Ginger, I could leave messages on white boards. They'd be extra mysterious. I'm thinking of doing things like updating my recipe collection in Pepperplate, or watching a lot of YouTube videos, or putting my head down for a nap as immediately following work I'm going to run tech at a comedy theater.

True story: animated gifs work in Powerpoint. Changed my life.

Happy birthday, Sara!

Who mentioned having trouble getting a cat into a carrier? Some tips from Jackson Galaxy [link] I think the most important is to keep the carriers accessible and move them around sometimes so that cat carrier equals everyday thing rather than doom and distress.

Alas, there's no room in my house to keep the cat carriers accessible for fun and comfy places to hide. There's barely room for my furniture.

I love my house, it just has small rooms.

The way I get the cat into the carrier is cruel, but effective. Place the carrier in front of the cat. Place a towel over the cat's head. Quickly move the carrier behind the cat. When the cat moves backward to get away from the carrier/towel, the cat ends up in the carrier. I felt awful doing it, but it worked.

Most recent cat atrocity was having W hold him down while I put Advantage on him. Poor Kitty.

I've left the carrier in the spare bedroom for lack of a better idea, but Hazel doesn't seem to care about it, and went in just fine when we went to the vet. I would really love to know when and why she was apparently such a pain in the ass. Maybe she's mellowed with age.

I'm thinking of doing things like updating my recipe collection in Pepperplate, or watching a lot of YouTube videos, or putting my head down for a nap as immediately following work I'm going to run tech at a comedy theater.

Or just leaving early, because fuck those guys?

For my part, I left work at 3, but feel super virtuous because most people left at noon.

Kiba, that sounds like the sort of thing that works perfectly in theory, but in practice - at least with my cats - would fall apart immediately. They'd flee the carrier before I got the towel anywhere near them! I've been putting the carrier against a solid thing, putting the cat between my knees in front of the open door, and basically moving him forward until he has nowhere else to go but in. They complain but so far none has scratched me (much). They are good boys; they don't set out to scratch me but sometimes in the flailing I get caught. I find wearing a denim jacket and gardening gloves helps. Percy is the worst; he doesn't just not like it, he's really really scared of it. My attempt to habituate him to the carrier didn't work; it's like trying to habituate me to alligators. Wherever they are, I am not going to willingly be for more than a moment. Poor kitty, I wonder what happened to him before he got me.

I just grab the cats and stuff them in their respective carriers. The only real danger is getting a hernia from picking up Toke, since she weighs about 600 pounds.

I have found that I can Advantage the cats more easily if I don't hold them down to do it. I sneak up on them while they are eating or sleeping and squeeze a dose onto the back of their heads before they know what hit them. They don't love it, but by the time they want to run away it's all over.

Been a while since I stuffed them into a carrier, I think at this point they are just getting old and have less fight in them. Or less strength.

We left the carrier out behind the Big Chair in the living room, and we kept all the cat's toys in there. We tried him with a hard carrier and it freaked him out so bad we switched to a soft carrier. He still didn't like it, but he felt more secure with the strap worn cross-body and the carrier under my arm, with it--and him--snugged against my hip. Getting him into it was easy, as the top zipped open, and so did one end, so you could choose the simplest for whatever circumstance.

Timelies all!

Happy Birthday Sox!

Happy belated Birthday, sarameg!