Alvin

Alvin
Alvin sticks out his tongue when he is nervous

Saturday, April 7, 2012

What Does a Guy Have to do to Get a Bed Around Here?

Poor dear, innocent Alvin!  The good news is that he temporarily got back his dog bed that had previously been taken over by Maddie, the cat.  This is the dog bed that is on my bed and Alvin's favorite bed.  The bad news is that he had to take a beating by a seven pound feline in order to get it back.

It all started a couple of nights ago when I put Alvin on the bed and he became very nervous and jittery.  I realized that this was a result from the night before when I tried to take advantage of him being relaxed and lying down by taking a pair of scissors and trying to very gently cut off a few potential mats.  When I last clipped him I did not do a good job and left his fur too long under his arms and his underside.  It was his last sedative and so after the fact when I realized my mistake, I wrote about him nearly jumping through the roof while trying to clip him while he was "sober."  His fur is the kind that mats easily and I felt a few of them.  I tried to very gently cut them off but Alvin is very afraid of even a pair of scissors.  I was able to successfully get some of them off but not without struggle and him threatening to jump off the bed.  I thought he would get over it but I had clearly given him PTSD when the next night he was very nervous and was all over the bed.  He finally calmed down and went to sleep and it was then that Maddie decided it was time for his grooming.  She approached him and he allowed her to lick his forehead but then she went in for the kind of grooming cats do where they get near the skin and kind of bite.  If you haven't seen this, it is in no way aggressive and just part of how cats groom but no one had sent that memo to Alvin and he jumped up in alarm.  Apparently this irritated Maddie because she responded by taking her paw and smacking the side of his face in quick succession.  She always leaves her claws in and her "smacks" are far gentler than most cats, but a guy only has to get smacked upside the head once to know it's time to get out of there, much less several smacks before he even had time to count them.  He responded by running to the edge of the bed, thinking about jumping off, and then trying to run past her the other way.  He wasn't particularly close to her and there was absolutely no reason to smack him again but she loaded that paw back up and not only repeatedly smacked him but did a little leaping forward thing to get him while he was again retreating.  I have to admit that it made me plain angry.  She doesn't hear anymore and so I tapped her rear end (truly tapped and no spank) to get her attention and to make her knock it off.  She clearly wasn't trying to be particularly aggressive because she was still purring and sauntered over to me in a happy-go-lucky mood but I was mad.  I resorted to pointing my index finger at her and waving it up and down, while saying very loudly, "No! No! Maddie", like she could even hear it or knew what a waving index finger means.  She is such a well behaved cat that tolerates everything and so I don't think she has ever seen a waging index finger.  Meanwhile, Alvin was just beside himself and was trying to figure out how to get off what was now a bed filled with scissors and cat paws.  I didn't want to take him off the bed because he had already been nervous about being up there and I didn't think it would help and so I saw the vacant dog bed and patted it while saying, "get in your little bed."  Why is it referred to as his little bed?  Who knows but when first encouraging him to get in the dog beds, I would get on my hands and knees and in a very gentle voice that is usually reserved for small children, I would tell him to get in the little bed.  Alvin is a dog that very quickly latches on to routine and after saying the same command hundreds of times, now when I just say, get in the bed, he doesn't respond quickly but always knows what the, get in your little bed command means.  Honestly, I make these animals weird.  So, he jumped right in and because the sides come up, it gave him a barrier of protection.  Maddie was too busy purring and wanting my attention to notice that "her" dog bed had been taken over but a few minutes later she went to get in it, looked up, saw Alvin and halted.  I watched her little mental wheels turning and she wasn't quite sure what to do.  She then chose to climb up on the side of it and very uncomfortably sleep as close to inside of the bed as she could get.  I let Alvin sleep the rest of the night in the bed but felt guilty every time I saw him so peacefully resting there.  That particular bed is Alvin's very favorite and it was given to him by his best friend, Sally Wolk.  It was the bed I utilized when trying to get Alvin to sleep closer and closer to my bed because he initially wouldn't sleep in the same room as us and then had to sleep right next to the door.  Over time, I moved it closer and closer to my bed and finally put it on my bed to convince him to sleep on the bed with us.  Over time Maddie took it over and I allowed it because it forced Alvin to physically sleep next to me.  I think I should give the poor guy his favorite bed back but I don't even know how to get that one passed Maddie because other than getting up to eat or go potty, she is in that bed 24 hours a day.  I fear I have created quite a situation.

With that said, I realize that the quickest way to get me lit up is for any person or any animal to scare Alvin.  I have just never met another being that is more innocent than he is and he doesn't have the ability or mindset to ever stand up for himself or even stand his ground, and so I find that I am ultra protective of him.  The bad part is that I find myself still miffed a little at Maddie and once I start having arguments with a cat, it's time to widen my social circle a bit more.

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