Spitfire

Occasionally the cats our adoption groups bring into the store....have some issues.
Mostly in that they start out super sweet, but the longer they're stuck in their cages...or if they happen to see another cat.
They freak out.
Growling, hissing, trying to start fights. Scratching and biting. etc.

It's rare for them to be so difficult in that we can't work with them at all, but it does happen.

My coworker came up to me this morning while I was working on a different task.
Asking for help getting a cat back into it's cage.
As it was being growly/hissy making it difficult to catch.
Usually I can deal with these upset kitties pretty well.

But this particular cat....
I have no idea what happened, but this kitty cat had stressed itself out pretty thoroughly.
To the point where you couldn't put your hand near it without the kitty trying to scratch you, defending itself.

Methinks that it was because she was in with another cat, that she wasn't fond off. And to get out of the cage and see more cats in other cages...I think just was the last straw.

So I grabbed our bite glove. (we only have one, the match disappeared a while ago) and attempted to grab the nap of the neck to get control of the cat.
Only I couldn't. The cat kept rolling on it's side, meaning I could only get a handle on it between it's forelegs. Giving the cat access to use its claws and teeth to defend itself.
Luckily I had the bite glove on, so I remained uninjured.
However I couldn't pull the cat out from where she had placed herself under the cages.
So I had my coworker grab a broom, so we could shoo the cat out of it's small space, and get her out into the open for me to try and grab her then.
Still didn't work.
And when we tried to open the cage, the cat's buddy came out, and decided that since the one kitty was meowing and hissing up a storm, that it would be a good idea to join in the fray and try to attack the kitty as well. *shakes head*
We ended up moving the companion cat into a cage by itself, so that it wouldn't interfere with they yowling maniac I was dealing with.
As the cat had now stressed itself out so much that it was peeing and pooping all over the place too as I tried to wrestle it into a position where I could grab the nape.
But with only one bite glove...I couldn't use my other hand to help out because I would be at risk of being clawed and bitten.

Our adoption area has another doorway in it. That connects to the vet within the store. Its always locked, but that doesn't stop sound from coming through.
And they could hear the cat yowling up a storm, so one of the vet techs came over to investigate.
She thought she could help...
But I warned her away from getting too close to the cat without bite gloves. To which she quickly agreed.
She left to get her own set of bite gloves and a blanket to wrap around the cat.
So with her assistance, we were finally able to get the cat back into it's cage without any of us getting hurt.
Though I had to change my pants afterwards because the cat had peed on me. *shakes head* luckily I had an extra set at work, just in case.

In any case.
With the cat back in her cage by herself...
I later checked back in and she seemed less demonic. Pretty sweet and affectionate through the bars.
Dunno if it will be the same story if we let her out again.
This may be one of those cats that should stay in its cage until it's adopted....

-Sarnic Dirchi