An even worse nightmare than taking one of our cat to the vets, is taking them both…..
- Jozef saw a strange cat in our garden one evening last week and saw it off after a bit of a battle. He came in full of himself and we could see no wounds but decided to keep a close eye on him.
- Then Walter came in wet and skidded on the lino, he seemed OK too but another one to keep a close eye on.
- Monday, Jo had scabs on top of his head and Walt was walking carefully, not limping but going up and down stairs and jumping cautiously.
- Tuesday Jo had knocked a scab off and there was a bit of pus oozing out, yes a trip to the vets was definitely in order for him so we decided to take Walt too to be on the safe side…
….Down came the cat carriers from the top of the wardrobes, dusted off and put ready for the ordeal. When the time came to go and the wicker basket creaked all hell broke loose, the poor little souls didn’t know who was the one going, so they both did a runner lol little knowing it was both of them.
Well we eventually got to the vets, Walter quiet as he usually is, Jo protesting loudly. It’s only a month or so since he was there for his x-ray and tests and he probably thought we might leave him again.
It was a new vet we hadn’t seen before, Kathryn, she was lovely, so very gentle with our boyz. Jo was first, after the usual battle to get him out of the basket, he gave in, the vet had a good look at his head and said it was clean, we’d done a good job bathing it.
She checked him over especially his tummy as he’s prone to hairballs and pronounced him very fit. Gave us some advice on the best diet for him, James Wellbeloved hypoallergenic biscuits along with senior wet food would help his sensitive tummy.
She doesn’t think raw food diets are good, too much chance of bacteria in chicken and meat too these days, which we agreed, we wouldn’t like to feed our boyz raw meat with all the bad news around it now.
She picked Jo up and took him off out the back to be weighed, he sat in her arms quite happily! Then he had an antibiotic injection and he was finished. Walter next, he just goes limp and hopeless bless him but he was very good with Kathryn, she gave his back legs a really good examination and couldn’t find much wrong, maybe one knee was a bit swollen.
Off he went in her arms to be weighed and came back and had a steroid injection. But the bad news for him is that he needs to lose a bit of weight, so his legs don’t have so much to carry, oh dear and he does love his food.
We were in half an hour and had a really good chat about how cats are wild at heart and we shouldn’t try to control them, they need their freedom and she admired us for giving it to our boyz, for getting up early to let them out and for loving and caring for them so much.
Such a nice lady, a real cat vet, she has restored our trust in vets as she didn’t try to sell us tests or expensive food. It’s good to have a friendly cat loving vet who really took the trouble to put us and our cats at ease. I said ‘Sorry we’ve taken up so much of your time’ she replied ‘It’s my fault, I do love to talk a lot’ lol
Incidentally the vet who pushed the blood tests and X-rays and throat exam on us for Jo last time we went when he was coughing, has left!
We came home light hearted, nothing serious and the bill wasn’t half as much as we feared. So after settling them in, off we went for the recommended dry cat food, saw some sachets of the same make so thought we’d try some of those too…big mistake £6.99 down the drain lol they wouldn’t look at it! They love the biscuits though, oh poor Walter, how is he going to lose weight? More exercise, fun and games are on his menu now.
We told them they were such good boyz we might treat them to a new cat carrier each soon when our bank balance recovers , they had some real beauties at the vets, with a little trapdoor in the top to put your hand in to comfort the cat. What a good idea!
They both said ‘Don’t bother, you’ll not catch us next time’ lol
Celebrity cats have to put up with all their private information being splashed over the internet. Sorry.
I say excuse me folks but can’t a chap have a bit of privacy about his medical details.
I don’t know, as if it wasn’t bad enough with my kid brother seeing all that vet was doing to me and that I’m too fat, now I find it’s got written about.
He wouldn’t like it if I told about him having to be dragged out of his basket on his cover he was sat on but then going all soppy when he was in the arms of that lady vet.
OK so they had to take my carrier to bits to get me out and yes I succumbed to the vets charms too even though she had me doing aerobics trying to find any bits that hurt.
Well the mammies didn’t tell about our car now only baving 2 doors and Babz driving and Ruth had to undignifiedly grunting and moaning get into the back seat between us two in our prison boxes cos she couldn’t get us both on her knee in the front and how our Jo yelled at the top of his voice all the way.
Now there’s talk of getting new carriers with spy holes in the top supposedly to put hands in to comfort us, huh, the mammies know just what they can do with them things if they do get them.
Hi Marc, yes Walt is back to normal thanks, whether he would have been without the steroid we don’t know, but a one off injection doesn’t hold much danger of side effects so it was as well we took him.
Yes talk about traumatised, Babz has a week’s holiday this week and it’s been a right old week, our internet went down 2 days, then we had the vets trip and we are on decorating the staircase as it rained in 13 foot up and then today the outside of the strip light in the bathroom fell off and shattered, narrowly missing me…..
lol we are exhausted but the cats are better, so we are happy.
Thanks Michael, we don’t dash off for every little thing immediately because sometimes the trauma of going outweighs the good it will do, sometimes little things right themselves.
It was the pus on Jo’s head decided it, we probably would have kept a close eye on Walt a bit longer but as we were going anyway we took him too.
Kathryn took a while to examine him and said ‘maybe’ his knee was swollen, as she couldn’t find any other reason. It may have just been a bit jarred but anyway he’s fine now.
They both are.
Yes Michael, we always feel like celebrating too when the trip is over. When we only have to take one of our boyz the other one has a good sniff of the basket when we are home, it was funny to see them sniffing each others the other day.
Oh no Elisa, poor Furby lol the boyz say thanks for their hugs.
Thanks Dan for all your good advice, I think Walt has put a bit of weight on as we had such a wet summer here last year in N E England and then winter started early with a lot of snow, so he hasn’t been out as much. Jo is half feral and a more sturdy annual!
They have a wooden ‘catnasium’ in the garden with four levels to the wash house roof, for outdoor exercise, then they can sun bathe on the roof. We have a toy box full of all sorts to play with and scratching posts and pads around yes we have a wand and play every day with Walt but he has a very short attention span. Well Babz has invented a new game already for him, an empty cotton reel on a length of string to run and drag so he chases it, he loves playing that.
He only has to lose 2lb, so ounce by ounce, a bit less food, a bit more exercise and hopefully it won’t take too much doing to get him there.
Yes Leanne we are such cruel mammies lol but I think we were more traumatised than those two cats.
We did buy a wind up mouse a while ago but Walt was frightened of it lol I think it probably ended up in some bags of stuff we brought up Kays Hill on one of our visits.
Both cats love the senior James Wellbeloved biscuits, turkey and rice it is, Kathryn thought that would help Walt lose some weight.
Onwards and upwards …………….
You know what I think. Ruth and Babz didn’t hesitate to take Walter and Jozef to the vet. That is really excellent work because a lot of people delay going to the vet. Well done Babz and Ruth. We wouldn’t expect anything different though.