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.