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Old February 11th 17, 09:45 PM posted to rec.pets.cats.anecdotes
Joy[_3_]
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On 2/11/2017 12:13 PM, John Kasupski wrote:
On Thu, 09 Feb 2017 19:38:00 -0500, John Kasupski wrote:

I did read all the replies I received yesterday afternoon while Minnie was at
the vet's and I was waiting for it to be time to go pick her up. I didn't write
anything back then because I was a nervous wreck worrying about her, and then
last night I was more concerned with keeping an eye on Minnie than anything
else. Thanks to all of you who replied. It meant more to me than I can say,
because...well...

Before yesterday, the last time somebody put Minnie into a carrier and took her
on a long ride somewhere, they left her there and never came back - which was
when her previous owner left her with me...but cats have long memories, and when
Minnie saw the carrier yesterday morning, she got scared and went and hid in her
most secure hiding place under a piece of furniture from where I had to reach in
and remove her against her wishes, which I had never, ever done to her before.

So the last thing I said to her before I handed her over to the vet's assistant
at 7:30 AM was, "I'll be back for you, sweetie, It's okay. I'm coming back. I
promise." Then they ask me...if we find that she's positive for FIV or FeLV do
you want us to just euthanise her?

I almost exploded. They'd just seen me promise my cat that I would be back for
her. I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if I had broken that promise
- and then let them kill her besides! I managed to keep calm, smile, and say no,
I want her back...she might only live a year or maybe two if we're lucky, but
I'll take whatever time we have together and deal with that when the time comes.

I was a basket case the rest of the day, though. You see, Minnie was part of a
litter of...well, I don't remember now if it was 7 or 9 kittens. I do know that
only Minnie and one other survived, and I was told that the others all came down
with some kind of eye infection before they died. Knowing that conjunctivitis is
one of the symptoms of FIV, I was concerned that the other kittens may have
inherited that virus before birth or been exposed to it soon afterward...and
that Minnie may have been too. So I must admit I was basically terrified all day
yesterday until I went to pick her up and was told she was negative for both.

OK...so she got her rabies and FVRCP shots, the flea protection revolution,
tapeworm injection, got spayed and microchipped, and had her nails trimmed.

When I picked her up at 5:00 PM, they handed her to me, and I looked into the
carrier and talked to her, but even though she was looking at me, she wasn't
really reacting - she was still woozy from the anesthetic and the pain
medication (meloxicam). Once I got her home and put the carrier down on the
klitchen floor, though, she started moving around in there and letting me know
she was definitely ready to come out of that thing. I got her favorite blanket
and put it on the living floor, went back to the kitchen and got the carrier,
brought it in and setit down on the blanket, got down on the blanket on all
fours next to the carrier, and opened the door.

For about three seconds we just laid there making eye contact. Then I said
quietly, "It's okay now, baby. You're back home. I love you."

Minnie immediately came out of the carrier, walked over to my right hand and
licked it a few times, then turned around and took two steps and gave my left
hand equal treatment. Then she walked once around the coffee table, stopping at
each leg to rub her whiskers on it. When she got back to the blanket, I was
there lying with my face on it on the floor so I could see under the coffee
table to watch her in case she fell over due to still feeling the anesthetic and
pain meds. She plopped herself down next to me, put her head on my right hand,
rolled over on her back, reached up with her front paws and gently placed them
on my cheeks with one on each side of my face, licked my nose several times,
then closed her eyes and fell asleep that way.

It took several minutes for me to decide to carefully extricate my hand and face
and give her space so she could sleep off the effects of the day. It seems so
far today that she's harboring no hard feelings about yesterday. She's been
sleeping a lot, but when awake she's been the same affectionate little creature
she's been since the day she first arrived here.

Joy - You wrote in your reply, "I think it depends partly on how happy Minnie is
with you now." If that's the case, I guess I had nothing to worry about.

Jill - You guessed that "after just being being spayed she will not be as
active" - and she has been a lot less rambunctious than she usually is. Oddly
though...out in the kitchen there's a cardboard box with the toys she seldom
plays with anymore since she found those rawhide shoelaces. One of the items in
it was a balled-up empty cigarette pack I'd given her back in November when I'd
just gotten her and didn't have any "real" kitty toys to give her yet. Last
night she took that cigarette pack and went marching all around the house
carrying it in her mouth with Happy Kitty written all over her. She hadn't even
touched the thing for more than a month and I suppose most other people would
have thrown it away by now. I was going to and just never got around to it. Now
it'll probably be months before I'll again consider disposing of it.

"The Newest Other Guy": You said, "I had an orange cat who loved going ANYWHERE,
even the Vet" - I found that interesting because my Goldie (RB) was an orange
cat too, and he seemed to regard it as a personal insult when we went somewhere
and didn't bring him along. We'd come out of the house and he'd be waaay over on
the other side of the yard, but if he saw or heard keys or if we seemed to be
heading anywhere that was even remotely in the direction of the truck, he'd be
already there waiting for us when we got there.

John D. Kasupski
Niagara Falls, NY


I'm glad she came through all right and that she obviously doesn't bear
any grudge. Maybe she remembers that cigarette pack as her first toy at
your house. Anyway, she's obviously happy, and I know that's a great
weight off your mind.

Joy
Simi Valley, CA