Update on Reagan

I realized last week that I had never updated many people on Reagan's status after our vet appointment. With everything else going on, I just kind of forgot to mention it. There's a slogan in the Army, that is applicable in lots of venues, that "no news is good news" and this is the case with Reagan. My lack of news for you is actually the presence of good news, so you can breathe a sigh of relief now.

We took Reagan to the vet the morning before we flew to Texas for Alexis's wedding - a few hours before we found out William was a William rather than a Wilma. (by the way, Wilma was NEVER on the drawing board) The vet talked about amputation, like I told you he would, but I had also heard from a friend that there is a product available at Petco called "petease" or "fel-away" (there are a few manufacturers) I asked the vet about the product and he said its hit or miss - some people love it and say it works wonders, some people think its a crock and haven't noticed one bit of difference besides the $30 spent. He said in his opinion, its worth a shot - because surgery should be the last resort. He explained that the surgery itself isn't dangerous or harmful, but there's no guarantee that the problem is purely damaged nerve endings, which means there is no guarantee surgery would cure him. So exploring all options before amputation would be a good idea.

We told the vet that we would be out of town for 5 days, and generally 2 days is enough to initiate some tail slaughtering, so we thought it'd be a good time to attempt to soothe him with pet-ease. The product works like a glade plug in air freshener, except rather than fumigating the house with the scent of roses, it sends off cat pheromones that are supposed to calm cats. The packaging advertises that it can be used to deter cats from urinating in unwanted places, scratching unwanted areas, and "other behavioral issues". Worth a shot right?

We came home from Alexis's wedding fully expecting a bloody battle to have taken place in our kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, and elsewhere - but there was no blood to be found. Hooray! But - the joy didn't stop there. This pet-ease has turned Reagan into a new (and improved) cat!

I don't know if I painted the portrait of Reagan very well in my last post, but let me reiterate that he is an ABSURD animal. I love him to death, and of the 3 pets he brings me the most joy. He also, however, brings me the most agony. This was the case throughout college as he would SPRINT down the hallway and slam into my bedroom door, as he would climb up the bedroom door in my apartment, and then in our house now as he knows how to OPEN the doors. He whines incessantly from 4 am until I choose to feed him breakfast, and it is impossible to enter the kitchen for any period of time longer than 2 seconds without being berated by his symphonic howling for food. He likes to jump on top of people as they sleep, all 22 pounds of him, he thinks he is slim enough to fit through our wooden blinds (and sees nothing wrong with MAKING himself fit...whatever that entails...) and he generally likes to make raucous out of everything.

That, however, is the old Reagan. While he's still peculiar and quirky, he has a calm sense about him that he has never had. He CUDDLES with Austin every night, and anyone who knows about Reagan and Austin's strained history knows that is pretty remarkable. I'm not sure which is more remarkable - that Reagan chooses to sleep on Austin all night, or that Austin allows him to. He has scaled back his howling, to some degree, he only runs around like a mad-man on cocaine once or twice a night, as opposed to hours upon hours each night, and SOMETIMES he even waits for me to determine his feeding time. This "pet-ease" is like a miracle drug and I'm not sure how I've never heard of it before.

We did have to upgrade from one adaptor to two, as we noticed his calm behavior didn't carry throughout the house, and we already had to refill the adaptors once...so this isn't a cheap investment. But, what's $30/month for a happy cat? After all, if Reagan ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.