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Ponderings as Dark as My Fur

Dogs need better etiquette around strange cats!

This is the second part to my thoughts on my visit to the VetWellCare discount vaccine clinic at the local Pet Supermarket here in Florida.

In my last post, I made clear that I was the only cat there and other cats should get good preventive care too.

Now, I am going to discuss dog etiquette and the situation with my nerves during my visit.

So, there I was, the only cat in line for shots with some 20 dogs. The lady in front of me had a purebred Japanese dog. It was a small dog, but it was 5 years old. It yipped a lot and kept lunging at the nearby bird cage. The birds didn't like it, but the dog thought this was fantastic. Maybe it had never been so close to birds before.

Then, it noticed me in my carrier. Standing there holding a carrier for some 40 minutes was not going to work for M2. I get a little heavy for so long. And M2 had to fill out the paperwork I mentioned earlier to get me my shots. So, he set me down on the floor.

Bad decision. The dog mom of the yippy dog in front of us was using a leash that she could make longer and shorter like a tape measure. She was lengthening the leash so the dog could lunge at the birds. And then the dog noticed me on the floor in my carrier.

The dog started lunging at me and not understanding that I was in any way protected by the bars on my carrier, I would tense up and swipe toward the dog banging my poor little paw on the side of the carrier.

This happened about three times. Then, M2 realizing my distress and the irresponsibility of the dog mom ahead of us told her that she needed to keep her little yippy dog away from me and to keep her leash as short as possible.

The dog mom showed her irresponsibility and unprofessional attitude by making up excuses and going on about how she was already trying and the dog would not listen. Of course, M2 could see that she was lengthening the leash for the dog's enjoyment and even when she gave commands to the dog, it did not listen.

The commands were not one word commands that would have meant anything to the dog. They were paragraph long and different each time, meaning that the dog had not been trained and the owner had no clue as to how to order the dog to sit or stay.

A busy pet store vaccine clinic was not the right place for the owner to learn to train her dog or for the dog to learn brand new commands. How rude!

Eventually, M2 figured out that he could put my carrier on top of a nearby shelf far away from rude dog owners and little yippy dogs. He also put a hoodie over the cat carrier so it seemed darker, calmer and more peaceful than it really was. Not seeing all the people with their dogs was much better.

During my shots (I hate vets, by the way), I screeched a bit, but it wasn't as bad as it has been in the past. At one point the vet asked the assistant and M2 where my head was (they were doing their best to make me into a cat burrito while still on the bottom half of my carrier) and M2 had to tell the vet that my head was under his wrist so the vet knew where she was jabbing me with my shots.

It worked out well and then M2 put the hoodie back on the carrier to calm me down. After we had checked out, I cried a little sadly in the car, but M2 kept the hoodie on the carrier and had sprayed some Feliway on the car seat before putting down the carrier so I would feel that I was in a safe place.

All in all, it was a successful trip to the vet, but I wish the dog person in front of us had trained her dog and would have been respectful of my feelings and the feelings of the poor caged birds the dog kept lunging at.

Take care of your cats, people!

Yesterday, M2 took me to a VetWellCare discounted vaccine clinic at the local Pet Supermarket here in Florida. I was the only cat. Just me in a carrier and some twenty dogs in a line. It was really scary being the only cat. There were a lot of yippy dogs.

M2 had to fill out special paperwork, cats only, and there was plenty of Revolution available although the dog revolution was out.

Wake up people! This is Florida where there are mosquitos and fleas year round! You need to give your cats something for roundworms, hookworms, heartworms, and fleas year round even if your cat is an indoor cat.

And what about rabies shots? Our county requires rabies shots each year for all cats and dogs whether they are indoor or outdoor. Rabies is 100% lethal in both humans and animals and can only be prevented by a vaccine.

If an animal gets rabies in a non-vaccinated multi-cat household, it is common for all the cats to be put down and the human needing a shot, too.

Why are people not taking care of their cats? Even if it is an indoor only cat, the owner is still breaking the law if the cat is not given a rabies shot.

The outdoors doesn't always stay far away. Sometimes mosquitos, fleas, or even rodents or bats can get in a home and then the cat is exposed to all the things you should be protecting it from.

And then there is the question of lost cats. Cats that are so happy to see the owner that they sprint out the door, or so interested in birds or lizards that they fall out of a window. Or even if a careless maintenance person lets the cat out on accident. These cats will become outdoor cats within a split second and who knows how long it will be before they make it home if they ever do.

Out there, they will need to be protected from all the pests and diseases I talked about plus the ones they can get from other cats—like FeLv (which is also a concern even if the cat is in an enclosed porch or at a screened window and happens to meet an outdoor cat right on the other side of the screen).

This is also why my brother, Garfield, and I always where a collar with tag information and have a microchip even when we are inside. This gives us the best chance of getting back to our mommies if we ever end up outside.

So, people, please take care of your cats. We are only cute, cuddly, and friendly if we are alive. If we get sick, itchy, or dead, we are no longer these wonderful creatures you want us to be. We are just sad.

Foods.

Still alive and more than three days after I ate Easter lilies. Now, mommy 2 knows not to buy Easter lilies or daisies. He might still look up a plant chart of what not to let your cat eat. I showed no symptoms of poisoning.

In a way, this hurts the mommies' trust in vets as the vets seemed to have been overly alarmist and hungry for the money from taking care of a cat for a week with IV's without any real antidote for Easter lily poisoning, or any evidence that the cat was actually poisoned by eating them.

Online, there are horrifying details of what will happen to a cat who has eaten Easter lilies. Then, it says there is no antidote. When the mommies called a veterinary clinic, they said that the initial exam will be $90 and "Then, we'll go from there."

Mommy 2 asked, "What will they do?" The lady on the other end came out with a list of the things Easter lilies supposedly do to cats. Mommy 2 corrected the question, "What will the vets do?"

The lady on the other end said it's beyond inducing vomiting after 6 hours, so they would do "supportive care"--not saying that there is no antidote in existence. They would put poor me on a bunch of needles and then watch me either die or live!

I'm horrified of needles and of strange people. I am so terrified of the kitty carrier that I won't go close to it even at home. There was no medical emergency, I was fine and I would be fine for days.

On the other hand, if I was shot up full of needles, then there would be an emergency with a cat yowling and fearing being abandoned.

While mommy 1 really loves me, she said that she would rather have me die in the comfort of home if an antidote didn't exist and all they could do is watch me and give "supportive care."

Mommy 2 changed my water about two times a day for the first two days after my eating the Easter lilies, gave me wet food, a hairball treat (to flush out my digestion faster), and "observed" me.

Ho ho! Observed me! It was freaky. Mommy 2 isn't usually this affectionate. He doesn't give me random treats at all hours of the day (only in the morning or afternoon after coming home from work. And he STARED at me!

Observe the cat! Like cats really want to be "observed." We don't like being looked at. No wonder I was running away from extra treats. Extra treats usually mean getting washed, having nails clipped, or a trip in the kitty carrier to the vet!

Of course, he didn't let me eat the Easter lilies. He set them on a counter that is a no-go for cats, but I was just too curious and sneaked up there.

In other news, the mommies have put Garf and my food separate again. They realized that Garf still has 3 months to his first birthday and he should be eating kitten food and I should be eating adult food. They were afraid that the high protein and fat would make me fat in three months. Bummers. I thought I would have three months of kitten food.

Garf is eating less though. He used to finish two cups of Iams dry kitten food in a day or so (with my sneaky help), but now it takes him about three days. This is good. Maybe he won't be a fat piggert after all.