Cecil                                          Back to the K4DPK page

Cecil is a well-mannered five year old guy who loves people, and likes to share his toys with others.  He is currently learning to solder, but it's not easy, what with the opposing thumb thing and all.

He's a quiet, unassuming fellow with many friends in the amateur radio community.  Of course, he does have the occasional bad day.

                                             Cecil at work....

                 " Lemmessee, now, I know there's a 2N3904 here somewhere......."

Cecil and the Flypaper

(I happened across this e-mail that I'd sent in search of advice about a year ago.  I present it here in the hope it might enlighten new cat owners to some of the hazards of ownership, allowing them to learn from my unwitting mistakes.)

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I have been dealing with a very difficult problem for the past several hours, and since I've not found a satisfactory solution, I'll turn to my friends for advice.  I realize that we tend to horse around a lot, but I know that when the need is real I can count on my friends for help. 

This evening Hannah and I attended her 35th high school reunion.  Needless to say, I returned home filled with sentimental nostalgia, although I don't have a clue who any of those people were. The mood was broken, though, when my ever-faithful cat Cecil met me at the door.  From his demeanor,  I immediately sensed his dissatisfaction about something.  I also noticed that he was walking sideways.    A clue??    Perhaps.

Subjecting my right arm, hand and fingers to great danger, I learned that the fur on Cecil's right flank was coated with a sort of sticky goo.  Judgment error.  While I looked for bandages, a tourniquet and mercurochrome, Cecil made good his escape to one of his hiding places in the other end of the house.  It was during the search for him that I learned the answer to the "goo" riddle. 

Yesterday, I'd noticed some gnats busying themselves around his food plate.  Obviously this had to be addressed, but fly spray so close to the food plate wouldn't be healthy.  The remedy was found at the Shannon Market......

Fly Paper.  I rolled it out and suspended it above Cecil's eating station. 

I can think of several ways Cecil might have contacted the fly paper, and none of them are very pretty.  I found the roll of fly paper entangled in large wads of cat fur, all scattered in pieces atop my bed.  Bite marks and scratches in the shredded paper and in the bedspread spoke volumes of the epic battle that must have taken place. 

I finally found Cecil hiding in a large box of Christmas wrapping paper, ribbons, name tags and glitter.  I lured him to the kitchen sink and attempted to remove the gooey substance and the scraps of wrapping paper, ribbon, name tags and glitter with dishwashing liquid and water.  This did not work as planned.   Marking it down as a completely wrong idea, I no longer wish to use a soap and water bath for fear of getting my bandages even wetter than they already are.  Cecil is hiding again and Hannah is not at all happy about what happened to the Venetian blind on the kitchen window. 

Anyway, this is what I need to know: 

1.  What kind of soap or solvent will remove flypaper goo from a large cat? 

2.  Can it be applied with a high pressure sprayer, so it isn't necessary to come within, say, six feet of the cat? 

Please let me know as soon as possible, because right now Cecil has a large piece of today's Rome Tribune stuck to his right rear quarter panel, and he is not happy. 

Thanks in advance, 

Phil       

 p.s.  PLEASE HURRY!