Thailand Live Saturday 12 October 2024

[orang37]

Sawasdee Khrup, TV Friends,

I and I know many of you love the Divine Incarnations of Goddess Bast :

http://www.per-bast.org/bast/historical.html

as we, so we want to share the story of a recent traumatic event in the life of our Celestial Feline Companion, Khun Montri Chomphulalongphaulong na Chiang Mai, which is most disturbing. Note that Khun Montri can get in and out of the house when we are away; he's never "locked" in the house.

I and I came home the Friday night before Loy Krathong week late, from an excursion to Airport Plaza.

Walking around the back of the house, after parking the car, we heard ... instead of the usual happy me-ow's that normally greet us ... a most morose and disturbing kind of whine-howl. Now, please realize, the three of us (orang, human, cat) really have a "psychic" thing going on where we instantly recognize when things are not "all right."

Coming into our abode we find Khun Montri taking a long slow piss into his very own fish-shaped kibble bowl ! And with a "psychotic gleam" in his eyes we have never seen before. Oh yes, we have seen him "high" from licking toads, or eating herbs, or whatever he does to (rarely) get worked up into that state where he runs around wild-eyed : but this was different. We have noted that these "altered states" seem to be more frequent around the full-moon, which makes perfect sense to us, since at that time a certain, and rare, form of encoded communication can take place between Orang and Human within us.

This was some form of Post Traumatic Feline Stress Disorder.

Of course we did not chastise him for whizzing in his kibble bowl, of course we picked him up and held him gently and rocked him and cooed to him.

But, then, we noticed whenever a firework went off outside he quivered. And then he acted like he wanted to take a crap in the corner of the kitchen. Khun Montri has been with us four years now, and he's always liked to go outside to do his business, so this was another indication of trauma. Fortunately, we had a supply of cat litter left over from long ago, and promptly conjured up a cat-a-port-a-johnny.

The next morning Khun Montri would not come outside on the patio to eat his daily breakfast of two small plaa too diced up and slightly heated ! Normally he's quite enthusiastically "all over us" from the time we get out of bed, reminding us quite vocally of his rights to breakfast while we make our first liter of soy-milk and coffee.

So he got fed inside, and he would not go outside the house until about two days after the last of the local fireworks a week later. For four days he seemed to want to be in constant physical contact with us. And he wasn't quite the same for ten days.

We are happy to report he appears now returned to "mental health" and is willing to eat outside; soon, we hope, he will resume his acts of elimination outside, also.

We hypothesize that some local kid or lout may have thrown a firecracker at him during the time we were away on Friday, that something happened to blow his mind. But we did, of course, carefully examine him all over for any burns, loss of fur, scratches, whatever. No signs of external damage.

We do not recall him ever behaving like this during the three other Loy Krathongs he's been with us.

Perhaps he had stayed indoors for hours while we were away, and his kibble was the only thing he could find in the house that had the texture and use-me-for-a-toilet-mojo that cats like ?

We have had many Divine Feline Companions in our lives, and never seen anything quite like this.

We are curious if those of you who also love cats and dogs noticed any unusual behavior this particular Loy Krathong. We are not, of course, ruling out "supernatural" interactions as a possible cause here.

regards, ~o:37;

[Ulysses G.]

Our dog went crazy too and would hide behind my desk and shake for hours - and that was for a week or two before the holiday when it wasn't that bad. The cats did not like the noise, but did not get all freaked out.

My guess is something like the Orange Guy's. I think that someone had hurt the dog with an explosive at some point.

He does seem to be OK now.

[eek]

Oh so sorry to hear that story, but glad things are back on track.

I dont think what happened to Khun Montri is all that uncommon. If a cat usually does his business outside, but is distressed or stressed about something out there, they will try find the most appropriate place possible inside instead. Sometimes it can be a very difficult decision and often ends up being a last minute desperate choice. Usually a plant pot being the first choice,or somewhere within a bathroom/toilet. Khun Montri most likely chose his kibble bowl because it seemed to him to be the only appropriate choice at that time. Its so good to hear that he wasnt scolded for his unusual behaviour and instead comforted.

If a cat displays this kind of behaviour and doesnt seem to be getting back into their old routine, then you can take similar steps to when they were first being trained. Such as gradually moving the litter tray nearer to the cat flap/exit area, then moving it to the other side of the cat flap, moving it to their usually "business" place, then finally just leaving some kitty litter on the area and removing the tray completely. But, thankfully Khun Montri settled into his old ways with gentle encouragement.

Im no cat expert of course, just have had cats in my life since i can remember.

Its always great to read stories of understanding owners. Sadly some would have gotten annoyed with the cat, rather than be sympathetic and kind.

[sbk]

Orang's title did get my attention

Some of my dogs freak out at firecrackers while others do not. One dog turns frantic, shivering and pacing, while the other one looks for a place to hide. I found her once, with her head under the lowest shelf of a set of shelves, entire body sticking out mind you, but her head was under cover so I guess she felt safe.

My cat never cared about fireworks much, but then nobody ever threw one at her (which is, apparently, what you suspect). As she got older and deafer, she cared even less.

Glad to hear kitty is ok, but next fireworks period (New Years eve?) you might consider locking him up in the house. Especially if you might have evil neighbors who throw firecrackers at cats.