Two cats, two red recovery suits, and ten very long days of waiting and not being able to groom oneself.
The suits are the sensible option. They are softer than a cone and they stay put. They let a cat move around the house without knocking the corner off every doorway they meet. All of this was explained, at length, to an audience that had already made up its mind.
The negotiation
Zeta went first, since she had the more standard operation. She tolerated the suit at first only because she was rather drowsy and everyone complimented her on her lovely fur and how good the suit looked on her.
Entropy had the more delicate operation and is more of a squiggle. A people pleaser, and easily bribed with Churu, the suit went on quickly. Since it was rather nippy outside, he thought he got the better end of the bargain.
Then, the door
And then something unexpected: they both went straight to the back door and sat down side by side, entirely absorbed, and stayed there for most of an hour.
Whatever indignity the suits represented, it turned out to be no match for the yard. The catio was visible through the glass. Something was moving out in the grass — the grass usually has bunnies in it. The suits, for the length of that hour, stopped mattering at all — which is more or less the best outcome anyone could have asked for.