Cats!!! Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em.

[Ocelot II]

One of my hobbies is oil painting, and I take a Zoom painting class so my work doesn't suck as much as it might without guidance. Yesterday I was working on a painting during the class, and my lovely, sweet old kitty, Pixie, who normally spends her time napping on the couch next to a radiator, decided she wanted to see what I was up to. So she jumped up and walked on my palette, getting a blob of cadmium red on one of her hind paws, then she took off, tracking paint everywhere. And since cats directly register when they walk, that means she got the paint on the corresponding front paw, and then somehow she got it on her other front paw and on her face. So I chased her around (while she tracked more paint through the house), caught up with her and tried to get the paint off with Dawn detergent, but she wasn't having any of my "help." By now there are red cat tracks on the bathroom floor. Since cadmium is toxic I wanted to get it off her ASAP before she started cleaning herself, but she wasn't cooperating. So then I hauled her furry little butt to the emergency vet's office, which fortunately isn't far away. They managed to clean her up without sedating her (the vet explained that she cooperated with them even though she fought with me, because "she's not afraid of you." ), and the pet poison hotline said if they got the paint off her she should be fine; trace amounts weren't likely to cause anything worse than mild skin irritation or an upset stomach, neither of which has manifested itself.

An hour or so and some $400 later we were able to come home. Pixie is fine. Cadmium red dries slowly so I was able to get it off everything except an ottoman, but it doesn't show too much.

I hope she doesn't do that again.

[3catwoman3]

1. I'm envisioning your house looking like...

...a mass murder scene.

[Ocelot II]

2. Maybe I shouldn't have cleaned up the paint

and just taped some body outlines on the floor.

[SheltieLover]

5. Hahaha!

[TexasTowelie]

15. Don't forget the yellow police tape marking crime scenes.

I wonder if the police tape might clash with the 🐾 paw print though.

[Ocelot II]

16. I used to have a roll of that tape, had a lot of fun with it.

[Diamond_Dog]

3. What a catastrophe! (no pun intended)

I’m glad Pixie will be OK. At least cadmium Red is a nice color, if you’re forced to see it everywhere ….. what did they use at the vets’ to clean it off of her?
.
I am lucky (in a way) I have my painting/drawing area in the basement, and my 65-lb. Labrador Retriever is afraid to go down there, so she never gets into my art area. She isn’t afraid of stairs (she goes up and down a flight of stairs just fine) except THOSE stairs, because on the other side of the basement is where she gets her baths.

[Ocelot II]

4. They used Dawn soap like I did. They were successful where I wasn't because

they had more than one person to hold onto her and she didn't try to kill them.

[SheltieLover]

6. Glad she is ok!

[bamagal62]

7. I had a cad red cat incident

Year ago. Unfortunately, mine happened on the middle of the night. Red prints everywhere the next morning.
She must have licked of off. She rarely went into my studio and showed no interest. She was 9 at the time and lived to be 18! It was my fault for forgetting to secure the door. The cat I have now is never allowed into my studio as she gets into everything! I probably need to get rid of all the toxic pigments. But, it’s hard to give them
Up!

[Ocelot II]

8. I guess she didn't ingest enough paint to make her sick,

but red cat pawprints all over the house is a unique decorating accent that might not match your other furnishings. I would have to shut the cat upstairs to keep her away, and I don't think she'd have any of that. She's usually pretty good about staying away from the painting stuff, but for some reason she had a different idea yesterday...

[cloudbase]

9. Cats have centuries of experience at stuff like that.

[Ocelot II]

10. I think they do it on purpose.

[FirstLight]

11. What fun!! Cats seem to love a good chase/fiasco...

notsomuch when the vet gets involved though! LOL

Mine will always find a way to walk on my keyboard when I am reading/studying

They hate it when they are't the center of attention!

[Figarosmom]

12. Why is it

They always get the cadmium red.

I've had cats do the same thing.

[Ocelot II]

13. I'm sure it's because cad red is unsubtle, spreads everywhere and stains whatever it touches.

Cats are supposedly red-green colorblind so they shouldn't be able to pick it out, but somehow I think they know.

[Figarosmom]

14. I think so too