Anybody Want a Cat?

NaBloPoMo just wouldn't be complete without a post about the furriest member of our family, Peavey Cat. Oh Peavey, what am I going to do with you? Let me start by saying that I still love this cat, and he is far and away the coolest cat I've ever met. Lately though?

Do you remember WAY back in January when I posted about Peavey and mentioned his cough that the vet said was due to constipation? Well, here we are a year later and he's still coughing. I hate to complain about it because I'm sure it's not like he enjoys walking around the house hacking uncontrollably, but it's really starting to wear thin. It is especially annoying at night.

See, Peavey sleeps with us at night now. It's usual for the winter since he doesn't spend as much time outside (hardly any time now that there's snow everywhere), and he doesn't get as dirty. Plus I think Josh likes the extra heat he brings to the slumber party - except when the cat decides that Josh's face is cold and tries to help out by laying right across it. But since the coughing is uncontrollable, at random points in the night Peavey will wake up and just start hacking. Which wakes me up. This is doubly annoying because not only have I been woken up from my sleep, but I've finally gotten back to a point in my life where I can sleep through the night without having to get up to pee (and most nights without having to get up for a kid), so I want to sleep through the night when I can. So now I wake up because the cat is hacking. This happens, 2-3 times a night. Or, like last night, 4 times. I've gotten him "trained" to get off the bed when he starts coughing (most of the time). Now I just need to get him to leave the room. Because it's loud and it's gross.

If he didn't sleep with us, it probably wouldn't be as much of an issue for me. If we close our bedroom door, he obviously can't get it,and that would stop him from sleeping with us (and by us I do mean Josh - the cat isn't allowed on my side of the bed). However, if we close the door, Peavey will throw his body against the door and scratch at the door and cry outside the door until we (and by we I mean me since Josh never hears any of it) let him in. I can tell him to knock it off, and he will. But it's only a matter of time before he's back and making a rucus again. So, it's kind of a lose-lose situation here for me.

I know I should take him back to the vet, but the thing is, they will only see your pet if you call in the morning of the day you want to bring him in. So, you call in the morning, to get an appointment for the afternoon, usually around 1:00 or so. This doesn't really work for me because that's when my kids are in bed, taking naps. Or singing every song they know as Zeke is currently doing down there. And I'm sorry, but I'm not going to make 3 boys miss their naps so that we can all take the cat to the vet. Besides, I'm not quite sure how I'd get myself, the 3 boys and the cat into and around the vet's office.

So now I'm sitting here, exhausted, because I didn't sleep well last night. But it's so hard to stay mad at Peavey. First of all, I know he can't help it, and I'm sure he wouldn't do it if he had any control over it at all. Secondly, he really does have the sweetest little face. Poor Peavey.