52 By the way ...
Ponte Vedra Recorder · October 29, 2015
You need to brush your cats, folks. It’s a good thing
When I showed my National Day
Calendar to my writing group, the
“Day” that sent them into paroxysms of laughter was National
Hairball Awareness Day. The “Day”
is listed as one of our unofficial national holidays. It’s not just “Hairball
Day.” It’s Hairball Awareness Day.”
My feline friend, Laptop, wakes
me up between 1:00 and 5:00 AM
with a sound that is a cross between an air raid siren and a garbage truck backing up. A brachycephalic (snuffling) dog is no match
for a cat doin’ the hairball heaves.
Initially I would bounce out of bed
to reach the light on my nightstand,
sure that there would be a pile of
matted hair shaped like a mini pine
cone. But then I learned: It helps to
brush her.
Eliza, my cat who died in Au-
gust, let me
brush her during
the entire Oscars
production with
the wonderful
hairbrush for cats
I’ve mentioned
in this column
before: the FURminator. I was
Mims Cushing
doing an experiBy the Way...
ment to see how
long she’d lie on
my lap, purring mightily, drowning
out my A/C, before deciding she’d
had enough brushing. Laptop only
lets me brush her when the spirit is
willing. Which is rare. Rare. Rare.
She allows me to brush her when
she is eating, but even that is not a
given.
Two things help: one is a sticky,
THEME: VETERANS DAY
tuna-flavored gel you can get from
a pet store or your vet that helps
prevent hairballs and is palatable
and easy-to-use. It tastes like tuna
fish, the tube tells me. I can put it
on my finger and Lappy will lap it
up, or you can put it on their paws
or nose. It’s taken her eight years to
cotton to it.
The other thing you can try is
dry chow specifically for hairball
elimination and/or prevention. The
problem with that is some of my
past cats also have had urinary tract
disorders and bleed so they must
be on that formula or they get into
problem. Just like with people,
there’s always something.
Summer is the time when fur
grows the fastest, so hairballs are
troublesome because cats have a
hard time keeping up with groom-
ACROSS
1. Laugh at with
contempt
6. *Veterans Day
stems from this war
9. *Hand-to-hand
combat weapon
13. Par on a short
golf hole
14. Immeasurable
period
15. Gossipmonger
16. Triangular road
sign
17. “M*A*S*H”
character
18. *Commander’s
instruction
19. *a.k.a. American
flag
21. *Like soldier
honored at certain
tombs
23. Present plural
of “be”
24. Acer, e.g.
25. Unit of electric
current
28. Yearn or pine
30. *Traditional
time for moment of
silence
35. Luau souvenirs
37. Salad prep
39. Kidney problem
40. Cut or carve a
design
41. Chose instead
43. High school
breakout
44. Measure of
alcohol
46. Republic of
Ireland
47. Glorify
48. John Cusack’s
time machine, 2010
50. Irena Cara’s
1980 hit
52. Fleur-de-___
53. Snoopy
55. Argo propeller
57. *Washington or
Carter
61. *Key’s composition
64. 3-line poem
65. *Between
“ready” and “fire”
67. Well-____
machine
69. Skier’s mecca
70. Winter glider
71. Unnerve
72. East India Company wares
73. Part of H.M.S.
74. T in Ferrari TR
ing themselves enough. I used to
think cats only needing brushing when their hair thickens, in
the summer. But it’s good to keep
brushing, at least through fall, if not
all year ‘round.
Here’s something entirely different you cat fanciers might like
to know: plastic grocery bags
shouldn’t be used to dispose of the
litter clumps.
If you check the bottom of the
bag, you will often find a hole or
tear, and grains of litter will pass
through onto the floor which is not
savory. So get lunch bags from a
dollar store, 50 bags for $1.00, and
use them.
Better for the environment too.
Better get a lunch box if you are
packing lunches for people so there
isn’t, God forbid, a mix-up.
SUDOKU
DOWN
1. Hog haven
2. Like a “Vogue” ad
3. Three-layer
cookie
4. Jolly good one
5. Indiana’s head
gear
6. What one does at
the altar
7. Court or solicit
8. Bring upon
oneself
9. “Where the Red
____ Grows”
10. *Vietnam, on
the ____china
Peninsula
11. One-pot meal
12. Mountain lake
15. Bumpkins
20. Right-hand
page
22. Denotes
maiden last name
24. Bear witness
25. First in Hebrew
alphabet
26. First M in MGM
27. Lace loop
29. *Honorary veteran, GI Bob
31. And elsewhere
32. Singing part
33. Boredom
34. Required things
36. *Marksmanship
Badge denotes a
good one
38. “Que Sera ____”
42. Evil one
45. Charity race
49. Flapper’s feathers
51. Have dinner at a
restaurant
54. URL sign
56. *River Allies
crossed in Invasian
of Germany
57. Stairway to river
in India
58. *”At ____,
soldier”
59. Australian palm
60. Adds to or augments
61. Gulf V.I.P.
62. They have oval
leaves that come to
a point
63. Source of
protein
66. *Veterans Day
Proclamation signer
68. Genetic stuff