The Lesson of Cat "Cleaning"
I hope Gracie-cat forgives me. I hope that I forgive me! Last week our kitty cozied up a little too close to the wood pile for too long (next to our warm woodstove), and ended up with an impossible amount of tree sap stuck in unfortunate areas: the base of her tail near her poop zone and up top, caked into the paw pad and up her back right leg, and her belly fur. When we saw her in the mornng she was hopping about like a peg leg pirate, and trying to shake it off her back leg. I looked up how to clean this off and found many ideas suggested, from peanut butter, to Dawn, to coconut oil, olive oil and so on. Opting for olive oil, I locked her in the bathroom with me, all tools in hand, and prepared to clean her up. Pitch gone, but...new problem: the oil was still on. Oily cat. It looked and felt much worse IRL. She behaved so well, and of course hated every second of it. After towel drying her the best I could, she spent hours cleaning herself nonstop. As she dried, sh...