"Steve Touchstone" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 25 Oct 2003 15:10:39 -0400, "Larry Osborne"
wrote:

My pair of cats, Smudge ( captain or her royal highness ) and Peepers (
recreation officer or humble serf ) both of whom reached their 5th year
this
August went to the vet today for their annual checkup. Smudge was also
going in for a shot but Peepers didn't need one. ( Peepers had reacted
badly with his initial shots as a kitten and needed emergency treatment
to
recover so it took a few years for me to get back to getting him
immunized.).

The day started pretty normally and stayed that way until it was time to
get
them into the carrier to go to the vet. I closed the door to the bedroom
to
close off all of the best hiding spots. Peepers was out on the balcony
so I
closed the door to keep him out there where I knew where he was.

Now was cat catching time. Rip off the towel off the carrier and open
the
carrier and go for target one, Smudge.

Smudge knew something was seriously wrong when the bedroom door was
closed
and when the balcony door was closed and the carrier monster uncovered
and
open she knew exactly what was wrong. Off the flies to the hiding room,
OOPS the door is closed and the lumbering human is in sight and reaching.
She feints to one side and zips through on the other with her human
hardly
able to touch let alone grasp her. Dart back into the living room, her
human is still coming and, oh no, can't hide behind the furniture, he
just
overturns it. After a couple of feints, she weaves past her pursuing
human
and goes back to the bedroom. OOPS, forgot it was closed, Human too
close,
oh no caught (or thoughts very like that ) must fight for my freedom. I
struggled and got over to the carrier with her and with great difficuly
and
a cat who seemed to have grown extra strengh and limbs managed to get her
in
and the door closed. I turned the carrier on end so that the door was on
top and moved toward the balcony door for cat 2, Peepers.

Peepers, who had been at the balcony door, and seen the chase and and
his
sister fed to the carrier monster had backed away from the door but stay
on
his rear legs so that he could see in. When I moved to the balcony door
he
moved most of the way towards one end of the balcony and tried to melt
into
the concrete. I guess hoping he wouldn't be seen, but a black and tan
long
haired tabby shows up really well on grey concrete in the daylight even
if
the light was dim from the overcast of prerain clouds covering the entire
sky. I went over to him and he tried to hunker down further but decided
to
try to run past me but I got him on first pass. Now he doesn't like
being
held and will wait to use the first opportunity to escape. Opened the
door
to go back in and at this first opportunity he tried to get away but
failed
so wait for a second opportunity. I stepped over to the carrier opened
it
and shoved him in despite him having grown several new limbs and super
cat
speed and power, or so it seemed. Smudge was upset briefly with him as
his
body going in had prevented her escape attempt. I put the carrier in the
proper position and got ready to leave the apartment to the
accompaniement
of plaintive pleas (meows) coming from the prisoners er patients.

After a talk with my next door neighbour who somehow hadn't realized that
I
had a cat, I got the much heavier than usual carrier into the elevator
and
went down. When I reached the street, there was a pigeon convention or
party as it appeared someone had left a couple of dozen stale kaisers. I
put the carrier down for a bit for the cats to enjoy the sight but only
Smudge came forward and only half heartedly to watch. Things from here
went
quietly from here and after a while I reached the vets office via Toronto
Transit buses - the King St trolley line had a problem somewhere and
buses
were running there as well.

The vet had a new set of kittens for adoption (they take in unwanted
kittens
from customers and keep them to a proper age for adoptiona and also get
some
kittens from rescue groups I believe). I had to tell myself over and
over,
1 human and 2 cats in a small apartment is as crowded as it can get,
fortunately that was enough this time. Kitten fever can be a very tough
disease to avoid giving in to - especially as they always look so cute.

Smudge was weighed and at 6.34 Kg we had to discuss a feeding strategy
that
I could use with the cats and their very different preferred eating
habits.
She should weigh in with her frame between 4.5 and 5 Kg. ( 1 Kg =2.2
lb.).
She was given her shot which she clearly didn't like and was allowed to
roam
the office while Peepers was examined as she clearly didn't want to go
back
into the carrier. She found a wooden chair to sit behind with a view out
onto the street through a low window.

Peepers weighed in at 5.82 Kg and while ever so slightly over his right
weight for his frame his weight was ok Sort of glad to see him finally
at
weight as he has always come in underweight in prior years. Despite
needing
treatment in May he seems to be doing well overall.

They are starting to show signs that they may need dental cleaning next
year
though. The vet suggested a chewable treat that handles tartar
enzymatically, I will need to check out the price as both cats reacted as
if
they would like the sample that I got.

Check up done and now to get cats back into the carrier. Peepers was
glad
to go back in but Smudge hissed at me good and hard when I went to get
her
but while she fought against going back into the carrier, it felt more
for
show than her full fight mode.

When we got back, I put the carrier back where it usually is, put a towel
on
it, opened the balcony doors, put my coat away, and went back to let the
now
anxious cats out and see what kind of reaction I was going to see.
Smudge,
hisses at Peepers and come out slowly with Peepers just behind. Peepers
gets hissed at again.
Smudge has decided that Peepers is going to take a hit again for her
going
to the vet. It is not nearly as vehement as usual, although it may be
because she is the only one who actually had anything more than just
being
weighed and poked and otherwise kneaded. Smudge decided that her human
needed punishing and so went into hiding for an hour before coming out
and
insisting on the same treatment that Peepers was getting (some play and
petting). She didn't really want to play though - petting was enough.
Check out the Peepers imposter again and hiss at him again. This is a
mild
hissyfit though and I suspect that she may be over it by the end of the
day
rather than take a couple of days to do so.

Vet visits are so restful after they are over. Must start getting ready
for
next year.

Larry Osborne



sounds like a pretty uneventful TED. Glad things went well, even if
Smudge may be in for a little change in diet. Little Bit is right on
the edge of being put on a diet. She should weigh a couple tenths of a
pound less, but she did lose a tenth from last year so I'm not doing
anything about it for now.

I used to always carry the two girls in the same carrier, but bought a
second carrier this year. I figured it would work well, since they can
then be weighed inside the carrier, but the girls hate the idea
judging from their cries. When they're in the same carrier they're
pretty quiet, but separated they call back and forth, no doubt
wondering what sort of horrible things are happening. I actually had
someone roll down their window and call to ask if the cats were all
right when stopped at an intersection. LOL
--
Steve Touchstone,
faithful servant of Sammy, Little Bit and Rocky
remove Junk for email

As these things go it was a pretty uneventful trip. The fun or irritation
was in getting them into the carrier and the hissing by Smudge at poor
Peepers. She does appear to have quit though. I gues she can't keep up a 3
day hissyfit when Peepers really doesn't have any special medical scent on
him.

Larry Osborne