Cotton and Cricket

[Nina]

Hi Sandy, I've been away from the computer for a couple of days and just saw your posts about Cotton's crisis.  I'm glad to hear he's doing better, you must have been scared out of your mind when you found him like that!  I sure hope he's much better by today.  You know, Met is a pretty harsh antibiotic, how long has Cotton been on it?  You might want to talk to the vet about trying another one, or making sure it's absolutely necessary to have him on antibiotics right now.  Abx are true life savers, but they also suppress and kill the good bacteria too.  Have you thought about treating Cotton holistically?  I have a wonderful woman who has been helping me with finding the right remedies for my girl Gypsy who suffers from IBD.  Patti and Hideyo have experience with them, maybe they'll have some suggestions.  I know that Bioplasma (combination of 12 different tissue remedies), is a good overall support rx, you might want to try it with Cotton.  Will Cotton lap plain yogurt?  Think about adding some probiotics to his food to replace good bacteria in his gut, (Kydophilus is a good one).  Also, slippery elm is good for coating as calming.  Poor little lamb!  If you want to talk, write me off-list and I'll send you my phone number. I'm thrilled to hear that Cricket and you had that talk!  It sure sounds like she understood you.  Isn't it amazing?  I don't know if they understand our words, or if they are reading the pictures in our minds as we try to convey the meaning behind the words.  I know that I have the best results if I try to "send" them pictures while I'm talking to them.  Also, I've always heard it's better to speak and think in the affirmative.  For example, when you want a dog to stop jumping, it's better to ask them to keep their feet on the floor, (sending the picture of them being calm, with four on the floor), rather than tell them NO jumping.  I think it may have something to do with those "pictures" in our brain.  When we say "no jumping", we are probably picturing them jumping up on us!  So we can be saying no with our words, but sending them the picture of exactly the opposite thing we want from them.  So when you talk to Cricket and Cotton about being nice, don't think about them being naughty at the same time!  Picture instead, Cricket licking Cotton on the head, or at least ignoring him. Please let us know how little Cotton is doing this morning, I'm so worried about him. Nina Dudes wrote: Nina, I have to thank you, thank you, thank you because I took your advice, and it's totally worked!  I did go to bed after this email, and I had a talk with Cricket!  My husband was working late, so I had the perfect opportunity to do it without feeling silly, and I thought what the heck, I will try it.   As she sat on my chest and kneaded my neck like she always does, I told her that she needed to be nicer to Cotton and it makes me sad when she attacks him and I have to yell at her.  I told her what you said, that he already knew that she was a strong girl, and that he was just a little boy, who could learn a lot from her because she's so smart.  I told her that he's sick and we might not get to have him around for very long, and it was not good for him to feel bad feelings, that it could make him sicker.  (At this point she put her paw on my mouth, but until what happened later, I thought it was just a coincidence, but I now wonder if it wasn't)  I kissed her little foot, and I told her to be patient with him until he learned to act like her-a very good girl.    Now I know that sounds like a long speech to give a cat, but I stroked her head and talked very softly and she looked at me the entire time.  Sometimes she looked away, as if she was hearing something uncomfortable, and some of the time she stared at me and seemed interested in my lips moving.  I felt better, anyway.   The next day there were NO incidents of her chasing him or stalking him.  NONE! It was the first time since he's been here.   I saw her watching him at one point, and I thanked her for being such a good big sister to him. They both looked up at me, as did Miss, who was nearby.   I could just swear that she puffed up a little and put her tail a little higher, and looked very pleased with herself!   We have not had another incident of chasing/ambushing/batting heads since.  Even when Cotton took a playful swat at her with outstretched paw, claws out as she walked by.  She just stopped for a minute and stared at him, but I could see her ear cocked at me, like she thought I might say something.  She didn't do a thing, she just walked on.  Unless I'm imagining things, she totally got it. Anybody else ever talk to their cats and SWEAR they understand?  PEACE is nice.  I'm so happy that we have some. :)  Sandy       ----- Original Message ----- From: Nina To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Sent: Wednesday, November 16, 2005 10:34 PM Subject: Re: 20 CATS... Sometimes I'll shame them into being nicer...  You know, something like, Cricket, Cotton knows how tough you are, it's not necessary to be so firm!  Be nice to your little brother and Cotton, you respect Cricket, she has a lot to teach you.