ocd kitty...part 1

as you already know this is pookie my cat, i have introduced her in the past...pookie will be 11 years old this year, that is getting up there in age for a kitty...
this past week, pookie had to go the vets...for the past five years or so (maybe more...), pookie has had a bit of an over-grooming issue. basically she licks herself until she bleeds. her favorite spot is on her belly, she has managed to lick all the fur off of this certain area, and her skin is all red and raw. in the past pookie has been given cortisone shots to help relieve some of the pain and itchy...see this whole thing is a big circle, the area is really dry and itchy from all the licking, but since it is dry and itchy she licks it more to stop the itchy...so in order to break this pattern she had been given shots to help with the itch. well now that she is up there in age, cortisone shots aren't really recommended...so this kitty is getting put onto anti-anxiety medication, for two months! nothing like two months of pure torture for both her and i. giving a cat a pill is about as easy as giving a cat a bath...neither are much fun...and i have the scars to prove it!
on another note, i found out that cats get black and blue and bruise...pookie while at the vets had to have some blood work done, so they took a very angry pookie out of the room and back into the lab to draw the blood, when they returned, pookie looked angrier than i have ever seen her in our 10 1/2 years together...her fur was brisled, her eyes wide, her ears flat and her tail between her legs in defeat...the spot where the blood was taken from was still a bit bloody and she smelled like anespetic. the next day i checked out the spot and noticed that the blood had been cleaned off her fur (of course, kitties hate to be dirty!), and that in the place where the blood had been was a dark mark (not to be confused with the kind from harry potter!) on her skin...upon further inspection i concluded that she had brusied from the blood letting...poor kitty...but i do feel her pain, most times i have blood taken i have a bruise from my wrist to my shoulder!! anyway, stayed tuned for more updates of pookie, the ocd kitty...i am sure that i will have some fun stories once we start our daily regiment of pills!