive than going up Highway 80.  (We will be in the town where the boarding kennel is when we exit Highway 88 from Jackson so that saves 45 minutes of freeway driving from Reno all the way south to Minden).

It's a well planned out route and fingers crossed it will be OK.  I can cope with them crying in their carriers - and having them on the seat might help them not feel so vulnerable.  The floor of the car is OK but the vibrations down there would stress out any animal - especially two cats who haven't traveled much at all.

My ability to pack constantly is waning but I must keep going.  Glad the movers can help a bit tomorrow and/or we can keep packing while they start loading.  It's possible that by end of day today, we might be able to get a car in the garage which would allow us to start loading up stuff in the car that we want with us for the week we are in the hotel in Reno.

I woke up with a migraine today but proved that Excedrin with a 'best buy' date of March, 2014, is still viable.  Worked like a charm.

PS - this is love:  J. put the 70's channel on the TV (for some music to pack by).  He knows that decade is my fave.  He's sweet in ways that warm my heart from head to toe.