sean’s place

Cat Maintenance

I took my cats in to the shop, er, the vet today for their (belated) annual checkup and shots. Talk about an experience.

I took my cats to the VCA Fort Collins Animal Hospital; home of a friendly staff and moving dust. As part of their annual checkup, these folks do blood work and urinalysis in addition to the shots, the physical exam, and the great poo float (if one remembers to bring in poo samples!).

As it happens, the blood work was just too much for my little ones. The vet tech took each cat, one at a time, to “the back” to perform the extraction. To make a long story short, the process scared and pissed off both cats. They had such a rough time with the rest of the exam (hissing, swatting, biting, screaming) that the vet and the techs weren’t able to finish it! In an unusual mood, Max took to biting, hissing at, and attacking everything (before falling into the trash bin) — including the vet, her sister Alex — but, excluding me. I was apparently the only one who could calm her down. (I feel so loved.)

I left the cats at the vet to calm down (and so they could finish the exam!) and proceeded to work (by way of home to pick up a second carrier and a new shirt). I picked up the little ones 2 hours later and drove them home to a symphony of sad meows. I decided to stay home to supervise, just in case Max was still having violent tendencies.

I’m happy to report that no cat-on-cat confrontation has occurred, though Max is holding a pretty significant grudge at the moment. I think it’ll be a while before she forgives me. But hey, at least they’re healthy (pending results of the blood work)!