Poor Cass! Hope you're sleeping now...

Raq, hope you had a good nap.

Timelies, all!

Off to e-mail my webmistress!

I don't think it's you -- the same thing has happened with a number of my other feeds over the last few days.

Found our apartment listed on Craigslist. Let the fun begin!

I suspect that when a site that's on the rss feed updates in some way, it makes the feed think everything is new. I've been getting a lot of flist spam from my feeds lately, too.

I'd like it if LJ put the feeds to which we subscribe somewhere other than our friends page--like if there was a feed page as well, or something. I don't mind the feed clutter when I'm looking for feeds, but if I get 10 classic Dave Barry columns from the mid-90s, when I'm really looking to see what Cashmere is up to, it's not so good.

I ♥ Trinian. so fluffy and cute!

So how the fucking fucking FUCK do you cat owners get a cat into a cat-carrying box? HOW?

40 minutes of gently trying to calm Daniel down and lull him and be chilled and sporadically endeavouring to put him into the box, variously wrapping him in a towel, clutching the Kitten-reflex back of the neck, blah blah blah while uttering soothing noises, and eventually, with deep bleeding weals in my chest and throat, I lost my rag.

The cat is uninjured, although scared and pissed off, because of the yelling and the angry towel-flailing.

I am bleeding, and ashamed, and I have NO. Fucking. Idea. how I'm going to get him into the box. I rang the shelter and told them I'd bring him tomorrow rather than today, but that still leaves me with No. Fucking. Idea. of how to do this.

It is a new box, because the old carrier, while comfortable and squishy and comforting (not that he liked that one either, mind you), was (a) too small and (b) wholly unsuitable for travelling on a plane in a month's time. So the process is different from the get-cat-into-flexible-squishy-bag-carrier process we've managed before...well, 'kay, my flatmate has managed before.

But sans flatmate, and her Uncanny Way With Animals (tm) I have NO idea how I'm going to do this. It will definitely involve traumatising the hell out of Daniel and me both, though, and pain for me, and discomfort for him.

Fuck.

How do you DO this?

I'd like it if LJ put the feeds to which we subscribe somewhere other than our friends page--like if there was a feed page as well, or something.

Create friends filters that have actual friends on one, and RSS feeds in the other. Then go to each filtered flist page and bookmark it. When you go to the bookmarked page, it shows you the updates.

Oh, Fay. Can you (or did you?) try putting the towel over his face?

Disclaimer: My cat is a lot better at going into the cat carrier than coming out of it. I've had to hold it opening down and shake it repeatedly to get him near enough to the opening for someone to grab and pull.

But to get him in, I put the cat carrier somewhere in his path for a day or so, with something that smells like him in it (a favorite toy or pillow or similar), or, failing that, food. Once his forequarters are in, I pounce-shove-lock before he can throw it into reverse.

Also, if it's one of those that has the gate on an end, rather than on top, you might stand it upright so the gate is on top and lower him in.

Oh yes. Yes, we tried leaving it in a friendly location with the door half-open in a 'come investigate' kind of way, we tried active 'hey, what's this cool and interesting new thing?' games, we tried the towel-wrapped-around-his-neck-and-gathered-up-to-imprison-his-legs, we tried the no-towel,-just-hand-on-nape-of-neck , we tried entreaty, we tried seduction, we tried logic, we tried (after 40+ minutes) bundling the whole cat into the towel and trying to forcibly shove the squirming bundle into the box.

No joy. Just bleeding me, and pissed off, baffled and deeply mistrustful kitty. Although he's presently sitting in his Safe Hiding Place Of Choice which is on the seat next to mine here at the dining table, and has accepted apologies, and the offer of a hand to scratch if he felt so inclined, and stroking and skritching behind the ear and all that. So I guess he isn't too deeply freaked. But he was definitely scared by the yelling and towel-flailing. (Well, in no small part because, as he bounded out of my grasp, and I flailed the towel furiously around and yelled, he knocked over a glass which fell into the bath and shattered. So - much unexpected loud noise and scariness in the world of Daniel.)

God.

Flatmate was always so GOOD at this, damn it.

eta

Good suggestions, all, Raq. Thanks for that. I'll see what bridge-building we can do, and next time try using gravity to assist in the whole cat-into-box thing.

eta wee bit more detail