Operation Elvis

Last Thursday I arrived at mom’s community at 11:40 and checked in with the nursing. After handing me more over-the-counter meds mom isn’t supposed to have, but keeps buying, we got down to tactics.

I greeted mom at noon. She had Elvis’ carrier out, and had put some treats in at bait. He wasn’t biting. Elvis took one look at me and ran under mom’s bed. After useless coaxing, mom returned to the living room, I apologized to the cat, and gently dragged him out by the scruff of his neck. He is not a resister, thank goodness. I was able to slide him into the carrier I brought (bigger than mom’s) without any fuss. I walked mom to lunch, tucked the cat into the car, and returned to the apartment.

The care director met me at the apartment, and then went to gather the things I’d brought with me, and stashed at the front desk. First up was to go through the periodical collection in earnest. Everything older than December was tossed. Newspapers more than three days old met the same fate. Miscellaneous, undecipherable sticky notes, used tissue, and the like were also thrown out. I found another empty shipping box from the pet food subscription company – OUT! Then I started sniffing. As mentioned before, I can’t hear well anymore, but my nose should be on my resume. Elvis did NOT piddle anywhere he shouldn’t have! A huge relief that won him the right to return to mom same day. I lined up all the throw pillows on the window sill as they each passed the whiff test. The only things I swapped out where two fleece mats Elvis sits on (coated in fur) and two of mom’s small Navajo rugs (also coated in fur) she has over the backs of the couch and chair. I’ll clean these items and swap them out periodically. Maintenance showed up with the carpet cleaner, I changed out the litter box for a plain, and uncomplicated, high-sided one (with some anti-smell magic impregnated in its plastic), wiped down the walls around the litter box, and started hauling things down to the car. We had until 2PM before mom was due back.

The maintenance director talked with me about the ongoing thermostat situation. He’s going to fashion a cover that will keep mom from removing the thermostat from the wall, but will give her access to the buttons below it. The problem is she’s breaking the pins on the units, and they’re out of spares…

Elvis and I hit the road. I stopped at a large pet store to buy him a brush, a cardboard scratcher, attritional (lightweight) litter, and a new collar. We were still 2-hours ahead of our vet appointment, so I returned to the house. After a few minutes of slinking around, Elvis felt right at home!

The vet discovered two teeth that need extracting (must come from living with mom – KIDDING) plus a dental cleaning. He’s eight years old. His age, and not knowing his history all conspire to kitty dental issues. He also has a yeast infection in his left ear. I left the drops with mom, after telling her what needed doing. She repeated the instructions to me a couple of time. As the vet said, some treatment is better than none. I see her in a couple of weeks. I’ll check on the ear. Dental work in a month.

I returned Elvis to mom, to find her eating dinner at 5:15. We walked up to the apartment and freed the cat, who returned, at lightening speed, to under the bed. Mom thanked me profusely for taking care of ‘all this.’ I walked her back to the dining room, hugs and kisses, and headed home.

She was, for the second visit in a row, relaxed, grateful and gracious, and did not bring up going home, or any rancor. I could get used to this.