d'Aulnoy's White Cat - No, Not That One

[d_aulnoy]

A Sylvie-the-Cat question!  I've been boarding her heavily this last month or so, what with all the travel, which means she's been spending a lot of time at the vet's.  I love my vet.  My vet gives me little notes on her progress which sound like they came from a kindergarten teacher or a nice Jewish grandmother - that Sylvie, she's such a sweetheart.  Oy!   

It turns out that Sylvie has herpes (who knew cats got herpes?) and needs lysine, which kind of cracks me up in an inappropriate fashion.  Additionally, in her last note, after all the froof about how sweet Sylvie was, she advised that even though Sylvie was an indoor-only cat, I put sunscreen on her.

You guys remember Sylvie, right?



The vet recommended that I put sunscreen on her "pink pink nose" and her "pink pink ears."  This same vet's office, mind, advised me to get Sylvie to take her lysine by dribbling the nasty gooey stuff on her paw, where she would inevitably lick it off.  It seems somehow ... counterintuitive ... that she would lick off the one but not the other.  And I'm not really sure if sunscreen is meant to be taken internally.  So, poll!

A) d_aulnoy , your vet is twee and crazy.  Cats - especially indoor cats! - do not need sunscreen.

B) d_aulnoy , your vet is right, and here's the brand I recommend from years of greasing up my albino feline!

C) d_aulnoy , if you'd read "The White Cat," you'd know that the answer to all your questions would be to simply cut her head off.

D) d_aulnoy , you need to get out more.

Feel free to elaborate in the comments!

Comments

[fjm.livejournal.com]

White cats get ear tip cancer. Rub in that cream!

[d-aulnoy.livejournal.com]

Even through window-glass? I am flabbergasted. And now, searching the internets for cat-friendly SPFs, I guess ....

[fjm.livejournal.com]

I don;'t think ordinary window glass provides protection but I could be wrong.

[d-aulnoy.livejournal.com]

See, this is the kind of thing that confuses me - the top hit for "cat sunscreen" (and, for once, the top hit is not porn - yay!) says, "To prevent sunburn on your white cats, limit their times in the outdoors on sunny days. The sun's ultraviolet (UV) rays are the strongest between ten o'clock in the morning and four o'clock in the afternoon."

That cat NEVER sees the outdoors unless it's through the mesh of her carrier - I'm paranoid beyond words about outdoor danger, so she's not even going out on the balcony.

And this - http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/152/can-you-tan-through-glass - makes me feel better about the fact that *I* generally neglect the sunscreen.

There is something vaguely funny and wrong about the fact that I'm researching this on behalf of the CAT, when I could generally be arsed to do it for myself. Ah, priorities.

[d-aulnoy.livejournal.com]

Ah, cross-post! Apparently, it does (which is a relief for those long daily commutes, which represent approximately 75% of my sun time).

[chrissie-m.livejournal.com]

Huh. It had never occurred to me that it would be a good idea to put anything like sunscreen on a cat, figuring that yes, it would end up being ingested at some point. You learn something new every day, I guess.

As for the 'put it on the paw' trick: yeah, right. I have never had that work. Instead, they do the 'flick it off' trick, and I end up with hairball goop or whatever spattered all over the walls, furniture, and myself.

[d-aulnoy.livejournal.com]

Oh, *good*, so it's not just me - I tried the paw thing once, and Sylvie looked at me disdainfully, flicked her tail up high, and went for a walk on the white carpet. Goooooooooood kitty. Now I just squirt it into her mouth, and devil take the hindmost.