Family is trying to kill me!

CloudySue · Sep 14, 2013

What exactly are they doing to you? A spray bottle helps. Wouldn't an air horn, I don't know, wake your client?

SaoirseRN · Sep 14, 2013

Cats are curious creatures. What are they doing that's "misbehaving"? You don't sound like a cat person, which is fine, but if they are approaching you it's likely they are just trying to meet you. It's also a well-known (amongst cat people) fact that cats do gravitate toward people who wish they really would not.

I second the spray bottle idea versus the air horn, if what they are doing is disruptive. What does the owner say about them?

eeffoc_emmig · Sep 14, 2013

I'm just not a big animal in the house person. The cats don't do anything to me - it's as if we have a mutual understanding - I don't fool with them and they stay away from me. The family doesn't want them on the furniture or in the kitchen or their entryway. To me, that's asking a lot of an indoor creature. They've had them declawed, they had water bottles for a month or so...no success. They were yelling at them for a while, THAT was amusing because the cats would just look at them like they (the humans) had nine heads. The air horn is their latest strategy in the war on cats. Even though I know they have it, it scares the crap out of me every time it's used.

eeffoc_emmig · Sep 14, 2013

Sorry, missed the question. Yes, it wakes him up. I've told them that it does and that his heart rate goes up. They just say "it's not gonna hurt him" or "we don't use it in his room". Sweet, huh?

ventmommy · Sep 14, 2013

Well, I am a cat person and I can tell you that declawing is about the worst damn thing you can do to a cat. It leads to other behavior problems. Now that it's done, however, you can't go back and fix it.

Not wanting them IN the kitchen or entryway is insane. Cats, as already mentioned, are incredibly curious creatures. Mine are in the kitchen all the time waiting for me to drop something. They do not go on counters or on the dining room table. That was accomplished by saying NO and taking them off immediately.

Using an air horn is abusive to you, the child and the cats. Honestly, these people don't need cats. The agency needs to intervene and say that an air horn used IN a home is not acceptable while an agency nurse is present. Certainly someone could report the situation to the humane society.

I would definitely document his heart rate increases and the circumstances surrounding it so you (or whatever day nurse goes to appointments) can address it with the PCP.

Adele_Michal7, ASN, RN · Sep 14, 2013

My patient's family has 2 cats. They don't behave at all - not sure if cats ever behave. Anyway I have been at work for a little over an hour and the have blown an air horn at them at least 5 times - my heart just about stops every time! Good grief![/quote']
Wait, the family blows an air horn at their cats? ::puzzled:: OK. I'm sure the cats love that. Well. PDN is never boring.

Adele_Michal7, ASN, RN · Sep 14, 2013

Well, I am a cat person and I can tell you that declawing is about the worst damn thing you can do to a cat. It leads to other behavior problems. Now that it's done, however, you can't go back and fix it.
Not wanting them IN the kitchen or entryway is insane. Cats, as already mentioned, are incredibly curious creatures. Mine are in the kitchen all the time waiting for me to drop something. They do not go on counters or on the dining room table. That was accomplished by saying NO and taking them off immediately.
Using an air horn is abusive to you, the child and the cats. Honestly, these people don't need cats. The agency needs to intervene and say that an air horn used IN a home is not acceptable while an agency nurse is present. Certainly someone could report the situation to the humane society.
I would definitely document his heart rate increases and the circumstances surrounding it so you (or whatever day nurse goes to appointments) can address it with the PCP.

Also, spot on advice from Ventmommy in re: to documenting the increased HR

eeffoc_emmig · Sep 14, 2013

Oh believe me - I do document - probably more needed but it is ALWAYS objective data. I just also add the events/stimuli leading up to the change in VS/behavior.

I mentioned the air horn to another nurse that has been on this case for almost the entire time the patient has been with our company. She told me that (from experience) it would only make matters worse to complain to the agency. One: the agency won't put their foot down with them - the customer must be made happy - aka $$$ is more important. Two: dad is passive aggressive and will just do more things to be a jerk.

I swear that my company only takes the rejects of other private duty companies!

**not a cat lover but I wholeheartedly agree that declawing is horrible!

CloudySue · Sep 15, 2013

Ya know, cats HATE walking on tinfoil. So you can lay that around where you don't want them. That's a lot of tinfoil though!

At one point we had a cat who lived to pee on the couches, she was protesting the new baby we brought home. We ended up having to take plastic rug runners and put them upside down on the couches EVERY time we left the room. The pointy surface deterred her. It worked, except for the times we forgot to do it.

CloudySue · Sep 15, 2013

"Liked", not "lived" to pee on the couches, that is. Although both words seem to work in that sentence.

Adele_Michal7, ASN, RN · Sep 15, 2013

Ya know, cats HATE walking on tinfoil. So you can lay that around where you don't want them. That's a lot of tinfoil though!
At one point we had a cat who lived to pee on the couches, she was protesting the new baby we brought home. We ended up having to take plastic rug runners and put them upside down on the couches EVERY time we left the room. The pointy surface deterred her. It worked, except for the times we forgot to do it.

There is a Japanese dollar store here that sells something called "Don't Kitty Mat." (Assuming something got lost in translation.) They are hard plastic mats with sharp pointy...um...points sticking up. I need to snap a pic and upload. When I saw I just about died laughing.