The Annual Vet Visit

December 27, 2019.

I took all the boys to the vet today. It's two days after Christmas. Two days after Christmas is when I brought Colby and Thimble home five years ago. I think they may not have appreciated commemorating this day with a visit to the vet.

Apricot has, given all his vet trauma this year, taken to peeing in the crate on the way there. I knew I couldn't have this situation continue. It makes everyone unhappy.

Did you know you can get diapers for cats? You have to also have something to keep them on. I used the onesie I had gotten him as an alternative to a cone that he didn't appreciate.

And it worked! We got there with dry cats and a wet diaper. Not that I'm happy Apricot loses control of his bladder muscles from fear; I wish he wouldn't be so scared. But I'm happy I found a way to make it so none of the three have to suffer the consequences of it.

They told me when they got blood for yearly bloodwork that they got urine samples from Colby and Thimble but not Apricot. I said, entirely unhelpfully, "If you can get it off the diaper that's where Apricot's all is" motioning to the trash can. (No, they can't get it off the diaper and I knew that. I was being a smart aleck).

Well, Thimble is doing well. She heard a faint heart murmur from him for the first time. I asked if stress could cause it. She said yes, actually, it can. I said because he's been really stressed out with Apricot's illness (see the blog post about Apricot's Expensive Scare). So we'll see if he still has it next year.

Colby's heart murmur is still there. And the poor guy is constipated. So he'll be getting miralax in his pumpkin. He doesn't mind it (I had already been giving him a little bit as I knew it was okay to give cats and I suspected what the problem was). So hopefully that will get things moving and he will stop throwing up half of what he eats.

Apricot's all healed up and is just waiting for his fur to grow back in the spots that got shaved when he had the biopsy. She was very pleased at how well he looked compared to the last time she saw him.

We had to stay a long time. Judging from what I overheard (the walls are too thin for my autistic ears not to overhear stuff), there was an emergency visit from someone whose dog may have broken his foot/leg. Apparently it's not broken, just sprained. Anyway, although nobody said it, I think that's why it took my vet so long to make it to us even though we had the first appointments of the day.

I had to keep them out of the crate so the vet could examine them when she did come in, and they were not happy to be locked out of their home away from home. Colby roamed around as usual, spending some quality time on my lap and then moving on to other things and returning as he pleased. Thimble squashed himself into the corner under a red chair and Apricot joined him. Colby thought they were silly.

After far too long (and a big bill--three cats with bloodwork, two with vaccines, and one with xrays cost a lot), we finally got to go home.

The crate lives in my bedroom on the side I don't use with the door off in case anybody wants to visit inside. I've never seen anyone do so but there it is. I put it back when we got home. And eventually got around to going in my bedroom again to make the bed with the sheets I'd washed and put in the dryer before the vet visit.

Apricot, startled, emerged from the crate. I was equally startled, but apologized for scaring him. I said I didn't know anybody went in there --- and I was astonished that he would go in so soon after the vet visit.

I wonder ... he knows he peed on the way there. He also knows it should have gotten everywhere and didn't. I wonder if he was in there trying to recreate the event in his head so he could figure out what happened to his pee! I mean, it's not like a diaper is something a cat has any basis for understanding.

And everyone was very glad to be home and very loving, which was nice. They can be standoffish after a vet visit sometimes. But today I had cats all over me whenever I sat down!