take <i>you</i> to the vet…

Motley’s first vet visit is done. She’s been weighed (four pounds) and properly poked and prodded, and she seems to be doing very well. She’s not quite old enough for her last immunization, so we have go back in two weeks. I’m sure she’ll love that. Jim’s huge cat carrier barely fits in my passenger seat, snugly up against the dash. Every time I stopped or started, she was sliding back and forth inside it, despite the towels I’d put inside. Perhaps I’ll look at getting a slightly smaller pet carrier before the next trip.

The vet came out to greet me as soon as I’d walked in, having heard someone adopted the calico at Petland. Apparently, she had a story to tell about Motley. Petland had her birthday wrong. She was born in April, not May, so she’s about 15 weeks old, but she was the runt and is still small. Vet said they kept her longer than they usually do kittens, because she was sickly and underweight. She put on weight well enough in their care, though, and they finally put her in with another litter of kittens, and Petland took the whole bunch. The vet loved the name, and apparently loved me, too. She told me she was so happy that someone “fun” had taken the little calico. Umkay. On this trip, Motley got to meet a very well mannered puppy which she hissed at, another new kitten in an oversized carrier, and a couple tanks of fish.

I also got a lesson on how to clip cat claws, so I guess I’ll have to head to the store for a proper clipper later. Motley seems to do well enough… the vet’s assistant held her in one hand and managed to trim one paw no problem. Kittens are easy, she said, then she told me that she had adopted a two-year old cat and was trying to train her to have her claws trimmed, but even after several months doing it, she still needs help to hold the cat. That news, coupled with how tense Kitty still is in general, makes me not so anxious to try the claw trimming out on her.

All this taking cats to the vet makes me think of Kitty’s previous “arch enemy”, Skittles, though. I don’t think Kitty ever forgave her for taking her steaming hot booty to the vet to get fixed… well, for that and for introducing her to her dogs. The whole time while Motley was meowing and trying to get out of the carrier, I just had to imagine Kitty going nuts all the way from our house back to Carollton, then her pitiful night in a room hiding from dogs who just wanted to say hello, then another road trip to the vet. I think James and I went to pick her up from the vet, though, because I remember having her in the carrier, but she really wasn’t feeling well enough then to throw too much of a fit for us.

It seems that Petland has a pediatric vet who does the spay and neuter procedure prior to them going on the floor for adoption. I didn’t really realize you could do that to a cat so young, so I asked the vet today. They said that you have to have special facilities to do that, and most vets just don’t have it so don’t do it until the animal is at least six months old.

Oh well, all three cats have had their dose of Advantage flea treatment, so that’s probably enough cat torture for one day. I’ll save buying clippers for tomorrow I think.