The Cat Mom Chronicles: Volume 1: Norris's First Bath

Today my husband (aka Wolfie) decided to bring Bear, one of our male Siberian huskies, through the back door of the house.  Typically this is not done because it requires walking through the main part of the house to reach the mancave.

Why is this a big deal in our house?  Because the dogs are restricted to the mancave and yard unless closely supervised.  We have six cats that reside in the main part of the house, and huskies have high prey drives.  Small, furry creatures that move fast tend to trigger our dogs' instinct to chase.  Usually they will start to lunge, then realize oh wait, that's a no-no and they'll stop.  We don't want to take chances, so we supervise very closely when we bring the dogs into the main part of the house for one on one play and snuggle time.

Instead of taking Bear directly to the mancave, hubby led him through the living room to our bedroom, where I was still laying in bed.  This of course triggered Hawthorne's aggressive dislike of dogs, resulting in a lot of hissing and growling while his fur boofed up all over.  I mean ALL over, not just his tail.  I usually put Hawthorne in the kitty room and close the door before I bring any of the dogs into the main part of the house.  My chubby little American Shorthair is fearless and uses the attack-before-being-attacked method when it comes to dogs.  Fortunately this time Hawthorne's only aggressive maneuver toward Bear was to cut him off by the fireplace before joining Causeway on the kitty castle (giant carpet covered cat tree).  From their lofty perches, the two felines vocalized their displeasure over Bear's presence.  They did not use their indoor voices.

Norris on the other hand, opted for a different tactic at Bear's appearance in the living room.  He dove into the fireplace!  I have to give him credit for being a clever little baby at 14 weeks (3.5 months) old.  Our fireplace is fairly small.  Instead of a floor-standing grate it has two mesh-like metal curtains that come together at the middle to keep everything inside.  They overlap slightly, which has always kept curious little Norris out of the fireplace in the past.  Today was a different matter.  Norris managed to take cover by getting inside that fireplace, which ultimately covered him in soot! 

We were not aware of Norris's chimney sweeping efforts until after hubby escorted Bear back to the mancave.  I heard my hubby call out, "What is all this black stuff on the floor?"  I immediately rushed out to see what he was talking about. We have beautiful, beige tile floors and I would hate to see them ruined. 

Sure enough, there was Norris sitting smack dab in the middle of a fine, thick coat of soot.  Norris was covered in it too.  He'd shaken himself so that the soot dusted the floor in a messy circle all around him.  My handsome little spotted Bengal kitten wasn't very spotty anymore.  I exclaimed to my hubby, "That's soot!  The little stinker was in the fireplace!"  Hubby's response was to laugh!  But he earned back any points he lost by sweeping up the mess for me, so he is not in the dog house after all.

I did not have the sense to appreciate the humor of the situation at that moment.  All I could think was that I did NOT want Norris getting sick by licking at the soot and that I didn't want him getting it all over the rest of the house.  I scooped up the sooty kitty and we went straight to the master bath where I drew a shallow bubble bath using Johnson's Baby Shampoo.  I wasn't sure how much of a fight he was going to put up so I wanted soap that would be gentle on his eyes.

I got in the tub with him and squatted down as I set him on his feet.  The water was shallow enough that it he was only submerged to his ankles.  At first he wasn't sure what to make of it.  He flicked his paws a little, realized he was wet, and let out an disgruntled meow.  He realized just how much he was not going to like this bath business when I poured a glass of warm, soapy water over his back.  That was when he put his lungs to use and started yowling. 

He didn't fight too hard to escape the tub as I lathered him up, but he was very vocal as he meowed bloody murder!  It was enough to bring Boots and Hawthorne to the bathroom door.  I had closed it to keep the others out, and to keep Norris in, in the event he did manage to escape the tub.  His brothers pulled at the carpet on the other so hard that it rattled the door!  Hearing that, Norris started to put a little more effort into escaping his bath.  He flailed, and wailed and wiggled to no avail as I rinsed him off.

The entire time, I spoke to him in a soothing manner while begging him to not hate me afterwards.  The bath water had turned dark grey from the soot by the time my furbaby was rinsed clean.  I wrapped him in a big, fluffy towel and just held him while his little heartbeat slowed back to normal.  When I let him down to the bath rug I waited as he shook himself a few times and flicked his paws.  He looked over his shoulder at me with an expression that nearly broke my heart.  It was one of those sorrowful looks that asked, "why would you do that to me?"  I toweled him as much as I could, then wrapped him in another dry towel to warm him up.

My kitten burrito and I snuggled until he stopped shivering in the towel.  His furry little head was wedged under my chin as he cuddled as close as he could.  Occasionally he knotted and yanked my heart strings with a pitiful mewl.  Needless to say Norris has me wrapped around his tiny tail, so the guilt-trip meows were definitely working.

Eventually, Norris decided he'd had enough snuggles and wiggled his way out of the towel.  I let him, knowing that he would grow up willing to snuggle more often if he knew that he could escape from it when ever he wanted.  Making him feel trapped would only make him associate snuggling as a bad thing and I don't want that.

The moment Norris's tiny paws hit the floor, big brother Boots came running over so fast that his paws actually slid on the tiles as he skid to a stop in front of Norris.  Immediately, Boots began touching noses and sniffing at Norris, inspecting him to make sure he was okay.  It was one of the sweetest, most endearing things I have ever seen Boots do.  Boots is the furry love of my life and can do no wrong to begin with.  It was beyond touching to witness such a moment between the cat brothers.

After about an hour had passed, I was finally able to see the humor in the fireplace debacle.  My hubby's spontaneous decision may have instigated a mess, but it was worth it in the end.  I got Bear kisses and snuggles before getting out of bed today, and I had the joy of experiencing Norris's priceless antics and growing pains.

Just like children, our furbabies grow up fast.  Norris is no exception.  He began asserting his independence  a few days after I brought him home from the SPCA adoption center.  He loves exploring the house, playing, and trying to keep up with all of his big brothers. Having him around inspires all of them to play so I catch glimpses of my teenage and senior cats acting like kittens again.  Words alone cannot express the sheer joy and delight I experience with having these cats in my life.  I am so happy to be a cat mom.