A recent pet story:
So, I noticed the day before yesterday that Max peed on a chair, which is not normal for him. I then saw him standing in his litter box for a long while, not doing anything. Doesnāt seem like a good sign.
I ended up taking him and Claudia to the vet. Max to get this checked out, Claudia because they were overdue for their annual checkups and vaccinations anyway.
Now, while max was having some issues peeing, otherwise he was acting totally fine. Eating, drinking, playing, agressively licking claudiaās face until she cried and kicked him. But, I figured that Iād take him in before it became something worse.
Anyway, I got the carriers out. Now, the first time I took them to the vet, Claudia was pretty good. Sheās generally a very floppy cat who is snuggly and likes being held. Max is snuggly, but heās less comfortable just being flopped around. He likes attention, but heās generally pretty awkward about it. Like, heāll come up and want pets, but not really know how to sit with you, and will end up sprawled out in some weird position, looking vaguely worried about what is happening.
At the vet the first time, Max was NOT cool with it. Ultimately, they ended up having to put on the animal handling gloves, and hold him during the examination.
Anyway, this time, I expected to get the same kind of reaction for max and claudia.
But instead, I opened up the carriers, and Max just walked over into his sniffed around. I closed the door, and he was like, āOk. Whatever.ā
Relieved that went so easily, I turned around to get claudia. She was nowhere to be found. I looked all over the house, and eventually found her under my bed, in the exact center, just sitting there. I am honestly impressed that she pretty much knew exactly what was going down when I opened the carrier. It wasnāt like the carrier was pulled out of somewhere else and suddenly had some kind of fear scent on it either. They were just sitting in the corner behind a table in the living room the whole time. But Claudia knew that they were going to the vet. It was like a garfield cartoon or something.
Eventually I coaxed her out, and tried to get her into the carrierā¦ it was not easy. Sheās a tiny floppy cat, but was able to make herself consistently larger and very rigid, impossible to get into the carrier. After a while I did succeed.
She then proceeds to just start howling. Max is pretty chill through all of this, but she is howling.
I take them outside, put them in the car, and off we go. The vetās only about half a mile from my house, so itās a short drive, but sheās howling the whole way.
I get them there, and we go back into the examination room. Claudia quiets down, and weāre just sitting there, quietly for a while.
Eventually the vet comes in, and she remembers Max, so she and I are both expecting difficulties. I tell her his symptoms, and she thinks itās probably a urinary tract infection, which is also what I had thought. His stomach wasnāt hard or tender or anything, so I didnāt think he had some bigger problem.
Anyway, I get him out, and heās totally cool. No fuss, no meowing. He just sits there calmly, lets her examine him. Amazing. Anyway, I put him back in his carrier.
Claudiaās turn. She will not come out. I eventually have to just tip the carrier over and dump her out. She gets examined, and is fine (sheās gotten a bit fatter, and has tartar buildup). But sheās just hissing and growling constantly. She knows sheās gonna get shots (Max didnāt get any shots, because they didnāt want to give him a vaccination while he was already sick). And she does eventually. She doesnāt really fight or try to scratch, she just howls and hisses, literally the entire time.
I put her back in her carrier. The vet decides that itās almost certainly a UTI for Max, and gives me some non absorbent cat litter (basically plastic beads) and says to get a urine sample from him. Turns out, this is impossible, since his UTI is making him think he has to pee all the time, which means heās peeing a tiny bit, and not enough to collect. It just makes the beads wet. So, thatās a losing battle at this point.
Also gave me an antibiotic and an anti-inflamatory for him. Iāve never given a cat pills, and expected it to be much harder than it was. He took the first one without much issue. THe second one he was basically, āOk dude, I was cool with you doing the first one, but this is getting old.ā But I did get him to take it.
Anyway, seems like Max will be fine. Upon return home, Max was fine and walking around, Claudia ran under the bed again and hated me for a few hours, but eventually came out and has forgiven me.
Iām still amused though that Claudia had some realization of what was going on before it happenedā¦ Sheās always been a very smart cat, able to figure out how to open every door and cabinet in my house (which is extremely annoying, and eventually forced me to install child proof latches on the cabinets), but I do wonder exactly what was going through her little peach sized brain when I opened the carrier.
