Scully, we hardly knew ye
Well, we said goodbye to Scully today and brought her back to CLAWS, the shelter we adopted her from about a month ago. It's become clear in the last couple of weeks that she's not happy here, and having suffered problems with an unhappy cat before, I felt the best thing to do was to give her back, which the woman who runs CLAWS said we could do if things didn't work out.
Scully was a pretty mellow cat most of the time, but she really began to mistreat Max -- the other cat we adopted -- to the point that we have to bring him to the vet tomorrow to have a big bite wound on his side cleaned and treated (I just discovered it last night when I was petting him and my hand sunk into a wet spot like chewing gum stuck to the bottom of a chair. On top of that, she scratched me -- actually, she scratched the shit out of me, scratched the kids, and wouldn't stay off the goddamn counter or table.
I know that some cat experts say there isn't necessarily anything wrong with cats jumping on tables or counters, but for me it was the dealbreaker, and we couldn't seem to convince her out of it. I have a problem with it because cats use their paws to scratch in their litterboxes. While they might be fastidious creatures, there's no way I can get around the fact that those paws that were scratching in crap and pee-soaked clay are now on my counters and table, where I prepare and serve food.
Surprisingly, none of the kids seem particularly sorry to see Scully go. They're a bit sad and disappointed, but they're not bawling. After all, they still have Max, and he's a very gentle and sweet kitty that's transitioned quite well into our house, Scully's abuse not withstanding.
Comments
Good riddance. I know of too many households that have psychotic cats that even the owners can't pet without fear of getting mauled. It's always a mystery to me why people will keep a cat that they don't particularly like and that unpredictably lashes out at them.
chris
Posted by: doktorwise | March 2, 2004 12:12 PM
Yeah. Many years ago my wife decided to bring home a cat "for me." We called her Lorelei -- Lo-li for short, and she was a frickin' retard from the start.
She went ballistic when we had our first child, my son Bob. We tried everything -- behavior modification, hormone therapy, etc -- to get her to behave, but nothing work. She ended up destroying the carpets in the place we lived and damaging furniture, etc. We ended up bringing her to a no-kill shelter a ways away from us, and they found a home for her about a month later.
I still can't figure out why we kept Lo-li for as long as we did, and in retrospect, I wish we'd found a home for her much sooner than we did. I think part of it was guilt at having invited this animal into our home and feeling like we'd done something to drive her to this behavior, and a sense of responsibility to the animal as well.
In this particular case with Scully, the shelter gave us an easy out -- a money-back guarantee, as it were. So we took advantage of it and we're grateful, although we're feeling a bit sheepish and very guilty about it regardless.
Posted by: flargh | March 2, 2004 12:21 PM
I am having a difficult situation with a cat that my daughter who 12yrs old has. No one can pet the cat more then twice or she will bite at you. She had a babysitter trapped in the basement once. She hates men and any new people that come in the house, LOOK OUT! Even relatives who visit often who she is famiiar with. The other day she layed in my mom's lap when she was at our house which is unusal becasue she isn't much of a lap cat. My mom was petting her for awhile and then all of a sudden the cat turned around and hssed in my mom's face and showed her teeth. We neevr know when or who she is goig to attack. My daughter keeps begging me not to get rid of her, but even she can't et her for long or even pick her up. We are getting ready to move into a new home with my fiance and his daughter, even tough she is 20 I am still afraid of what she might do. Anyone have any suggestions?
Scared and Confued!
Posted by: Dawn | March 24, 2004 01:08 PM
Three choices: Behavior modification, hormone therapy, or get rid of her. That's what we had to do with another cat of ours that we ultimately put up for adoption.
Posted by: flargh | March 24, 2004 01:12 PM
My girls were in their room playing, my youngest fell off the bottom bunk bed and was yelling her head off. My other daughter was trying to help her and in comes the cat and attacks her very badly. She is gone as soon as the woman from the shelter where I adopted her comes and picks her up. I will never trust that cat around my girls again. Basia has made us all sad because we had become close to her and now we have to let her go!
Posted by: Debra | June 1, 2004 07:25 PM