The art of compromise

So Sam and I have a pretty awesome relationship. We never really argue and I can't recall us even raising our voices to one another. This week we put the art of the compromise to the test!

Let me preface this all by saying that we have 2 cats: Marco and Gio. Marco is the smallish black cat and extreme snuggler. Gio is nutty - really and truly, he has some cat 'anxiety' craziness going on. As such Gio has some weird habits. One of which is that he just all of a sudden runs at full speed, up/down the stairs and then climbs up and hangs on the moulding on the sides of doors. He does this at least daily. He's also really picky with food/treats.

So, Thursday night, I was chilling in bed reading something on my iPhone (Facebook in fact but w/e).  I heard Gio doing is breakneck run up the stairs, but didn't realize until too late that he changed his pathing. Instead of climbing up our bathroom doorframe as per usual, he went around, scampered my nightstand and used my ear/head as a launching pad over the bed.

Yep, I got mauled by the cat. My scalp has major cuts/abrasions all across the top and my ear was sliced pretty badly (no stitches though).

Immediately, I felt the pain and screamed for  Sam. I was bleeding all over the bed from my head.  We got me into the bathroom for a closer look and decided that it wasn't necessary to head to the ER. So we waited for the bleeding to stop, I got in the shower and washed my hair as best I could (to get the blood out but also to disinfect the scratches) and then once out applied Neosporin to all the cuts.

Friday I went to the doctor - got a Tetanus shot and antibiotics.

So the compromise was in regards of what to do about/to the cat.

Gio is quite large (as cats go) and extremely strong. His claws are like demon talons. And they hurt like crazy when he does scratch you. So I, naturally, wanted the cat out of the house (hey I'm allergic anyways) and his behavior while not malicious is definitely erratic. Sam of course, wanted none of that and was trying hard to figure ways to keep the dang thing around. He loves his little beasties (to a fault).

I just couldn't get him to see things from my point of view. What if that had been Max instead of me. Or a new baby? Or if my head angle had been different...and he got my eye instead of my ear. To him, all he could see was his precious cat being sent off to the gas chambers.
That was not my intent. I just don't want the cat in the house with this strange behavior that can be quite harmful.

SO in comes the compromise.

We took Gio to the vet today (as a family and Sam was very against me/Max going because he thought we'd fight and/or I'd just wail that Gio needed to be put down or something).
I stood patiently and expressed a few opinions on the matter as needed. Calmly. Cooly. Patiently.
At the end of the visit we agreed to put Gio on kitty-Prozac and we're getting tips put on his front/hind claws.
If with the nail tips and the Prozac his behavior can become more normal and none of this crazy running/climbing up walls then he can stay. If after those things he still goes 'crazy' then we'll be giving him away.

Sam and I agreed that it was a good compromise to the situation.  No gas chambers for the kitty (laugh) and there is an 'out' for me if Gio still goes crazy after medication/claw tips.