Friday, March 25, 2011

Killer Staircase (and Me)

If you've befriended me on Facebook, you already know that I fell down my staircase this morning and broke my tailbone and sprained my back.  Nothing makes you feel more vulnerable than falling down the stairs.  Until today, I hadn't  had the wind knocked out of me since I was 5 years old.  Crap, that's SO scary!   I can't even blame the mishap on tripping over cats.  It was just clumsy ol' me in my barefeet and robe. 

Maybe this means I'm off "litterbox duty" for a while!

We recently featured a Bengal X for adoption named "Arthur".  Nothing brings out the adoption calls more than putting up a semi-purebred cat on the site.  It gave me an opportunity to screen multiple people in one day for the same cat.  I only found 2 adopters that I felt were "Arthur worthy".  Anyhoooo...the large number of potential adopters had me thinking about some of the questions people asked over the past few days when being interviewed to adopt Arthur. 

1. Does he scratch the furniture?  "That's a tough question.  Yes, he'll scratch the furniture unless you provide a scratching post and teach him to use it!!"

2.  Will he wake me up in the morning?  "Is this REALLY a problem?"

3.  Does he shed?  "Lord, how I *hate* that question!"

4.  Can I teach him to not jump up on my couch?  "REALLY???????"

Ahhh...I should know better than to post stuff like this.  I really open myself up for criticism. 

The weekend is here and the adoption line is starting to ring this afternoon.  I'm hopeful for a good adoption weekend!  I get the feeling there are quite a few folks that are waiting for official kitten season before they adopt.  I'm not getting as many calls on my little older kittens as I think I should be. 

To end today's post, I'm sure you'll appreciate the following picture of me laid out on the couch with my ancient cat "Pella"  perched on my chest: (NO...I did NOT take the picture!)

My back was killing me, but do you think I'd move Pella?  Nawwwwww..... :)

Happy Friday!

14 comments:

Unknown said...

If people need to ask those kinda of questions, maybe they should ask themselves if they really need a cat....or dog....or any animal in their home!

House of the Discarded said...

Allison: Exactly!

Kea said...

Oh, Beth...! I'm so sorry you're injured. I fell down my outdoor back steps back in August 2009, didn't break anything, but did some permanent damage and certainly was bruised. Couldn't go to work for a couple of days, could barely move. I remember I put my cordless phone (no cell phone) by my pillow, in case I ended up being paralyzed and had to call 911. LOL. It truly was scary, so I really feel badly for you.

I'm sending you mega-healing Light and the boys are revving up their purr motors! I hope you have good drugs...do take care!

Kim said...

What a terrible injury! Sorry to hear you're laid up for a while. Hopefully some of your volunteers can help take the reins.

Those kinds of questions, in my mind, really distinguish non-cat people from cat people. Then, on the other hand, some people may be perfectly good families that just haven't had a cat before so don't know these things.

Pella is adorable! The kitty we just adopted, Gretchen, is all black and looks very similar to Pella. I would be late for almost anything in order to not move my kitties.

Anonymous said...

Feel better soon! If you need that recliner, let me know.

And as for breeds... we should market Brunswick as a Turkish Van cross. http://www.petanim.com/files/Turkish%20Van.gif He's got the classic pattern for sure!

Renee

Karen said...

it depends really on the way people make the comment right??? Duh on the shedding...well since people do ya gotta figure animals do... but the scratching well most people don't realize that a good cardboard box next to your couch will be far more appealing. A little lemon polish on a cloth against furniture disinterests cats from that and tin foil on the counter drives them nuts... so SHOULD you wish to discourage your kitty from these things, well there ya go... Me well I figure that kitties give far more than they take... so give the counter an extra wash before you use it!!! Hope you feel so much better soon soon soon Beth..

Anonymous said...

Man, those questions would irritate the heck out of me... I mean, really? A cat? Does it shed? I'll repeat something I posted once before on facebook (A quote by a Dutch biologist)

" A cat has 40 million hairs; 5 million on its back, 10 million on its stomach and 25 million on your couch"

I wish you a speedy recovery but with Dr Pella in the house, I trust you are in good hands.

As for Brunswick, he totally looks like a Turkish Van :D I encouraged Renee to poof up his tail a bit more (like I did in the 80's with my hair) but to be honest, Brunswick is *so* snuggly, he will sell himself! :-)

Cindy, Bertie, Sammy etc etc etc

Brian's Home Blog said...

I hope you fee all better soon, that is an ouch fur sure. I thought all those were silly questions, they need a stuffed cat, not a real one!

Zippy, Sadie, Speedy and M'Gee said...

Ouch, those tailbone injuries really, really hurt. And they have the added benefit of just going off later on too. Hope you heal up fast. As for those truly stupid questions, well, they're truly stupid. If you don't want a cat on your couch, shedding or waking you up then don't get one. Duh.~Donna

Unknown said...

Ouch, I saw on facebook that you posted about your mishappen with the stairs. I hope you feel better soon! I to have been feeling lately why get a pet if you don't want to spend time with them...with spring coming my parents are encourging my dogs to spend more time outside. But honestly if you don't want them to shed, scratch, eat, poop, or breathe the wrong way DON'T GET AN ANIMAL

peewee22 said...

Oh Beth, I'm so sorry you injured yourself. I too can relate. The other day my back went into a spasm merely attempting to get up from a chair. I had to gently ease Simon off my lap and was on my hands and knees on the floor for quite a while. Simon was looking at me as if to say "this isn't how we do it - what's going on?" Take care and I hope you're back on your feet soon.

As for the questions, most were beyond stupid. I have a feeling you bite your tongue a lot when fielding them.

Alasandra, The Cats and Dogs said...

So sorry you hurt your back, hope you are better soon.

Around here having a cat in your lap means you don't have to get up to do anything.

debbie said...

OUCH!!!
I hope you take it easy (let your son look after you now!!)LOL
Feel beeter soon :)

hmacross said...

I hope you are feeling a bit better today.

It's funny the questions people ask about cats (or dogs), my response it usually, "you know, the cats are like kids, except they listen more and don't make as much mess"

The cats ALWAYS come when I call them (with the treat bag), and never scratch the couches/chairs. We have 2 cats and 6 scratching posts of various sizes and shapes. And there is something majical about being woken up by a purr and a lick on the cheek :)