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healthy kitties
Aug. 9th, 2006 12:27 pmMonday afternoon I noticed that Widget's lower lip was looking a bit swollen. I didn't see any visible wound (no spider bite or scratch from Slinky), and it didn't seem to be bothering him at all (didn't hinder his eating, drinking, or grooming), and so figured I'd just keep an eye on it. Yesterday he still had it, and so today when I woke up and there was a definite (though slight) increase in size, I figured we should probably do something about it now rather than waiting. We were coming up on when we needed to find a vet here in Amsterdam and get both cats's immunizations updated anyway, so this morning I called a place which is just two blocks away to set up an appointment to get their shots and to have Widget's lip looked at. They were able to fit us in just an hour and 15 minutes after I called, which is I think the best response I've ever gotten for any type of medical appointment. So we dug the cat carriers out of the storage closet, and proceeded through the horrible task of tracking Slinky down and stuffing her into hers. Widget is generally OK. He doesn't like the carrier much, but he won't fight too much about going in, and only meeps occassionally when you're carrying him from place to place. Slinky, on the other hand, is a holy terror. Her carrier is by no means small, and she's a small kitty, but trying to stuff her through the doorway is incredibly difficult, and she gets so panicky and fights so hard that I feel horrible for doing this to her. Especially this time, because I'm sure that the carrier brought back memories of the flight over here, which, given her track record for things like 20 minute bus trips and 5 hour car rides, I'm sure she absolutely hated.) Finally I sent Joel off to the vet with Widget while I stalk Slinky around the house. I finally dug her out from under the couch and wrapped her in a towel and got her into the carrier, whereupon she started howling. For such a small, and generally quiet, kitty, when she's unhappy she let's everyone know. She yowled the whole way over (everyone I walked by commented on her...), and just generally made me feel like I was participating in some type of vicious torture.
The thing is, she's never really minded being at the vet at all. She sits quietly, and doesn't struggle with the shots, and is usually fairly calm. She just hates the carrier. But it's all over with for another year. We got both of their shots updated, and the vet seemd quite pleased with the shape that they are in. They've got good eyes, good teeth, good heart rates, excellent fur. The vet had a fine toothed little comb which she used to check the quality of the fur and make sure there weren't any fleas or mites, and Slinky really got into that. She loves being brushed, and this was just as good. The vet said not to worry about Widget's lip; she says it's just an inflammation caused by aggravation, usually because of too much licking (which I don't think is the case here, but maybe he scraped himself on the cat post or something), and that while they could give an anti-inflammatory shot, they couldn't do it in conjunction with the immunization, and that she'd rather have them get their shots, and not worry about the lip unless it starts getting worse. If it does, we can go back in two weeks and he can get another shot, but I doubt we'll have to. This made me feel good. It's always nice when I get confirmation that I've correctly identified both the problem (inflammation of the lip caused by some irritation) and the severity (nothing to worry about), because that makes me more confident about identifying future problems. I don't like to be the kind of person who calls the vet or the doctor at every little minor thing, I'd rather be able to tell with some degree of confidence whether something is serious or not. This isn't serious, and they both aquitted themselves well with the vet (her first words when Slinky came out of the carrier was "oh, what a beautiful kitty!"), and we don't have to go through this again for another year.
The thing is, she's never really minded being at the vet at all. She sits quietly, and doesn't struggle with the shots, and is usually fairly calm. She just hates the carrier. But it's all over with for another year. We got both of their shots updated, and the vet seemd quite pleased with the shape that they are in. They've got good eyes, good teeth, good heart rates, excellent fur. The vet had a fine toothed little comb which she used to check the quality of the fur and make sure there weren't any fleas or mites, and Slinky really got into that. She loves being brushed, and this was just as good. The vet said not to worry about Widget's lip; she says it's just an inflammation caused by aggravation, usually because of too much licking (which I don't think is the case here, but maybe he scraped himself on the cat post or something), and that while they could give an anti-inflammatory shot, they couldn't do it in conjunction with the immunization, and that she'd rather have them get their shots, and not worry about the lip unless it starts getting worse. If it does, we can go back in two weeks and he can get another shot, but I doubt we'll have to. This made me feel good. It's always nice when I get confirmation that I've correctly identified both the problem (inflammation of the lip caused by some irritation) and the severity (nothing to worry about), because that makes me more confident about identifying future problems. I don't like to be the kind of person who calls the vet or the doctor at every little minor thing, I'd rather be able to tell with some degree of confidence whether something is serious or not. This isn't serious, and they both aquitted themselves well with the vet (her first words when Slinky came out of the carrier was "oh, what a beautiful kitty!"), and we don't have to go through this again for another year.
