I wanted to tell another story about our cats. From when they were kittens, I've trained them to accept being handled -- opening mouth to inspect teeth and gums, opening mouth to drop in pills, clipping claws, flea combing, washing, bathing, etc. It was one of the basic pet ownership necessities that I hadn't learned properly early on with a previous cat, so I'm pretty thorough about the early training, especially after I had children and I wasn't about to let them get hurt by any catly willfulness... and I've always wondered about other mothers who lament that their cats have scratched or even bitten their children.
So today, as usual, I told one of the kitty's "Flea Check" and laid down an old baby swaddling cloth on the floor (baby micky/minnie pattern) that I use for this purpose, and invited her to come get flea combed. She immediately came, stood on the "towel" and turned around, and when I grabbed her tail, flopped down on her side.
This one in particular loves the process. I hold her tail so she doesn't edge beyond the towel to lay down, forcing me to pick her up and pull her back on to the center of the towel. She started purring almost right away, and, as I have taught her, shifted position as I worked according to the way I pushed her around and gave progress commands. (I only found one "possible" flea -- it wasn't moving so it might have been just a black speck)
I have progress "commands/status" words like "Belly Button" for laying on her back and exposing her belly to be combed, "Under Arms" for me to hold her foreleg up and comb under the front legs and the base of the forelegs to the ribs (I think this tickles -- they try to pull their forelegs out of my hand and used to object quite a bit, including initially snarling and trying to bite. Now, the most they do is push at my hand with claw-sheathed hind paws, but I have a command for that, too which is to disengage their paw, tuck hind leg, and say "Don't Kick"). "Chin and Flat Chin" for combing under the neck and having her push her head flat down on the floor. "Tail" for combing her tail, which with their fluffy fur, can be tangled and probably painful sometimes even though I take care not to yank.
When needed, I finish with clipping all of the claws, and for the awkward to get in position left foreleg, put her on my lap.
Throughout, the one kitty purrs and drools from purring too much, and the most problem she causes is that she tries to rub her jaws on any hand that is close enough, hindering my movements.
Our other kitty doesn't like it as much and does NOT come to the towel. In fact, if she thinks I'm even considering it, she runs away and have to be fetched back. She used to dash off and run away every chance she got DURING the combing process, but since I set the DD's to bring her back every single time, she has finally caught on and has given up on running away.
one of the things she also doesn't do is roll over -- instead she hooks her claws into the carpet
so I have to unhook her to roll her over. But she does the "Flat Chin" better than the other kitty. She literally flattens her head completely, whereas the other kitty wants to see what I'm doing and tends to pick up her head. This one doesn't purr and will dash off as soon as released with "Done" --whereas, the other one sometimes won't get off my lap no matter how firmly I say "DONE" and has to be dumped off.