Soothing the Cat

My crazy cat, Katya, has embaldend herself. Spell-check tells me that embaldend is not a word. Apparently, embaldenated isn’t, either. What she’s done is over-groomed herself until she has bald spots. I don’t know if she’s allergic to something or just neurotic. My guess is neurotic.

I was going to take a picture of the damage for the viewing pleasure of all the zombie fans out there, but she’s hiding at the moment. Oh — there she is. Well, never mind.

ANYWAY, I went on-line and found some advice for soothing nervous irritation and skin irritation and combined them.

I boiled up some chamomile herbal tea and some aloe plant, let it steep until it was just warm, held the cat in the dry bathtub and sponged the doctored water over her, especially the bald bits. It really seems to have calmed her down a bit. I’m going to go to the natural stuff store and get some dried chamomile flowers to use instead of the tea (tisane, really, since there’s no tea in it).

This is a real adventure for me, since chamomile (related to ragweed) can trigger an anaphylactic reaction in people who’ve already had one, which I have. But I think that would only be if I drank it, and I’m not likely to drink cat-water, not even if you put Chianti in it.

WRITING PROMPT: How much a risk would your main character take for an animal in relatively minor distress? Great distress? Potentially fatal distress?

MA

About

I was born in Louisville, Kentucky, but now live in the woods in southern Indiana. Though I only write fiction, I love to read non-fiction. The more I learn about this world, the more fantastic I see it is.

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One thought on “Soothing the Cat

  1. Leslea

    February 23, 2012 at 10:12am

    Do you have an epi-pen? If you seriously have an anaphylactic allergy to anything, you need an epi-pen. Depending how far you are from a hospital, you may need more than one on hand. I would not risk your life over this, MA.

    Permalink  ⋅ Reply
    • Author

      Marian Allen

      February 23, 2012 at 11:00am

      I have two epi-pens, Leslea; one in my purse and one in the kitchen drawer. I’ve never had to use them, but I keep them up-to-date.

      Permalink  ⋅ Reply
    • Author

      Marian Allen

      February 24, 2012 at 7:32am

      I keep my epi-pen handy, and a bottle of children’s Benadryl (liquid and fast-acting, not weaker). I’m idiopathic (doesn’t mean I’m allergic to stupid people, it means I never know what I might have an allergic reaction to from one time to another). Keeps things exciting. 🙂

      Permalink  ⋅ Reply
  2. Jane

    February 25, 2012 at 10:50am

    Hi. When I first started working at the giant barn that is APH, I was SO bored with everybody’s accounts of their endless allergies.

    Then I found out the common thread: The barn was GIVING us all allergies! (Me, too.)

    Permalink  ⋅ Reply

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