By Holly Kozelsky
After several long years of her absence, we’ve finally got Sprinkles back.
And how good it is to have our dear kitty sitting around with us in the house and occasionally laying on laps for petting and cuddles.
No, Sprinkles isn’t one of those miracle cats who got lost 8 years and 600 miles ago and finally miraculously showed up home again. She had disappeared into closets and behind the sofa.
When she was an only cat, Sprinkles was on top of the world. She was a delightful pet, playful and affectionate and companionable. She reigned over the house like a queen.
However, what Sprinkles did not know was that we spent a couple of years pondering over getting a second cat. To me, two cats is always a good number, though I always somehow end up with three, the third cat always by accident.
Thus, I waited a few years before purposely going to get a second cat. Surely a stray cat was likely to show up at the doorstep like they always do, and I gave a fair wait for that cat.
When I was assured that I had given that unknown stray cat enough time to show up and that none would, I got a fluffy calico kitten from Clover Cat Rescue in Patrick County.
Sprinkles was not happy. She spit and spat and hissed and growled and let that calico kitten know that she was a trespasser on Sprinkles’ territory.
As things go, very shortly after we got that calico kitten, the fabled stray kitten showed up at our door, and we let him in and took care of him.
Sprinkles was furious, and she tormented the little black kitten every chance she got. Whereas the calico kitten would run away, the black kitten would just lean back and take the bullying.
One day, about a year later, the black cat took the bullying for just a moment, then reached out and attacked Sprinkles. Sprinkles was shocked and ran off.
It only took a few more times of the black cat showing Sprinkles that now that he was grown she would not boss him around anymore for Sprinkles to stop being a bully.
Instead, Sprinkles just stopped coming out.
For years, the only time we’d see Sprinkles was in the morning, when we put out the canned cat food.
Every now and then, Sprinkles would slip outdoors and get under the house and yowl. She would yowl mournfully for a couple of days straight. When one of us would go to the little crawlspace door and call to her, she’d come meowing to us, but not allow us to get her. She just went back further under the house and made her lonely, spooky sounds.
It was heartbreaking to think that this once-happy cat was now living like that, in solitude.
Then one day I read about cat-calming collars. These collars have a chemically created odor that is just like the pheromones mother cats release when they are nursing. These pheromones keep mother and babies calm and happy and develop the strong bonds between them.
A cat-calming collar sounded like a gimmick to me, but I sent away for one anyway. When it arrived, I put it on Sprinkles.
Voila! By the next day, Sprinkles was out in the house wherever we were, not hiding anywhere. She even sat next to the other cats. She was friendly and sociable.
After the long, lonely middle age she had, Sprinkles is now able to enjoy life in her golden years. What a relief, and how nice also to have our cat back.
The collar is said to last for a month, but we’ve found it to be good for about 2 months. I know it’s time to change the collar when Sprinkles heads back into the closet.
The cat-calming treatment comes in other forms, too. There is a diffuser you can plug into outlets throughout your house. If you plug in several, in different areas, your whole house will be calming for cats, and they do not need a collar. There also is a spray that you can spray into the cat’s bedding or cat carrier.
And needless to say, when you have to take your cat on a trip, put on the collar or spritz the spray!
So if you are missing your formerly confident cat, or you need help assimilating a new cat into your home, and/or you want a calm trip to the vet, try the cat-calming collar or diffuser.
If only they had a people-calming collar, I might wear that myself sometimes.
