The "Build a Demonic Snowman" contests are always a morale booster.

And the whole "Pelt the Prisoners with Snowblower" contests.

Not even remotely interested in human food, or catnip, or kitty treats.

I had a cat like that. She wasn't interested in anything but catfood, preferably crunchy, and was a vastly suspicious eater, so there was no sneaking pills into her. I used something like this [link] and a trick someone taught me: use your thumb and forefinger to slide what would be the cat's lips, if cats had lips, over his top teeth to open his mouth, so that if he tries to bite down, he bites himself. Then push the pill pretty far down his throat. (That's way easier to show than tell.) I mainly used a combination of speed and sneakiness.

And the whole "Pelt the Prisoners with Snowblower" contests.

Good times, good times.

Sean, you probably already know this, but wrap the kitty in a towel, so they can't get you with the paws.

Everyone always says that about the towel, but to my cats, the towel was a dead giveaway that I was about to do something unpleasant.

Blankets. Grab 'em when they snoozing.

(When we went out to the car this morning, I looked at the ground and Saw Something, which meant I was able to give him the first four-leaf clover of the season on his birthday. I'm very pleased about that.)

That's wonderful. Happy birthday, Pete!

Much MiracleMove~ma. I know you've been considering this for a long time, and the timing does seem pretty right.

Good call on not cutting the vaca, javachik! I hope that you are able to arrange to come home to a good job.

Tough break on the cat, Sean. I have no advice, every way I have tried has ended up just me pitting my will to force the, to take the pill against their determination not to. Fortunately, I am extremely stubborn and my cats are mostly healthy.

It's a real shame that as my "customer contact" lists get longer, my "big piles of money" plan is not getting any clearer. This is how pyramid schemes get started, isn't it?

A friend of mine once had to give her (14-pound, spoiled) cat pills every morning. The cat was determined not to take them. She'd eat around the pills, or take them with the food and then spit them out (nothing like finding a half-dissolved kitty pill in the kitchen ... or the bedroom). One morning she got the pill down the cat ... she THOUGHT she got the pill down the cat ... until the cat jumped on her shoulder and spat the pill down into her shirt pocket.

Attn: Hec and JZ!!! My mom brought me season one of Slings & Arrows as a recovery gift, and we watched the whole thing last night. SO much fun! Wonderful performances all round and great, witty scripts and Paul Gross is yumalicious.

It is the genius, yes? Do you need S2? I can hook you up.

Selfishly, I am unhappy about the Miracleborns going Michiganward. This will certainly cut down on the likelihood of their company, which is a pure negative for me. Going back to family is good, I agree. Going back to Michigan? I'm of the opinion that the cool people come from Michigan. It's not so much with the going back there.

Of my two cats, one was a short stout energetic little ball of slutty love and affection -- except when getting pilled or having her nails trimmed; for the latter, I had to actually sit on her over the course of three or four days, doing one or two nails at a go, and as for the former, I gave her exactly two pills ever and then gave up because I kind of liked having digits instead of ragged stumps at the ends of my hands.

The other cat was the biggest sub on the planet, and all I had to do was pick him up and squeeze his jaw, and his mouth would flop open and he'd go all ragdoll on me, with a look in his eyes that clearly said, "Mistress's wish is my command. Whatever Mistress tells me to swallow, be it a pill, a piano, or the contents of Mistress's poison ring, I seek only to submit and obey."

I miss him.