pet talk - visiting the vet

This being the first post of - hopefully- a series of posts, I'll start with some background information.

I am a dog person but I firmly believe that you shouldn't own a dog when you're gone ten or more hours each day. That's why we got cats - yes two at once. We wanted them to stay inside and everybody tells you if you don't want to redecorate every six months better get two of them. So we got two, sister and brother.
They were already nine months old when we got them, somebody working in the same company as g and the funny thing is that their mother was a kitten of g's late cat.

The cats' characters were totally different from what they had told us, but except for their dislike to travel by car they changed in positive ways. They were cute which each other, sleeping together in the same basket, grooming each other and so on. This changed because nowadays the two hate each other ;) Being eleven years old though they're starting to mellow again. They didn't stay indoors for long. Neighbors' cat Elliot started teasing them by parading on our terrace while the cats where inside trying to get through the windowpanes. Soon it became impossible to keep them inside and after both had jumped out of the window on the first floor we installed a cat flap in one of the basement windows.
Even when we moved we didn't manage to make them stay inside for more than two days ;)

Back to the point
Trips to the vet always put a strain on my patience. Not only that at least one them manages to get injured before we go on vacation - no once I even had to go to the emergency on xmas eve. When I want to put Maxi in the box, I need to put on protective gear (thick winter jacket and gloves). Wölkchen is easier, especially when she's currently in pain she almost walks in on her own.

Getting Blacky (yes, there is a third cat, nicknamed the phantom by friends and Madame Rapide by the vet) is a different story altogether which will be tackled in a different post.

Wölkchen suffers from arthritis in the hip-joints (longtime result of an accident) and we've tried different treatments but about two times a year she seems to need a shot. I don't know how that happens or why, but sometimes it just gets worse from minute to the other (yes - I already considered that she might be putting on an act). Thursday morning she was ok, I even saw her jump up on a bank and Thursday evening she was limping extremely and almost didn't make it up onto the couch. There wasn't much improvement on Friday, so we started on another adventure to vet.

From the moment I put her into the box she didn't stop crying. Or shouting. Or screaming. Or singing. Sometimes she even speaks. In German, dialect unknown – "dooolll" (great). She didn't stop when we got to the vet, nor in the waiting room. I was lucky that the three dogs that were already there (Golden Retriever, ChowChow and a young Lab) were quite well behaved, though the Lab had a crush on the Retriever ;) At some point she got tired of crying and went to sleep. Inside the vets room she didn't want to get out of her box, but that's not uncommon with cats. When I wanted to demonstrate her limp, there was almost nothing to be seen. Well she was more crouching than walking, but it still looked better than at home. As she is no stranger to this vet, she (the vet) knew how to treat her and what to check to get the real diagnosis. Warm, summer days – like those we're having currently – normally ease the pain and don't worsen it. So there was still to be found out, if she was in a fight, had hurt her leg or if she was having an untypical pain attack. It turned out to be the latter.

Onto the balance (13 pounds, if you're curious) and then Wölkchen decided it was enough already and hid in a corner. Growled like a tiger when I tried to get her, and I know when that cat threatens me. I asked the vet for a broom, but she called the assistant to a/get the BIG gloves and b/get that cat onto the table and c/hold her while she gets the injections. At least the cat is now up-to-date on her shots too ;) And she already moves better, tried to kill her scratching post twice this morning.

Wölkchen is such an elegant cat, sometimes there is a delicate, aristocratic air about her, she isn't one to jump on your lap, no she cuddles up next to you and then lays her head on your arm or leg. And then at the vet, she's the most unfriendly cat everybody's ever met. The vet calls her the "bad mood cat" ;)

She's just a cat, a typical cat with her own mind and who plays humans like a piano ;-)