MaoWooooooooo
Squirrel had his turn at the vetdokter yesterday. When Rich realized that three cats had their annual checkups due in May he said "You could have taken all three in at once". I said a stereo duet was bad enough! I didn't need a trio.
Maowoo
As was only to be expected, Squirrel was not happy about the whole thing, although he did climb, grudgingly, into the carrier at my request. (I have discovered that asking "Do this for me, please" really works. My kitties are so good.)
So, off we drove. I put the carrier in the front seat and scruffled Squirrel's head whenever I didn't need my right hand to drive (which, in a standard shift car, wasn't nearly often enough for Squirrel). But we got there. We had the first appointment of the day and the Doc wasn't quite ready for us but our wonderful VetTech got the hypos ready and then weighed our marshmallow fluffy. Squirrel's got a lot of marshmallow in there. He weighed in at 19.8 pounds! And this is with Raven giving him plenty of regular exercise.
Dr. Howard then came in and did the exam and administered the booster shots. The Doc pronounced Squirrel a healthy kitty — he had just a little bit of tartar (Ouch! Don't do that!!) and his BP was slightly elevated due to being in the Vetdokter's Office but overall everything looked good. Dr. Howard didn't tell us to feed him less either, for which both Squirrel and I were grateful. I would hate to have to tell Squirrel he was supposed to eat less! He loves his crunchy snacks.
Squirrel also had a more adventurous experience during the visit than any of the other cats has had! In between the weighing and the exam, Squirrel met a Beagle!
I had taken Squirrel out of the carrier and we'd weighed him. Then, as we were waiting for the Doc, I sat down on a chair in the exam room with Squirrel on my lap. We heard a sound of snuffling and toenails and around the corner into the back hall came a Beagle, dragging her leash. She was there for the appointment after ours and had slipped away from her hooman in the waiting room. The Beagle peeked around the corner into the exam room and said "Oh! Look!". So she came in and right over to where we sat and stretched up her neck and looked at us and then snuffled Squirrel just a little bit.
Given the size and politeness of the Beagle (she didn't try to put paws up) as well as the position of Squirrel on my lap and me on the chair, we were positioned above the Beagle and Squirrel's head and chest were well out of snuffling range. So all Squirrel did was give the Beagle a cautious and curious look... although he did growl, very softly (almost inaudibly) when he was snuffled. Just enough to say "I'm prepared, whateveryouare. That will be enough". It was a much softer growl than he gives another cat when he's got possession of the featherbird.
Then the Doc came in and the Beagle went back to the waiting room. Dr. Howard said "He probably doesn't know that was a dog. He probably thinks it was a really strange cat." I said no, I'm pretty sure that Squirrel knows that wasn't a strange cat... no cat would be that strange. But it was an odd something (not a bird or a grey squirrel or even a raccoon).
Then we finished the appointment (Squirrel didn't even hath), piled back into the carrier and into the car and drove home to tell the other cats about the morning's adventures. Squirrel was calmer on the drive home and didn't sing.
It's not every cat that gets to meet a Beagle "up close and purrsonal" during a visit to the vetdokter!
Squirrel's Turn at the Vetdockter - posted by Vicki at Sat, 22 May, 11:30 Pacific
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