I talked to Abigail and Elliot the first time at a metaphysical fair in Denver, CO. Elliot is a very handsome Siamese cat and Abigail is a lovely Siamese cross cat. Their person is a kind and caring woman named Cindy.
Since that first conversation, we’ve talked many times. Cindy is so happy to be able to find out what her kitties are thinking! Cindy has an excellent intuition and often tells me that I confirm what she felt was happening with her cats – but it’s good to hear it direct from them, she says.
It was clear from the beginning that these two cats couldn’t be more different! Abigail is very self assured and relaxed about everything. Elliot is a worrier and needs lots of reassurance. When we ask Abigail how she is, generally she’ll say, “I’m fine – but you should talk to Elliot.” When I ask Elliot how he’s doing – he tells me everything!
Elliot has some health issues we’ve had to address – pancreatitis and hypothyroidism. The pancreatitis makes Elliot nauseous – which can lead to vomiting at times, but this improves if he eats regularly. But it always came down to Elliot being afraid that if he ate he’d throw up. Cindy never got upset when Elliot threw up – she always told him it was OK, so he didn’t have pressure from her. But Elliot hated the indignity and the loss of control he felt when he would vomit. We talked to Elliot about this a number of times . . . still, he just couldn’t stop being upset about throwing up.
One day Cindy gave Abigail some treats, which she wolfed down – eating is never a problem for Abigail! Abigail ate the treats very quickly – and immediately vomited. It didn’t phase Abigail a bit – she just went right back to eating treats! But Cindy reported that Elliot had observed this and looked stunned.
Soon thereafter Elliot had an episode of nausea/not eating. When I spoke to Elliot, the first thing he told me about was not how he was feeling – it was that Abigail had thrown up! He couldn’t believe she’d done it (he seems to think she’s perfect) and he was stunned because, “she didn’t even care that she’d thrown up!” I suggested to him that if Abigail wasn’t worried about throwing up, he didn’t need to worry either. This was a revolutionary concept to Elliot – not caring about throwing up – but he said he’d try to remember. He’s gotten much better about not worrying if he gets nauseous/throws up and he gets back to eating much more quickly now. We asked Elliot what kind of food would taste good when he’s nauseous. He showed me something thin and not solid — Cindy said that she sometimes had given Elliot baby food. Since then, whenever Elliot has tummy troubles, baby food still goes down well.
Another issue Elliot has had was with his medication for the hypothyroidism. Elliot will not take a pill and won’t eat food with medicine in it, so the vet prescribed a cream that Cindy can rub into his ears twice a day. Elliot always ran away from Cindy when it was time to apply the cream – Cindy finally got fed up with the chase game and asked me to talk to Elliot about it. It took a few conversations but it gradually got better. Elliot had to understand that if he didn’t let Cindy apply the cream, he’d have to take a pill (Elliot admitted the cream was better than a pill), he had to understand that if he didn’t get the cream that he would go to Spirit sooner than needed (he was definitely NOT ready to go to Spirit yet) and he needed to understand that the chase game before Cindy applied the cream was NOT fun for Cindy and had to stop. I showed him a picture of what Cindy wanted – Elliot coming to her willingly when it was time for her to apply the cream, letting her apply it and getting lots of loving after – and he agreed to cooperate. He’s been quite cooperative since then – he needs a reminder now and then, but over all, he let’s Cindy apply the cream without any chasing before hand!
Elliot is always very appreciative when we talk to him and always asks me to tell Cindy that he loves her. Abigail says it’s good for Elliot to talk to me – that he really needs to talk – but it’s “nice” that I talk to her too. Elliot says that Abigail really likes it when we talk to her – but we all know she’d never say it . . . just like she doesn’t usually say directly that she loves Cindy – but we all know she does! I told Elliot that it’s always nice to talk to him and Abigail — he said, ”You’re our friend and we like to talk to you too!”
“I am so thankful to you for everything you do for Elliott and Abigail. I believe next to me your are Elliott’s favorite person!” – Cindy T., TX
