As I have mentioned before, ad nauseum, we have four cats: Jack, Janet, Chrissy and Mrs. Helen Roper, who just goes by Helen other than in very formal settings. And now I realize it’s just been ages since I wrote about Cat Antics. I would be remiss if I didn’t share…
A while back I wrote about Janet’s “magic paws” technique, but I wasn’t able to get good video of her in action. Well, I finally, finally captured her in the act of, I guess, trying to open a door with sheer will and perhaps a prayer. I always think of her saying “Open Sesame!” when she uses this maneuver, but I guess we’ll never really know what, or if, she’s thinking.
Of course we’ve had little time to focus on Janet’s antics lately since we noticed a problem with Helen. Helen has always been a little bit of a love biter. Or OK, maybe just a biter, but only when she’s super annoyed. She’s annoyed nearly all the time. She had a habit of walking around with her mouth wide open, looking for things to bite, mostly the other cats. And that’s how it is that we had always seen a lot of her teeth. But recently Dan looked in there and noticed an entire tooth is missing. Just gone. Not just any tooth either, we’re talking about one of her front canines. The ones that look like fangs. As a side note, how come there aren’t feline teeth? One more example of our biased dog-centric society. I blame the right wing, and possibly those nuts in Oregon. But I digress.
Back to Helen’s mouth–there is no soreness or redness, and she’s certainly not off her chow, so it’s hard to say how or when this happened, or if it even matters. Still, it’s disconcerting. And it could be my imagination but she seems a tad bit grumpier than usual. Just a tad.
My brother CJ is a dentist, in fact in his own mind he is actually a world renowned dentist. But at a bare minimum he is qualified to opine on the Helen tooth situation. Unfortunately he is a sissy and won’t stick his hand in Helen’s mouth since she keeps trying to bite it. He’s a dentist; he must get bitten all the time, right? His fully informed professional comment, without examining her mouth, is “I guess she’s OK.”
Today is CJ’s birthday, so I probably shouldn’t post a blog that disparages him. But what kind of little sister would I be if I didn’t? That folks, is the question. Also the Helen tooth thing. That is also the question.
I think I know what Helen might be thinking in the video. She looks like the actors in the commercial where they slap their hands (aka paws) together and the lights go on and off. Maybe she’s crabby because she’s trying to do the clap on, clap off routine and it doesn’t work. She may have even clenched her jaw in frustration, causing her tooth to fall out. (BTW – Helen’s adorable – hope she’s okay.)
Yikes! I’ve confused you. The video is of Janet. I will not tell her you thought she was Helen so as to spare her feelings. She must think everything is clap on/clap off, because she uses this technique in front of windows, cabinets, the TV, my lap…
Helen is adorable too, and I think she’s fine. We’ll get her checked out by a real vet soon…
I am not a sissy. Just prefer cooperative patients.
Yeah but you’re still a sissy.
Love the video of Janet. Who knows what goes through their heads sometimes? And missing teeth? Our sweet, departed cat Walt was always losing teeth at home ~ or having extractions done at the vet’s office. At least we didn’t have to pay for fillings or braces!
This is a first for us so good to know it is relatively normal. And yes, no expense for braces, fillings, crowns, etc.!
Jake lost all his teeth (except 2 which he took to the grave with him) like that. I had no idea there was anything wrong. Then one day he’s missing a chomper. The another. I often wondered if that’s what made him grumpy. On a recent vet visit Mollie had two loose teeth which had to come out. The vet said that they had to have been bothering her. Sure enough she’s much nicer again. Perhaps you can take your brother to the vet. Maybe his teeth are bothering him. He may be much nicer without some. A good sister would do that. Just ask my brother. (BTW I did take my brother to dentist last year. He got some anesthesia and couldn’t drive.)
LOVE your idea of taking CJ to the vet!! Brilliant! Our vet will be making a house call in a few weeks for annual check ups (she comes to us, no way we’re wrangling four cats into carriers) so we will know more then.
Perhaps she bit down on the wrong thing
No doubt. But no broken off tooth or root or anything. It’s just…gone!