Author: mec2973

I work as a software tester for an awesome company.

I Remember

Have you ever wondered what Laura Ingalls Wilder thought when she wrote her Little House on the Prairie (LHP) books?  Did she think no one would read them because most people had grown up as she had and therefore the books were nothing new to her generation?  Was she surprised when people did read them?

I wonder what would happen if someone today wrote a book about their childhood.  Would it take years to be accepted?  Or would it be a hit with young readers today as the LHP books were?  Would it take someone with Mrs. Wilder’s prose to be able to pull it off?

When I grew up, we did not have cell phones, portable telephones, computers, gaming devices and VCRs, microwaves, and dishwashers came much later.  Plus when we visited my great-grandparents, they had an outhouse.  What would kids do today?

I’m going to start an “I remember” series here to show what it was like when I was a kid growing up in the 70s and 80s.

Quality Assurance (QA) Resume Advice

I am currently and have been in the past involved in reviewing software QA resumes to determine who I recommend we interview, and hopefully will hire.  I don’t claim to be the best writer out there (probably not even close), but I do try to use as proper of English as I can.  I grew up in the Midwest where ending with a preposition is required even though it is not proper English. 🙂

My background:  I have been in the Software QA industry since 1998, and I enjoy doing manual testing.  I would love to learn an automated test suite, but I feel that the software QA industry is flooded with automated testers.  I have an Oracle programming background which makes me a valued commodity in the QA industry.  I mean how often do you see a QA person with a programming background that enjoys manual testing and is good at it? Plus I can write a SQL query that puts the database administrator to shame. 🙂

At some point during my tenure at most of the companies I have worked for, I will get asked to review software QA resumes.  It absolutely amazes me at how many resumes I receive with misspellings, typos, grammatical errors, etc.  I circle each and every one of them with the dreaded red pen.  This is my very first impression of your abilities in the software QA position, and you just failed…big time!  I won’t hire you because I just realized that you have no attention to detail.

The other thing that baffles me is reading an objective that is meant for a programming position when you are applying for a QA position.  When writing a resume, you should tailor the objective to the position being applied for or make it very generic.  I’ll forgive a generic objective, but not one meant for another position because if your resume is for another position, then I know you plan to leave as soon as you find something else.  This is a point that I feel many people see recommended, but don’t take the time to do and then wonder why they aren’t called in for an interview.  We saw a lot of these during the recent recession where people were just looking for any job.

To help you get your resume past people like me and called in for a job interview where you can plead your case, here is some advice:

  1. Use a Spell Checker – It’s there, it’s free, it’s easy to use, so why in the world would you not take advantage of it?  If given a format without a spellchecker, I will copy your resume and place it in MS Word to check it myself.  I do not ding for alternate spellings like ‘e-mail’ or ’email’ as an example, but I will hold it against you if you “have a typo”.  Also, for people where English is not your first language, this holds true for you as well.  English is the language of the United States of America, and I fully expect you to be able to communicate with the people on your team in both written and verbal form.  If you show this to me in your resume, you are one step ahead.
  2. Read your resume backwards – Believe it or not, this works.  Why you ask?  Well, reading a resume backwards makes your mind read each word rather than when reading normally, your brain sees what it wants you to see and not necessarily what is there.  I know because I found typos in my own resume this way.
  3. Have someone else read your resume…preferably another QA person – I did this and the QA person ripped it apart, but for good.  This person also told me why certain lines were a problem and suggested ways to make it sound better.  On some of the items, I had to explain where I was going with a thought in order for the person to give me a suggestion.  The result is an awesome resume that has not one iota of a problem.  If you don’t know another QA person, for pete’s sake don’t ask a developer as they are, in general, horrible at writing documents.  🙂 There are exceptions to every rule though.  🙂 Also, don’t just have a significant other as your only reviewer.  A significant other will help you with selling yourself, but not necessarily with the information that you need to provide regarding your job.
  4. Tailor the objective and the job experience to the position you are applying for – If you will take any job in the software industry, you should have a resume tailored to each job.  A person who is currently a developer, but is applying for a QA position, should take their job history and find QA qualities that they exhibited in each development position that they held.  This will show that you have always had a QA mind while working in another position.  Then write a simple objective to cover the position you are applying for.
  5. Tailor the cover letter to the position you are applying for – Don’t forget to keep the cover letter to one page as most people don’t need a recitation of your resume.  Look at the attributes that an employer is looking for in a candidate, and briefly (and I mean briefly) describe how you think you fit each specific attribute and use brief examples.  I usually pick at least three different attributes from the job description to use and I find an example in my past where I have exhibited the attribute.
  6. Give full contact information – There was one resume that we received that had only the candidates’ first name and an e-mail address.  There was no phone number, address, or last name.  Why didn’t they want to give out their contact information?  Are they hiding something?  I have no idea, and the candidate did not make it past my desk.
  7. Suggested: Use MS Word formatting in your document – Please note that this is a suggestion only.  I always look at the resumes using the “Show/Hide Paragraph Mark” option.  There was one resume where instead of using bullet points the candidate typed it all including each and every single carriage return. 🙂 This person also did not use a table format (you don’t have to put a border around it) which would have helped with the indention.  I told my boss that there is an easier way using MS Word bullet points that you can configure and tables to accomplish what probably took them a long time to format.  Note that I did not necessarily ding the person for this, but I knew from looking at the resume that they probably wouldn’t be writing any documents for me.

Hopefully, you have seen some of the tricks that are used to gather information about you just from your resume and cover letter.  In the software QA world, everything you do from the time that you apply for the job all the way through the interview process is evaluated to determine if you have the QA skills needed for the position you are applying for.

Happy job hunting!!

New Hockey Term – Power Kill

Note: I had to wait for the hockey season to be complete before posting this, so that I didn’t jinx our team. 😉

For those who don’t watch hockey here are two real terms in hockey:

Power Play – Where one team receives a penalty that places at least one of their players in the penalty box giving the other team at least a one man advantage.

Penalty Kill – Where one team receives a penalty that places at least one of their players in the penalty box which now requires them to kill off the penalty with at least a one man disadvantage.

My boyfriend and I are huge Cincinnati Cyclones fans (ECHL hockey = Double A baseball) and are season ticket holders.

While Coach Weber is one of the best coaches I have ever seen in any sport, it appears that our seasons always start off working on defense first including the penalty kill, then passing, then scripted plays, and then finally the power play.

This seems to be a great formula as the first season we made it to the division playoffs, won the Kelly Cup the second year, made it to the final four last year, and this year we won the Kelly Cup once again. 🙂

But…it has been extremely painful to watch our power plays this year, but I will admit during the playoffs the guys have been doing better and the Power Play has come through when we really needed it.  Our team captain even said the power play is the team’s achilles heel.  For example, we can barely get the puck to stay into the offensive zone in the alloted standard 2 minute minor penalty.

And then when we do get the puck in the offensive zone, there is a ton of passing, fighting against the boards for the puck, and a lot of clearing by the opposing team.  There are very, very, very few shots on goal, and as most hockey fans know, if you don’t shoot the puck at the goal, you have an extremely slim chance of scoring.

So, this season when our power play percentage dropped below 16%, my boyfriend and I came up with a new hockey term…the Power Kill.  It sounds impressive, doesn’t it?  Please note that you don’t want your team to have a great power kill.

A Power Kill is where one team receives a penalty that places at least one of their players in the penalty box giving the other team at least a one man advantage, but our team likes to play on an even field or even one man down, so we don’t take advantage of the Power Play and instead choose to chase a cleared puck down the ice and then “pretend” to have difficulty in getting the puck into the offensive zone.

Our power kill percentage at one point was 84.7%.  Sounds great doesn’t it?  Much better than a Power Play percentage of 15.3%.

What is really interesting is during some of this time, the Cyclones were leading the league in Penalty Kills (early in the season) as well as leading the league in short-handed goals (the whole season).

We’d see the team have a really bad power play, turnaround and get a penalty, and then score on a the penalty kill with a short-handed goal.  We fans saw a lot more short-handed goals than power play goals.  Btw, to us fans, it is extremely exciting to see a short-handed goal scored. 🙂

Hence, the reason for the new term.  We fans have figured out that our team does not like to have the one man advantage and would rather show how good they are at hockey by scoring with a one man disadvantage. 🙂

I have to say that even with the new term, I would much rather score on a power play than have a power kill.  By the end of January, coach Weber did it again.  He made some changes on the power play and what do you know we scored two power play goals in a game and only had one pesky power kill rear its ugly head in the last game.  And when that occured…everyone in our section started to laugh and said to each other “The Power Kill is back!”.  Unfortunately until the playoffs, we saw more Power Kills than Power Plays.

Please note that I am merely sharing my humor.  I do not mean to hurt anyone’s feelings by this post.  I do know the real hockey terms, and I enjoy watching the Cincinnati Cyclones play.

I love Coach Weber and enjoy watching our players grow.  I don’t really enjoy losing the players to the AHL as I get used to seeing them and knowing what they can do, but that is a part of ECHL hockey and I am excited for them to have a chance to show off their talents in the next higher league.

I think Coach Weber has a great formula, and while I would love to keep him here; I hope that he gets his chance in either the AHL or NHL.  Given the record he has amassed over the past 4 years, I think he has a great chance at moving up.

After winning the championship again this season, who needs a good power play anyway? 😉

Map Pet Peeves

Ok, it has happened again, and I just have to say something.

If you are giving someone directions, please use the name of the street that appears on a map like maps.google.com or mapquest.com.

I have run into this many times by people who have been around an area for a long time and by traffic announcers.  When I first moved here, I had no idea that route 562 was the Norwood Lateral.  Back then the exit sign over the freeway only had route 562 on it.  All maps used route 562, but the traffic guy said Norwood Lateral.  If you aren’t from around here, the alternate name doesn’t help much.

At least in Indiana we actually name the road “Old 231 South”.  That’s the name of the old road, seriously.  The new road is simply called “231 South”.

Here in Cincinnati we have a marathon called “The Flying Pig Marathon”.  When the marathon runs, they close off a bunch of streets for the runners.

We also have an ECHL hockey team called the Cincinnati Cyclones.  Our Cyclones are the best professional sports team in Cincinnati.

Normally, I have no idea when the marathon is running as I don’t participate or care to go down and watch a bunh of sweaty people run by.  I just don’t get the spectator part.  This year has changed all of this.

On Wednesday we found out that the Cyclones have progressed to the next round of the playoffs and that the next round starts Friday at home ice.  Hooray!!  On Thursday a note was placed on the Cyclones website stating some roads will be closed due to the marathon.

Now we are the type of people who literally take the same route to the parking garage and back out.  So, I’m reading the text stating the road closure and it states the following:

“To allow for setup of the finish line, the following street will be closed on Friday April 30, 2010 at 7 AM until the race completion on Sunday May 2:

E Pete Rose Way- from Broadway to Old Broadway. One southbound lane of Old Broadway will be maintained coming off Ramp LL from Second Street. A detour will be in place directing motorists back to E Pete Rose Way.”

OK cool! Not being well versed in the streets downtown, I took a look at maps.google.com.  Hmmm…no Old Broadway. So, I tried mapquest.com.  Hmmm…not there either.

I took a hard look at the map and took a guess as to where it was based on the information, but decided to check with the powers that wrote the above road closure to try and get them to understand that using a street name that is no longer in use doesn’t help people who try to help themselves.

I wrote a very nice e-mail simply asking where Old Broadway was located and I gave our usual route to and from the Cyclones arena.  I was extremely polite, but by the same token by sending the e-mail I was hoping to trigger that using an old street name makes work for you.

I received a very nice reply and the guy even included a screen shot of downtown Cincinnati with the old street names over the streets.  He gave me the route I needed to take to and from the arena.  Nice job Cincinnati on that hire!

What I am trying to get across is when writing directions, giving traffic reports, or giving out road closures, think of your audience.  It might be better to do something like “Second Street E (Old Broadway)” in your notes to handle the case of existing and new people to the area.  New people can look up the road based on the new name and existing people will simply know where it is.

Red Robin in Florence, KY Review

Well, boyfriend and I finally got a chance to go to the “new” Red Robin restaurant where we live.  Red Robin is a part of a restaurant chain.

I had eaten there once before at another location in Mason, OH.  I liked my experience at the one in Mason, OH, so I was determined to try the new one at some point.

Oh and, this review received a really high rating.  Overall, we are generally pretty harsh on restaurants, so that should tell you how well Red Robin in Florence, KY impressed us.

1. Location **** (4 stars):

Red Robin in Florence, KY is at the corner of a busy road and an even busier road, but is very easy to get into as long as you aren’t headed southwest on Houston Road. The location is great for getting into people’s eyesight, but bad due to traffic.

You can opt to turn at a light or around the corner is an entrance without a light which is the one we used.  We were almost hit in the back end by someone turning left off of Houston Road that tried to rush across traffic.  Even though I was driving this got boyfriend aggravated at the chick who couldn’t wait.  Of course she was coming from the direction that I said was difficult to turn into Red Robin.  So I will give her a break as I know what she was trying to do.

Due to the difficulty of turning into the location from the one direction, the “danger” in getting people from the other direction to slow down to let you turn, and the busy corner location, I give the Location 4 stars.  Having a light to use on the other road kept the location with a high rating.

2. Parking ***** (5 Stars):

There is plenty of parking available.  If there isn’t enough room in the parking lot next to Red Robin, there is plenty of unused parking spots available in the K-Mart parking lot.
The parking spots aren’t too narrow, but they aren’t wide either.  My big SUV fit in the parking spot with a little less than a foot on either side.  I park in the back, so spacing generally does not phase me too much.

Navigating the parking lot was easy and wide enough for my vehicle to fit.

There really weren’t any detractors here, so I give Parking 5 stars.

3. Greeting **** (4 stars):

The greeting…oh the greeting.  One of my pet peeves.  So, we walk up to the door behind a family of four.  A woman is holding the inner doors open for us.

Here’s where my pet peeve kicks in…she asks the family before admitting them how many are in their party.  They state four and she let’s them proceed inside.  I notice before we get the same treatment that the family of four has to repeat this information to the hostess inside.

OK, so why ask?  Do YOU really need that information?  Will you not allow them in, if they give the incorrect information?  I just thought it was a total waste of time.  This was a night where they were busy, but not overly busy.  So, what do you do when you are busy?

Anyway, she asks us the same question and we answer two and are allowed inside. We wait behind the family while the hostesses figure out where to put them.  A second hostess sees us and the woman who let us in states that we have two in our party.  The second hostess seats us without any further ado.

Due to the door opener being my pet peeve and having to repeat myself for no reason other than to get into the restaurant, I give the Greeting 4 stars.

4. Atmosphere *** (3 stars):

The atmosphere is definitely kid-oriented.  The first thing I noticed when we walked in were the balloons, kid toy machines, and a TV in the floor.

It is extremely noisy in the restaurant.  I could barely hear boyfriend and we found ourselves every now and then asking for a repeat of what was said.  When I say noisy…I mean noisy.  It’s noisy in there…get it? 😉

The place is very brightly colored with a couple of TVs available for viewing.  It basically looks like happiness threw up in the restaurant.  I will admit, it made me smile kind of like Disney World does.  Heck, they even had a mascot walking around the restaurant.  I purposely avoided eye contact because I never know what to say to the mascots; unless of course they are Donald Duck of course.  Meanwhile, boyfriend is in shock at the noise. Have I mentioned it was noisy?

We were seated in a booth which is a plus, but a drawback is that the table and seats were really close to each other.  Also, my seat was angled it seemed.  I felt as though I was in a trick seat and was going to be thrown to the floor. 🙂  I think actually, I scooted over closer to the wall and that most people were sitting on the edge since the wall is imposing.

Either people were lying on a Thursday or there really were that many birthday parties, but there was a lot of clapping and singing going on.  In the 45 minute span we were there, there were four songs sang.  The nice thing was that they didn’t just sing the same song over and over.  They had at least three variations.

Due to the noise and the tightness of the tables, I give Red Robin 3 stars on Atmosphere.  It was seriously really noisy in there.  Do NOT visit if you have  a hint of a headache.

5. Menu **** (4 stars):

The menu is a huge single poster given to you by the hostess.  It is double sided and extremely busy.  Obviously they have a lot of burgers (since that’s their specialty), but I did notice other things as well.

We both picked out burgers.  I wanted the mushroom burger and boyfriend got a Bleu Burger.  Since I’m not a huge fan of thick cut fries, I tried looking around for a different side.  I turned the menu over and over, and flipped it upside down trying to find the sides.  I was thinking, surely they have something other than bottomless fries and Parmesan thick cut fries like coleslaw, mashed potatoes, fried mushrooms, or onion rings (not put on a tree like the appetizer).  Nope, I checked with the server.

When you order, you will be asked how done you like your burger. It is nice that a restaurant that specializes in burgers takes it to the next level and grills to order.  This is a nice plus.

With the exception of finding the sides, the menu was easy to follow.  It was just busy. So, due to these reasons, I give the Menu 4 stars.

6. Timeliness ***** (5 stars):

From the time we ordered to when we received our food, was about the time it would take to grill a hamburger.  The restaurant, while not swamped, was rather busy.  We were very pleased with the results.

7. Presentation/Taste ***** (5 stars):

The presentation of our burgers was in a basket with the fries.  Half of the burger was wrapped, so that you could hold it without getting drippings all over you.  This was a really huge plus for me.  I hate getting my fingers and fries dripped on from a sandwich.

My mushroom burger was pretty good tasting. It needed just a tad more salt in the mushrooms as they made the whole sandwich a tad bland.  I put on a tad of ketchup and was perfectly happy.

Boyfriend liked the taste of his bleu burger, but stated that there was just a bit too many topping on his burger.  He would have liked a tad less, but stated that the flavor was good.

The Parmesan fries aren’t worth the extra money.  They were OK, but were basically just the regular fries with Parmesan sprinkled on them and it was not plentiful by any means.  But you know what, fries are fries, so even though I tried the Parmesan fries and don’t think they were worth the extra money, the fries tasted fine with ketchup.

Boyfriend likes thick cut fries and after finishing them, he was asked if he would like some more (they were bottomless).  He told me that he could have had more fries, but didn’t need them

Overall, we both really enjoyed our meals and since this is our biggest deciding factor on going back, we decided that we would return.  Presentation and Taste receive 5 stars from us.

8. Employees ***** (5 stars):

Door Opener:
Worst employee of the bunch and that was just because I had to answer a question of how many were in my party to get in the door.  Even though I truly think this job is not needed, she was pleasant.

Hostesses:
The hostesses took just a bit to figure out where to seat people, but it wasn’t overly long.  They also recognized that in general, a two person party with a man and a woman would want a booth and seated us appropriately.  The hostess was very pleasant.

Server:
This is where Red Robin rocked for our experience.  Our server was awesome.  He waited until we completely sat down and go shifted over before approaching us.  With a smile he asked if we would like to place a drink order.  At the shake of our heads, he listed off the available drinks and for tea he even included the option of sweet tea.

He immediately went to retrieve our drinks and brought them to our table in less than 3 minutes.  He asked if we would like more time to look over the menu and at our yes, he let us be.  We dropped our menus and he was at our side asking for our order.  He very pleasantly explained the side item options to us and finished with I will get that right in.

Before our burgers came out, he retrieved another sweet tea with asked for lemon for me.  I was about half way through my current glass.  He brought our burgers right to us when they were up and asked if we needed anything else before leaving us to eat.

During our meal, he refilled boyfriends’ water just as it got to half way.  When boyfriend completed his fries, our server was right there asking if boyfriend would like some more.  He asked if he could clear boyfriends basket when boyfriend said no to the extra fries.

He did bring the check prior to my finishing, but boyfriend was finished, so it didn’t bother me too much.  When we paid, he was very quick about processing our check and returning.  Before he left, he made us feel welcome to sit for a bit before leaving by telling us that he was available if we needed anything else.

The way it sounds is that he was standing around staring at us and waiting to pounce as we made our way through the meal.  That was not the case.  I saw him at several other tables giving them the same treatment that we were receiving.  Truly this server is awesome!!!!  He received a 20% tip from us.

Other employees:
One of our pet peeves is employees standing around chatting and shooting the breeze while customers suffer.  That is certainly NOT the case at Red Robin.  Every employee stayed busy.  If they weren’t giving the awesome treatment to their customers, they were singing and clapping to the birthday people.  If they weren’t doing that, they were not to be seen.  Since I could see where they were due to where we were sitting, they even stayed busy in the employee area.

Overall, Red Robin knows how to treat their customers and how to keep their many employees busy.  They receive 5 stars for Employees.

9. Cleanliness of Restaurant ***** (5 stars):

The restaurant is very new, and still very clean.  The floors were clean though, so they must clean up as customers leave.  We did see one ledge that might get dusty over time.  For that only time will tell.

They receive 5 stars for Cleanliness of Restaurant.

10. Bathrooms **** (4 stars):

I’m going off of boyfriends’ experience here as I neglected to use the facilities while at Red Robin.  Boyfriend said that the restaurant is definitely geared towards kids as everything in the bathroom was low.  While I like that they are taking care of the kiddie-winkies, it would be nice as an adult to have things at a normal height.

Boyfriend did say the bathroom was clean, and forgive me guys, but if the men’s room is clean, that’s saying something. 😉

For this they receive 4 stars in Bathrooms.

Overall:
I would highly recommend this restaurant to anyone who is looking for a well cooked burger and wants very good service.

This restaurant receives 4 1/2 stars from us.

OMG Mom, It’s a Spider!!

OK, I don’t like to make fun of Skip, but sometimes he is too funny!

I learned something about Skip back when he was young: he is scared of things that normally a cat likes to play with like spiders.

When Skip sees a spider, he runs away.  Once he is at a safe distance, he will sit and stare at the spider.  What’s really funny to watch is if the spider will start walking Skip’s way.  His tail fluffs and he runs away again.  Such a brave boy!! LOL

So, unlike most cat owners, if I come into the room and see him staring at the floor or wall, I know that this is not the normal cat behavior, but that he sees a spider. Mommy is the one who has to kill it.

When Mason (another kitty that used to be mine…a complete story on it’s own) moved in with Mom and Dad, I thought that maybe Skip needed something to entertain himself with, so I bought some mice.

I put them up on a shelf and thought from Skip’s perch that he could watch them.  Well, that didn’t work out.  Skip was afraid of them.  He wouldn’t lay on his perch any more because it was too close to the mice.  If I cleaned the mouse cage, he would leave the entire downstairs area.

Well, that didn’t work out and now I was taking care of mice.  It wasn’t a big deal as I like mice, it was just more work.  So, I found a new home for the mice.

Skip still seemed to be bored throughout the day.  I determined this because he was craving attention when I got home.  So, I thought Skip likes watching birds outside, I’ll go get some for the inside.

I got some tiny little birds that flew around all the time. They were up on a shelf that Skip couldn’t get on (he’s a klutz…another story).  I thought he could lay on the couch and watch them during the day while I was at work.

Well, like the mice incident, Skip avoided the birds.  He made a huge arc around the bird cage.  Staying as far away from them as possible.  I tried showing him the birds, but they scared him too much.

<sigh> So, I found another home for the birds as I can’t have the big chicken being scared in his own home.  BTW, in both cases I had each for at least 6 months, so it’s not like I only spent a couple of days trying to make it work.  I really tried to get Skip comfortable.  Oh, he still loves to watch the birds outside as long as there is a window separating the two.

So, this morning I got up and went downstairs and of course Skip was right there with me.  I swear he acts more like a dog than a cat.  Anyway I turned on the light in the kitchen and in we went.  I immediately saw the black spider on the white wall.

I started to get some paper towels to kill it (don’t tell me about how bad it is to kill a spider…I personally don’t care) and saw that Skip was approaching it.  I stopped and watched because this was a first.

Well, Skip’s vision must be deteriorating.  He went over and looked it.  Then he put his paw up to knock it down (I guess he thought it was a fly).  Now the fun begins.  Skip realized it was a spider as soon as it started moving.

Next thing I knew he was backing up, really fast with tail fully extended.  He had a scared look on his face and then he jumped up on the counter to get to a position where he thought the spider couldn’t get to him, but he could see it.

The spider is scrambling for cover and I’m laughing at Skip.  Skip looks over at me with a look that said, “OMG Mom!! It was a spider!”

That’s my big, tough boy!

It just goes to show that just because something (a cat) is large and shouldn’t be afraid of things (spiders) that they have irrational fears and feelings just like the rest of us.

Pilling a cat is easy!!! No seriously!!

A little disclaimer…I am not a vet.  I’ve always wanted to be one, but decided to go into the computer field instead.

A little background…I have been pilling cats since I was 9 years old, and I have never ever been scratched or bitten in the process of pilling a cat.  I have always maintained a good relationship with all the cats I have pilled whether they were my cats or someone else’s.  Actually, two cats used to come to me when they were sick.

I currently have a cat, Skip, who has Hypertropic Cardiomyopathy, a heart condition, plus he has hypothyroidism which means he gets lots of pills.  Skip’s pill schedule is 4 pills in the morning and 2 in the evening.

After spending 6 months of giving each pill individually, a vet put me onto pill capsules that you can get at a pharmacy.  I can actually cram 4 pills into the smallest pill capsule.  This means Skip gets one pill capsule in the mornings and one in the evenings.  Skip is so happy with this arrangement that he jumps up on the counter himself to be pilled.

But I digress…it’s my blog…I’m allowed.

So, how do I do it?  Well, I have two ways…before pill capsules and after.  The before pill capsules will be for the majority of people, so I will start with that method.

Here’s how:
1.) Stay calm!!! You cannot be nervous, timid, show fear, be scared or worried when giving a cat a pill.  Cats are very in-tune with our feelings and can sense that you are nervous.  If you cannot calm yourself, find someone who can like a 9 year old. 🙂 That’s what my mom did.

2.) Talk in a normal voice.  Forgive me here, but cats know bull**** when they hear it. When they hear you change octaves in your voice, they know something is up.  So, talk normally. No YELLING.  You don’t like it and the cat doesn’t like it.

If it helps, have someone in the room with you and start talking about the weather or work or whatever it is you talk about or even have them read the steps to you, so you don’t have to stop to read. Just talk like you always talk to this person.  Personally, I talk to Skip and ask him how his day went or how he slept at night.

If you get frustrated, just walk away.  Take a deep breath and get yourself calm again.  Remember you are not hurting your cat, but helping them to get well.

3.) Do NOT make wild movements with your hands.  If you are a talker who moves your hands while talking, you need to stop for the time it takes to pill a cat which for me is normally less than 10 seconds.  Wild hand movements cause cats to go on the defensive.  This will cause kitty to not want to submit to your handling.

4.) OK, now go get the pill and place it where you can reach it on a couch or chair.  Just set it down within reach.

5.) Go find your kitty.  Pick the kitty up normally just like you were bringing the cat downstairs for food.  I talk with Skip, but as he not generally far from me (he follows me like a dog would), I don’t have to talk long.

6.) Sit down on the couch or chair where you placed the accessible pill.

7.) Place one ankle on the opposing knee.  I usually place my left ankle on my right knee because I am right-handed.  This creates a triangle and is where you are going to place kitty.  What is nice is that it gives a nice and secure place for your cat to lay without worrying that you are going to drop them accidentally.

8.) Put your cat on his back in the triangle. This will be the most difficult part if your cat does not fully trust you to not drop them.  It is important to not get nervous or frustrated.  It may take more than one try, but after your cat realizes that you will not drop them, it will become a whole lot easier.

I usually grab Skip under the armpits and then going from my right to my left into the triangle across my body I put him in the triangle.  I let him drag on his side across my body.  This lets him know that he is in contact with the “ground” and won’t fall.  As he is going across on his side as we get close to the triangle, at the last second, I turn him onto his back.  So, he is sitting there like a baby.

9.) Place the pill in your dominant hand (for me, my right) in between your middle finger and your thumb.

10.) KEY POINT!!!! Now With your other hand, starting from the front of the snout go backwards to the end of the jaw.  At the end of the jaw on both sides you will feel a notch.  This should be right in front or inline with the start of the eyes.  I place my middle finger and thumb on each side.  Note: you may want to put the pill down for a second and try this just to feel the notches.  The notches are key because they will help to open the mouth.

Note: The reason for starting at the end of the snout and moving backwards is that you are going with the flow of the whiskers.  Never ever go against the whiskers unless you want your cat to get extremely upset with you.  The whiskers on a cat are extremely sensitive.  By taking care of them, you cat will come to trust you and know that you respect them.

11.) OK, you have pill in dominant hand and the other hand in the jaw notches, so now we open the mouth and pop the pill in.  At the same time, lightly (don’t hurt your kitty) squeeze the notch where the jaw is while using your index finger to open the bottom jaw of the cat’s mouth.  It should be wide open.  Take aim and drop the pill into the back of the jaw.

12.) Mostly close the mouth.  You have to leave a little room for kitty to swallow the pill, but if you give full reign, out will come the pill.

13.) Make sure your cat swallows before allowing to leave your lap.  Cats are notorious for spitting out pills, so making sure that kitty swallows helps.

14.) Treat time!!!!! Praise your cat all the way to the treats.  Give Kitty the absolute favorite treat in the world immediately.  Your cat should have your full attention right now.  No stopping to put dishes away or talk to someone.  There cannot be any pauses on the way to the treats or your cat will not associate the treats with the pill taking…they have short memories.  And let’s face we all love praise. 🙂 Skip loves a good hug as well.

Congratulations!!  You have just pilled your cat.  The first time will be the most difficult as you are getting used to a new process.
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Here are the after pill capsule instructions:

This second method is really, really easy. So, if you are having trouble getting pills down, try a pill capsule.  You just place the pill in the capsule and away you go.

We had to go to pill capsules because one of Skip’s pills was real bitter tasting and while he was easy to pill, if I didn’t aim right he had to taste it.  His awesome cardiologist was like, just get pill capsules.  I had no idea I could buy them.

Skip now takes a single pill capsule in the morning and in the evening.  Please feel free to use this method if your cat is taking a capsule.

1.) Perform steps 1 -3 above.  These are mainly about you being calm. 🙂

2.) Get the pill capsule out.

3.) Fill a small bowl with some warm water.  We have found that getting the pill capsule wet first makes it slick and easier for Skip to swallow.  Warm water works really, really well.

4.) Put your cat on the counter.  I know…this is bad to encourage, but other than pill time Skip rarely gets on the counter and we use Clorox wipes after we’re done. Skip will actually voluntarily jump up onto the counter.  When he doesn’t we are teaching him the command “up” and so far he’s responded three times to it.

5.) Apply pressure to your cat’s hind end to get him to sit and tilt the head back.

6.) Dip the pill capsule into the water until it becomes slick.  You’ll feel it.  The pill will become hard to hold without it sliding.

7.) Using the notch method above (Steps 9 – 13), open kitty’s mouth and put the pill in.

Two notes:

a.) if you do use warm water, the pill become really slick and if you hold the capsule just right it will squirt out from your fingers.  With really good aim, it will practically go down kitty’s throat without any trouble.

b.) I don’t have to uses the notches any more.  I just angle Skip’s head up and use my index finger.  He opens his mouth voluntarily. 🙂  He’s a good boy, but we’ve been doing this method for 3 months now and he definitely prefers it.

Also, if you miss aim and the capsule goes to the side, let your cat spit the pill out.  Skip will put his paws on my hands to tell me I missed and he needs a little time.  He is literally just holding my hands.  Once he gets the pill out, I immediately pop it back in.  If it doesn’t feel slick, I might dip it into the water.

8.) Wait for kitty to swallow.  Skip does this immediately because the capsule is wet, so he swallows because of the water.

9.) Praise…praise…praise…treat…treat…treat. This must happen immediately.  Skip is on a restricted diet, but what he gets is canned food after each pill.  He absolutely will do anything for canned food.

Such an Honest Kitty!

I have to laugh at this!  I even called my mom and told her the story. 🙂

As you may know, I live with a boyfriend and a very lovable cat named Skip who is 11.  Skip has a heart condition called Hypertropic Cardiomyopathy that we were very fortunate enough to catch early.  Skip is a huge cat and I don’t mean fat.  He is very tall and long and beefy.  Skip is a gem and a very good boy.

So, last night boyfriend and I are downstairs watching CSI on TiVo.  Everyone had finished dinner including Skip and dishes were completed.  Time to rest. We hear Skip go upstairs. And yes you can hear him go up the stairs.  Ever since he was a kitten, he has walked noisily.

Skip’s litter is upstairs and sometimes he also goes to bed without us, so we didn’t think anything of it.

The next thing we know, Skip is upstairs hollering his head off.  It wasn’t a cry of pain, and those with cats know that there is a difference.  It was more of a come up here now type of yell.  Well, he does this sometimes to get us to go to bed with him, so we didn’t think anything of it.

I did think it was a little different, but didn’t go to investigate because all of a sudden Skip comes running downstairs.  He jumps up on my lap and looks at me like did you hear me.  I told him it was OK and he could go to sleep on me instead of upstairs.

Fast forward to time to go to bed.  I head upstairs and go into the laundry room which is also where the litter box is.  I see something on the floor and realize what Skip was yelling about.

He had accidentally tossed a pooh turd onto the floor when covering up and was upset about it.  That’s why he was hollering for me to come upstairs.  LOL So honest about his mistake.  🙂

Note: His litter box had just been cleaned, so it wasn’t like it was full.  He just made an honest mistake when covering up.

I turned around and there he was sitting there with a look that said, “See I told you something was wrong.” 🙂  I praised him for letting me know and apologized for not coming upstairs earlier.  I got the scooper out and put it back into the litter plus I helped by covering it up for him.

After checking that all was good with his potty and satisfied that the issue had been fixed, Skip turned around went into the bedroom and flopped down on the bed.  He had stayed up to ensure that the problem was resolved before going to sleep for the night. 🙂

You gotta love cats!!