Last week when I returned from town after doing errands, I noticed that Aspen was acting a bit off. She was hunkered down by the heater. Her rear end was in the air, but her tail was tucked.  It was a posture I’ve never seen on her before. I watched her and Addie came in the room. For the first time since they’ve been together, Aspen actually attacked Addie full throttle. Hurrying to intervene, I picked up my jacket and set it over Aspen. I scooped her up in my arms,  she was growling at me . This was not like her at all. They must’ve tangled when I was away.

On that assumption, I put Addie in the cat room and gave both kitties timeout for a while, just to cool down. Addie seemed fine with the encounter, I could find no wounds or bites on her at all. Aspen had withdrawn. She was hiding and try as I might, I could not find her.

Chow time came and went, no Aspen. I did a search for her and found her hiding in the closet. She was in a laundry basket. When I approached her, she growled I ended up letting Addie out of the cat room and confining Aspen inside instead.

This was four days ago. Aspen was not eating, she was not pooping, she was peeing, so she was drinking. I was monitoring her food. She would eat maybe two pieces of kibble, and then go lay down. I examined her for bites, she had no fever. she just didn’t want to eat.

I figured out what happened after this morning. I moved a pile of boxes in the spare room, behind the boxes was a small pile of half-eaten rubber bands.  (The only place I keep rubber bands is in the spare room in the desk.)  She must have gotten up there at night and opened the drawer. Unlike her sister, who had a fascination with plastic, based on the pile, I found Aspen’s fascination is with rubber bands.

She is on the mend now. Thanks to a lot of mineral oil which I tried to carefully syringe in her mouth. She had a nice visit with the litter box with good results. Afterwards, she  went over to her food bowl for the first time on her own. She actually ate the food like she enjoyed it. She is hopefully on the mend. I will continue to give her small doses of mineral oil to see if more rubber will pass.

Right now, I am happy to report that she is nestled in my lap purring. She has fallen asleep. This is right after her, and Addie were racing up and down the stairs and down the hallways. I thank God, she was not blocked, or that a rubber band had somehow constricted around her tongue. Being able to put the pieces together and figure out a solution has stopped her from experiencing more  discomfort as well as a trip to the vet.

Here she is on my lap. Yes, I know her fur looks oily, that was my fault. Some of the mineral oil did not go into her mouth. Some of it actually went all over.