Fuck

[feuervogel]

Saturday night, Ben and I had people over to hang out and play games. A tray of chocolate-covered rice krispy treats was brought, and I made a point to tell people to make sure the cover was on tightly because one of the cats gets into all the food.

Apparently people don't fucking listen, because I got up at one point to put some fruit in the fridge, and Luna jumped guiltily off the counter, after having nudged the top off the tray and licked a bit of chocolate off one of the bars. She would absolutely have gotten a lot more if I hadn't coincidentally gotten up right then.

Apparently Luna having done this didn't make an impression on people, because a couple hours later, I heard the sound of top sliding over foil as Luna pushed it off.

Last night when Ben cleaned the litter boxes, he found a huge liquid poop in one of them and a smaller goopy poop in another one. This morning, Luna ate really slowly and then barfed up her entire breakfast. She's acting fairly normal otherwise, but we still may have to take her to the vet--because of someone fucking else's fucking inability to listen to fucking directions.

I've been called "bossy" and "bitchy" and "anal retentive" for insisting that people do basic things like NOT POISON MY CATS. "Ugh, C's just being a bitch again." I've been made fun of for having a particular way of doing things. I HAVE A PARTICULAR WAY OF DOING THINGS BECAUSE THAT'S HOW I KEEP THE CATS OUT OF MY FUCKING FOOD.

Maybe I'm overly sensitive because I don't want to make a fuss and have people roll their eyes at me for making a simple request to keep food from marauding cats. When Isis was still alive, I had to pick up all sorts of dropped food, following people around like their fucking mother, because she had diabetes and a severe grain allergy. I said, "hey, Isis can't have crumbs, so please be careful and pick your crumbs up," and that didn't work.

I am really pissed right now and scared for my cat. And I don't want to have to spend money on a vet visit because of someone else's fucking carelessness.

Comments

[luckykitty]

Ugh, sending good thoughts for you and Luna :(. Poor kitty. I really think if you don't live with cats, you don't realize how enterprising kitties can be about getting into food. My roommate's one can can get into cupboards, push pizza boxes off counters to open them, and generally be completely devious about getting things into his tummy.

[feuervogel]

Yeah, one comment after the first incident was "Oh clever kitty to push the lid off." I said, "Yes, she does that." I added in my head, "and that's why I fucking told you all to make sure the lid is on properly."

Like. Someone commented that the cat can push the lid off! And no one learned from it! IOHGOUGHDVGUHFDVPI"HGVW

[zombieallomorph]

Considering chocolate can kill cats ... I totally understand, I would've lost my shit. Is never letting people who disregard your rules in your house back into it an option?

[feuervogel]

I don't know who did it, and it wasn't on purpose. Apparently not everyone heard me explain that the tray needed to be fully closed, and I didn't want to hover at it to make sure everyone got the message.

But considering that people keep leaving the toilet lid open, despite it being closed at the start of the party, and someone shut the bathroom door after leaving it--the bathroom where there are two clearly visible litter boxes--the assumption "leave it how you found it" is poor.

[heavenscalyx]

ARGH. All the RAGE for you, because that ain't right. People have the right to lay down ground rules in their own home, and it's goddamn rude and disrespectful to NOT do what they ask, NO MATTER HOW UNREASONABLE IT MAY SEEM TO YOU. If someone is a stickler about putting the toilet roll on frontways, DO IT FRONTWAYS, FFS. Assholes were raised by stoats.

Take up a collection at the next get-together. "Since I don't know which one of you left the lid off and made my cat sick and ran up vet bills for us, I'm asking all of you to kick in to help cover the vet bills. If there's a next time, I'll save some of the vomit for your shoes."

[feuervogel]

I don't know who was responsible; I wasn't watching constantly. And apparently not everyone got the message.

[krait]

Oh, dear. D: Thinking good thoughts for Luna and for you!

Since people seem unable to remember things might differ in someone else's home, is there any way to keep Luna out of certain areas while people are over? Or to keep all food in the fridge/pantry/anywhere you can easily ensure that a door is firmly between it and the cat?

Having a dog after eight years of not having one, I do think lots of people just don't grok the kind of measures pet owners think of as obvious. ("Is your dog eating a kleenex!!?!" - "Yes; dogs do that so watch out when she's standing right by the one you're holding.") They're also probably oblivious to the hazards that pet owners are aware of; plenty of people couldn't name three things that are toxic to dogs/cats if you asked them to form a list, so it would never occur to them that something safe for humans wasn't safe for other mammals. (I've had to explain why chocolate isn't OK for dogs to other people, before; they had no idea that theobromin OR caffeine were bad for animals! *facepalming*) Sigh. To be fair, I don't have a kid, and I suspect parents go through similar things that I am cheerfully oblivious to.

Keep us updated on Luna-kitty, and hopefully she will be feeling like herself again, soon!

[beth_leonard]

I know people who won't let their parents watch their children because the children's allergies are life-threatening and the grandparents refuse to read labels. I hope your cat is ok.
--Beth

[angelamori.livejournal.com]

urgh, that's horrible. Stop hanging with those people!

[pharna.livejournal.com]

I doubt whoever did that meant to hurt your cat. At least I'd hope not...

Can you lock the cat in a room if you have people over?