riddle me this: separation anxiety

this is so lyla!

whenever i leave the house, or am away for the night, lyla cries whenever jessie retires to her room and is left alone [WITH buster, mind you]. she cries and cries [or so i hear ;)]. i feel really guilty pretty much everytime i leave. i've been doing a little research on separation anxiety in cats and some of the signs from petplace.com ring loud and clear...

- Over-attachment to the owner, following that person from room to room around the house.

- Distress as the owner prepares to depart (so-called pre-departure anxiety). This can take many forms but some of the more common presentations are meowing, sulking, apparent depression, slinking away, and hiding.

- Vocalization (crying, moaning, meowing) right after the owner has left (you might need to set a tape recorder to check this sign).

- Destructive behavior – rare, but some cats may claw and scratch door edges presumably in an attempt to escape from their solitary confinement.

- Exuberant greeting behavior – as if greeting a long lost friend that they did not expect to see ever again.

i included the ones that are the most true for her. since she's not 'making accidents' outside of the litterbox or more of the extreme signs, i don't think it's severe... but i think she still is anxious. when i was away for a week on vacation, they pretty much stopped eating and it took a week or so for both of the kitties to regain their appetite. i got the kittens when they were very young and were parted from their mother VERY early, another sign. lyla constantly reminds me of her early weaning separation by suckling on cookie monster.

i have found a few tips on various websites that I am going to try out...
- leaving on the radio/television
- ignoring the kitties 15-20 mins before leaving and when coming home to make the events less dramatic. [this is going to be SOOO hard for me. i say bye to each of the kitties like 3 times before i leave and am used to them running up on the bed when i get home and i hug them/pet/kiss/etc.]

i'm pretty sure that i can't/won't do ALL of the tips [some are intense]...like one site said keep cats out of the bedroom which is pretty much impossible with my current living situation.


has anyone else experienced separation anxiety with their kitty? any tips?

i thought the fact that lyla was obsessed with me was really cute and honestly made me feel good, but now i am nervous that she is mildly stressed. and that makes me stressed. i always feel so guilty leaving. gosh, can you imagine when i have KIDS? send me over any separation issues with pet owners tips you can find... cause i know I have it TOO!

don't eat us...

lyla likes to be naughty.

but it's okay because she makes up for it in cuteness. here she is sticking her head in a jar.

lyla likes to climb.

maybe it's because she cant jump very well... but lyla LOVES to climb up my shoe rack. please witness reason #473 why i don't buy expensive shoes. buster tries to climb up, but he's a little too big. awwww.

she goes up...



she goes down...

lyla likes [her boyfriend] cookie monster.

i'm just going to come out and say it. lyla is a little needy. i find myself assuming that she's the runt because she's SO small compared to buster, and has an insane need-to-pretend-i'm-nursing/nuzzling issue [especially in my hair]. it's cute and don't get me wrong, i love the attention... but borderline starts creeping me out when she's sucking on my neck. ALSO, her claws are getting stronger, so they dig in as well.

i read online that it helps to 'ween' them off onto a stuffed animal/blanket/something for comfort. i don't have too many stuffed animals lying around my apartment except for a cookie monster that i acquired when visiting the ACTUAL sesame street [yes, i have a photo of moi in oscar's trashcan].

so i introduced the little cuddle fiend to her new mate...and voila! cookie monster is now lyla's true love. see for yourself.

the chase.

a lil pick me up for your monday. it's long but the kitties are just oh so cute playing chase. maybe one day someone can teach me how to edit these thangs.

lyla's long night

last night the kitties went to the vet for their second round of vaccinations and check up. we had an evening appointment at their new vet... st. marks vet. [with frank's recommendation]. they saw dr. kurowski who was just the best. i love my kitties because they aren't very shy in around new people or environments. they popped right out of the carrier with curiosity. their long lost brothers and sisters in GA would have been shaking in their boots at the very idea of leaving the house.

after getting their shots, buster was calm and collected, as usual, and lyla seemed a little shaken up. buster weighed in at 3.9 lbs [compared to 1.6 lbs at his last visit a month ago] and lyla weighed in at 2.13 lbs [compared to 1.3 lbs].



when we got home, lyla started acting pretty wild. binge eating, throwing up, etc. i will spare the other details. i figured this is normal after-the-vaccination behavior, as i know it can shake them up quite a bit. after a little time had passed, i looked at lyla's face and realized that her face looked puffed up. it was pretty easy to tell that something wasn't right as generally her face is very thin. in addition, her eyes looked swollen and she was shaking. in my experience, vaccinations usually make kitties sleepy so when lyla was running around, restless, and very frantic i got very nervous. it seemed that she was having an allergic reaction of some sort...to either the vaccination or dewormer.


so, naturally i freaked out and took her to the 24 hour, Animal Medical Center [which was AMAZING btw]. buster looked so sad and confused when we packed lyla back in the carrier and left without him. but he was showing no signs of a reaction and was his typical cool-as-a-cucumber form.

lyla was quickly seen and the doctors gave her a steroid of some sort and benedryl to combat the reaction. immediately, she started to look and act better. thank goodness for the speediness of the AMC! i'm happy to report that lyla seems back to normal and is happy and frisky. but lil lady gave me quite a scare. what a night!

playtime video

buster and lyla got a new toy. they really like it...especially lyla.



playtime from kelly reeves on Vimeo.

bathtime!

on sunday night, jessie and i decided to give the kitties a bath. i know, i know... kitties 'bathe' themselves, but they hadn't been bathed since coming to live with me and had a different home/cage smell to them. and besides, i bought some cute kitten shampoo with a cute kitten on it and i really wanted to use it [left].




we started with lyla. took her into the bathroom [the kitties have never been in there before] and she was a little nervous when i turned on the water.


overall, she did fairly well. she freaked out for a little at first, but then she calmed down and almost seemed to enjoy it. all the while shaking like a weed in a storm. some photos:


not happy.


her face says it all.


is that a smile i see?


how do you really feel lyla?

next up, buster. i was nervous he would freak out because one time he stepped in his own poop [oh the joys of young kittenhood] and i tried to wash his paw off. he flipped. buster's bath was short lived. he could not calm down and ended up biting the crap out of my hand. he got rinsed off, but not suds'd up.
some photos:

pre-bath, not sure what's about to happen.


freakout in 3..2..1..

that's about it. for obvious reasons, the buster photos did not come to fruition.



in hindsight i should have handled the situation better and read the
bathing kitty' tips that i read after the biting incident...not run the water, use a pitcher, not a new setting... i dunno. but man did they have role reversal in this situation! lyla certainly smelled much better afterwards and was so soft. buster [even though he only got wet] was softer as well.

the buster headlock

when i was looking to adopt kitties [and at the end of my rope with another adoption group, who will remain nameless], jeff and i attended a Cupcakes and Critters adoption/fundraising event put on by City Critters.

when we arrived, they weren't fully set up yet [as they were loading the available animals onto a fancy A/C'd bus] and a lot of the kitties were inside of an animal hospital. we took a walk to see the all the available kitties... a little leg up on the other attendees and 'competition.' we immediately saw lots of kitties in lots of carriers strewn about the floor. lil black and white kitties looked friendly. a cute lil calico saw us and cried from across the room.

we peered into one carrier and saw 2 tiny tiny kitties just playing so hard. 'i want those guys' jeff said. and the rest is history.


jeff's first memory of my kitties in the carrier was buster and lyla playing and wrestling and buster putting lyla in a headlock.

i took a cute video of them playing the other day, and buster did his infamous headlock. i remembered the fond memory of the tiny kitties that we picked out that day...

enjoy!



and the background noise? the beautiful sounds of friday night lights.

lyla's laser eyes