Ella

Ella loves my oldest brother. From the moment he got into our car when we left the hospital, she climbed out from under the seat and into his lap, and that is truly unusual. She's not antisocial but she's generally pretty cautious around people she doesn't know,. She has also been comfortable in his house from the start. She knows where everything is by now.
 
Ken Anderson said:
Ella loves my oldest brother. From the moment he got into our car when we left the hospital, she climbed out from under the seat and into his lap, and that is truly unusual. She's not antisocial but she's generally pretty cautious around people she doesn't know,. She has also been comfortable in his house from the start. She knows where everything is by now.
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That is awesome news, and I am happy that Ella is turning out to be such a great traveler . It sounds like she is enjoying the trip as much as you and Michelle are.
 
John Brunner said:
I've never traveled with a pet, except maybe as a kid the family dog came on vacation with us and I guess someone watched the cat. We had a trailer my father would park for the season, and we would stay for weeks while he went back to work. The drive was usually about 4 hours, so there was no extended travel time. I can't imagine taking a cat on such an extended trip.
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When we had my bus, we took the cats and dogs. I would take them in my van but no cats till I get these dogs more under control and I have time to train them around a cat or see if they can be trained.
 
Ken Anderson said:
We're at my other brother's house now, in Wallace, Michigan. His is a larger house with a couple of floors, so Ella has been exploring. She seems at ease here, as well.
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I've never herd of a cat traveling that well. My cat (who was so aggressive she would chase friends out of the house and still try to get through the screen door as they stood outside holding it closed) was a friendly kitted when we lived in the apartment that was her first home. She would fetch rolled up socks, bringing them back when we'd toss them down the hallway. When we moved, she snapped and became mean to everyone buy me. She was a pound kitten, but was fine in the first strange environment.
 
Ken Anderson said:
If I sleep on the futon downstairs, as I'll do sometimes if either of us is sick, so that we don't spread it to one another, Ella will go back and forth between us, but when Michelle isn't home, Ella rarely sleeps on the bed with me. I don't know what that's all about, but she's consistent with that.
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Is she sleeping in your bed? If she is it is possible that she misses your missus.
 
My brother puts corn out for the deer on his property, and one of them came up to the window while Ella was sitting on the window sill. Her eyes were wide, but she didn't retreat. She didn't seem to view the deer as being anything more than an intense curiosity. Although turkeys are much larger than her, she exhibited all of the typical predator responses towards the turkeys, but not the deer. Maybe I need to feed her venison.

When she sees a dog through the window, she often looks to me to judge whether it is anything to be afraid of, but she decided all on her own that the deer were not going to be a problem.
 
Beth Gallagher said:
Maybe she's reacting to the stressful situations so far. I hope you all get home safely soon.
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That is what I was thinking, too. Animals are good at picking up on how we are feeling and reacting to external things, and if her people are anxious , then so is she probably. At least she does not have to depend on roadside bathrooms if the traffic is stopped like happened yesterday.
 
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I felt like doing some yelling too. She had a litter box available to her en route but didn't use it, choosing to wait until we stopped for the night, and that worked for me. I did pull her food up an hour before leaving, given that cats generally eliminate within 20-30 minutes after eating or drinking.
 
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Before going home, Ella had a visit with the vet. She has an infection around her eye, not for the first time. She got some eyedrops, and I have some ointment to apply over the eyes every 6-8 hours, and she'll have to wear a cone for a week. She might have heard that last part because, other than eating a little, she's been hiding since we got home. I had to do some shoveling because the town dumped snow all over my driveway and sidewalks, and Ella was MIA after I got in.
 
We are experiencing a crisis of trust. I have to put ointment on Ella's eyes every 6-8 hours, and she hates that. Whenever I finish putting the ointment on, she hides for 6-8 hours, so, as it works out, pretty much every time I see her, I am putting ointment in her eyes. I can see clearly that she wants to trust me, but she can't understand why I would put that stuff on her eyes every time I see her. Of course, if she wouldn't hide for 6-8 hours at a time, there would be plenty of times during the day when I could do something else with her other than putting goo on her eyes.
 
Are you giving her a treat every time you give her the ointment ? This really helps with Poodle, and even with my kittens , too. Poodle does not like getting a bath, but he knows that if he gets one, or has his toenails trimmed, then he gets bologna afterwards.
I give all the kitties a foot massage every day, as part of their daily petting routine, so when I clip their sharp little toenails with my fingernail clippers, they think it is all part of the massage and are fine with it.

Maybe even just call her out for a treat during the day, and do nothing except give her the treat, and she won’t be sure if she is going to get a treat or ointment?
We used to do that with horses that didn’t want to be caught. I would go out with a horse treat and follow them around until they let me catch them, give them the treat, and walk away.
Pretty soon, they decided it made more sense to let me walk right up to them. I always gave them the treat, but sometimes, i also put the lead rope on and did whatever I was wanting to do.
 
Yvonne Smith said:
Are you giving her a treat every time you give her the ointment ?
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That works with other discomforts, such as wiping her eyes or clipping her nails, but after the ointment is applied to her eyes, she shows no interest in being placated with a treat; she just wants to get away from me before I do some other horrible thing to her.

It's not that the ointment is painful. Like you, I have always made a habit of touching her face and feet so that the mere touch wouldn't become a danger point, and if I place the ointment on my finger before she sees me, I can apply it to the first eye without her even noticing. It's the second one that becomes a problem because I have only one small tube, and it is now available by prescription only, so I can't apply too much of it to my fingers without knowing that her eyes will be available to me.

When I clip her nails, she doesn't notice until she hears the clip. Then she resists the second nail and goes bonkers when I try to clip a third nail. After the second one, it's as if she says, "Okay, we're done. You owe me a treat." So I just do two of them at a sitting.
 
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John Brunner said:
I've never herd of a cat traveling that well. My cat (who was so aggressive she would chase friends out of the house and still try to get through the screen door as they stood outside holding it closed) was a friendly kitted when we lived in the apartment that was her first home. She would fetch rolled up socks, bringing them back when we'd toss them down the hallway. When we moved, she snapped and became mean to everyone buy me. She was a pound kitten, but was fine in the first strange environment.
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John our dogs always go with us on trips like visiting the family who all live hundreds of miles away.
Of course we haven't been on a trip since we got the two new dogs. But we did take 3 a couple years ago, Molly, Leo and Foxy went a couple years ago, Molly was real old 16 and that is old for a large dog. She mostly stayed in van. except to potty.
 
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