Pet care: Helping Larry, Moe and Curley the cats feel good enough to behave

Third in a series.

Problems with any organ system can impact the firing of the brain’s neurons. Oral pain is a frequent offender, but arthritis, ear infections, itchy skin and nausea are also common. Moe, the 2-year-old feline interloper, passed his physical exam. Curley’s was normal, too. But Larry? His gums were suffering nasty, long-standing infection. It even hurt when he laughed, poor guy.

I told Karen and Richard how insidious dental disease can be while assuring them that Larry would be OK. When he felt better, we expected him to behave better, too. We got his procedure scheduled quickly.

Keeping interior doors closed and rotating these little sneakers between rooms was difficult. I get it; my cats have never been rule-followers either. But the longer Richard and Karen could keep Larry and Curley from having even visual contact with Moe, the more likely mutually assured destruction could be avoided later.

Larry said farewell to five of his choppers. His gums were sutured, he recovered quickly from anesthesia, and started at-home oral liquid pain medication and an antibiotic. A week later, he was playing like a kitten. His snarky behavior toward his old friend Curley ended, but they were still nervous wrecks when FedEx showed up at the door. If we could achieve emotional stability for jumpy Larry and shrinking Curley, they’d have a shot at détente or, at the very least, a ceasefire with Moe.

I urged my clients to enrich their cats’ home environment with a plethora of simulations of wild predatory, hiding, climbing and perching opportunities. (drjeffnichol.com/feline-environment-enrichment). Dr. Google doesn’t know this stuff. He/she/they aren’t residency trained in veterinary behavior medicine. In fact, he/she/they aren’t a doctor of any sort.

We still had a couple of kitties whose neurochemistry needed all the help I could provide. For anxious and reactive Larry, I prescribed venlafaxine. To reduce Curley’s stress and to help build his confidence, I started him on buspirone. The neighborhood agitator who haunted the windows? She was now persona non grata.

Next week: That fence jumper needed to be uninvited.

For help with behavior problems, you can sign up for a Zoom group conference at drjeffnichol.com

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