Wednesday, January 02, 2008

Tanji's Tough Day

Tanji is definitely the "baby cat" of our three boys, even though he's not the youngest. He follows us everywhere (including most trips to the bathroom) and curls up in bed with us at night. He tries so hard to be good, and usually is, but you can actually see the conflict in his eyes and body language. When he thinks he is being bad outside (like wandering too close to the fence), he cries and often runs home. Unlike U & V, Tanji can get quite startled by scary things (like people knocking on the door or going to the VET). Nothing is more heartbreaking than a scared/sad Tanji. He is such a little mush, and all you want to do is protect him.

Today it was raining (as usual), so as Les and I were standing in the rain, while the boys were smartly sitting under trees. Tanji managed to get his leash tangled around a little fig tree by the bird feeder, while "watching" birdies, and panicked !!,... maybe thinking something had grabbed him. By the time I got him undone, he pulled out of the bottom half of his harness and was struggling desperately. He was freaked out, so I quickly carried him back to the house. He was a very wet unhappy boy.

Once the entire family came inside (Vladi was already home), Tanji wanted reassurance and tried to get Uschi and Vladi to lick him, by putting his neck right under their heads. But U was wet and licked himself, and well, Vladi is just a kitten and isn't big on licking back, yet.

Fine, I'll just lick myself then.

Les rubbed Tanji's neck dry with a towel,...

and Tanji did some spot clean-up.

That is an unhappy baby-cat, with a little
broken whisker hanging down by his left eye.

His left eye was watering a bit too, so we gave him
a lot of reassuring pets and watched him closely
(of course, he is always near by anyway!)

After a while, Tanj's flat lips started turning up into a smile...

I've had a rough day, I'm going to need extra Fancy Feast.
(Of course he got it, and will be curled up in bed with us soon!)


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5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I enjoy your kitties very much and look forward to them each day. One thing concerns me - please be careful with the leashes and harnesses. I am concerned that the kitties could become ensnared on something particularly while they are climbing a tree and get hurt. I wouldn't want to hear that that had happened. Take care.

Mary G

Daisy said...

Poor Tanji. Sometimes you have a rough day at the office. I am glad things got better at the end of the day. I see your little smile!

Tanj,Uschi&Vladi said...

The boys always wear their harnesses when outside,... but don't always have leashes attached. We have been keeping the leashes on more lately because it is easier to keep an eye on them with the bright orange leash trailing behind them and it is also easier to catch them if necessary.

We are very careful with the boys.

Anonymous said...

I'm sure you are (careful). I can imagine they could be tough to catch. I have a Bengal male who got outside once and I had to lie down in the grass like a snake and sneak up on him. It wasn't easy to catch him. It was almost like, as they say about wild cats, once he was out of known territory, he reverted to his instincts. Take care.

Mary G

Tanj,Uschi&Vladi said...

The boys are actually very good outside, because they are use to going out everyday with us right with them all the time. The leashes are really just a security measure. We haven't had a problem, but we want to error on the safe side.