Getting My Attention

Perhaps it's a Siamese trait, but Miki's ability to communicate with me is amazing. I'm not so swift in "getting it" very quickly, unfortunately.  

For the past week, Miki has been very consistent about being in my face.  At first I thought he wanted more affection.....His voice was sweetly modulated in a "talkative" tone, but that wasn't it.  It was his behavior...  His clinginess, his sitting in front of the computer screen and staring at me.  He had dragon breath, but not consistently. I had tried to look in his mouth, but he clamped it tightly shut and turned his head away.  Should have been my clue.

I've been unusually busy, and I caught myself feeling some annoyance with him. His pestering  felt an awful lot like that of a toddler....I want, I want, I want......

Finally, I got it!  Cats must think we humans are so stupid.  This morning, he blocked my computer screen, opened his mouth, and blew his dragon breath into my face.  I picked up the phone and called the vet.

Leaving the house in shambles from the mess from carpet installation yesterday, we were at the vet an hour later.  He protested all the way.  Good, I thought....not TOO sick.  The diagnosis is stomatitis.  How come we never heard of this until a few years ago?  Cats never had their teeth cleaned....and they were never allergic to their own bacteria.  Miki is only 7, and has had the best of care.  

He got a steroid shot, and I'll have his annual teeth cleaning done next week.  If any teeth are bad, we will remove them.  Unfortunately, Miki is too smart to allow me to give him any meds more than once.  All my cats are smarter and faster than I.