Teasing the Cats

I guess I deserve the major gashes and scratches in my arm and hand.

After Jason went down for bed, I let the cats inside again to feed them canned cat food. As they made their way to their food area, they noticed one of Jason's toys on the ground, a little tucked a way. It apparently spooked Kitten, who approached it slowly, cautiously, suspiciously. Elvis noticed Kitten's slow calculated movements, saw the toy, and also began approaching it carefully. I thought it would be funny to scare them by moving the toy quickly in their direction. And I was right. It was hilarious! They both, at the same time, jumped 2 feet in the air and backwards, landing w/ a loud thud and scrambling away! I laughed and laughed and laughed.

Sadly, though, it seems that I've psychologically scarred Kitten even more than she already was.

Kitten ran to the other room (Elvis just went around the corner of the kitchen island and walked it off, I guess), while I got their canned cat food ready. A routine that usually gets both cats excitedly meowing and purring around their food spot. But Kitten wouldn't even come over. So I went and picked her up and brought her over. As we approached the scene of the crime, she was scrambling in my arms, but she absolutely did NOT want me to put her down. Finally I got her to eat her food, and I thought that after that she'd be fine.
As she walked back to the family room, she noticed another of Jason's toys (completely different from the first), and again began approaching it cautiously. So I picked her up, pet her, and tried to get her calm enough so she could see that it wasn't dangerous. She let me get her pretty close to it, so I thought maybe if I set her down on top of the toy, she'd feel like she was pouncing on it and would know that it wasn't alive or anything. Bad idea. She FLIPPED out and clawed me trying to get away. PAIN!! Two deep gouges and a few long scratches, one of which runs down my hand in between two fingers - you know, where that soft web-like skin is. So much pain. And some blood. I immediately washed my wounds w/ soap and applied neosporin and put a bandaid on the deep ones. Fortunately the only one that still hurts is the one on my hand in between my fingers.

CAT ANXIETY: Kitten still has not recovered. That night she was spooked by everything. The next morning when she came inside, she was afraid of the part of garbage bag that was sticking out from under the garbage can lid. Oy! What have I done! My poor anxiety-ridden cat. She already had problems w/ pulling out her fur in huge clumps when she's bothered, and she follows me throughout the neighborhood when I take Jason for a walk, meowing sadly the whole time. (Otherwise, she NEVER meows.) I may have to take her in to a cat psychologist. Do they have those? Or are they just called vets?