Question Of The Day, Sunday, December 9, 2018

[micknsnicks2mom]

good afternoon! it's sunny here today, though quite cold still.

this past week, my girls went to our vet's for their annual physicals and distemper shots. so with that on my mind, for today's Question of the Day......



How does your cat(s) do with the whole 'going to the vet's' thing?



i'll start!

my three seem to do okay during the ride to and back from the vet's, though our Punky will sometimes pant on and off during the ride home. i keep a close eye on her, and set her carrier very close to me.

at the vet's, our Dude stays in the waiting room until just a few minutes before the vet is ready to come into the exam room -- he gets stressed in the exam room (with me there too), and pants quite a bit. once the vet comes in, he's much less stressed and does well.

our little DeeDee really surprised me this vet visit! she was relaxed, and very easy for the vet to examine and give the distemper shot. when the vet looked into her eyes with the little light, DeeDee just looked right into it!

and our Punky was a very squirmy little girl, which didn't surprise me. but she did very well other than that!


how about your cat(s)?

 

[verna davies]

Poor Pickle has been to the vets 5 times in the past 5 weeks. She is ok during the journey there but seems to knows that once I stop the car, it's time to be examined so she hides under the blanket in the carrier until no part of her can be seen. Once she is back home she rubs against me. So forgiving.

 

[aliceneko]

Toffee is the only one who has been to the vet so far; though he finds the cat carrier very stressful and meowed for the whole journey there and throughout his time in the waiting room. However, once he's out and in the vet's room, he's fine and is curious, and begins to explore. He was very tolerant with the vet and let her check up on him, even tolerating the thermometer and ear thermometer that the vet said most of the cats who come there hate! She said he was her "star patient" and the most well behaved cat she'd seen all day.

 

[Elphaba09]

Simon honks the whole way there, is fine with the vet, and sleeps all the way home. (Our vet is about 20-30 minutes away.) We were there with him last week. He was fine until someone brought in a very curious German Sheppard. Simon hates dogs. He tried to get out and attack the dog.

Tara is okay for the ride and at the vet. Sometimes she gets upset, but that is rare.

Evangeline acts as if she is being abandoned and is upset until she gets back home. She was abandoned at some point and lived near where my son works. It took him more than a year to get her trust, so I can understand why she gets upset.

Willow is okay, but she does cry a bit. She likes our vet, though.

Fennimore is fine the whole time. He has his moments here and there, but he is pretty laid back about the whole thing, especially if music is playing.

Freya is a beast. A small, wild beast who scares the vet tech.

Astrid acts as though we are torturing her for the ride. She is okay with the vet, although she does not want to come out of the carrier.

Silas wants to look out the window when we drive. I do not let him, for obvious reasons, but I do take him out of his carrier when we first get to the vets so that he can look around while we are in the car. He really likes it if we face the street so he can look at cars.

Estella is a brat. She has escaped the carrier countless times. On one trip, she got out four times while we were on the high way. I now tie the zippers shut. In response, she rams the sides in attempt to knock it over.

 

[mama africa]

It's very easy to put Missy in the cat carrier; she sometimes sleeps in it, since it is located under my desk.



I usually walk to the vet practice (5 minutes walk).
As soon as we arrive in the vet's waiting room, she starts showing signs of stress.
She doesn't like the vet and when she sees him, she refuses to come out of the carrier. The vet always has to drag her out. Once on the exam table, she starts trembling. Fortunately the vet can examine her relatively well and she doesn't bother about the shots. She has never scratched or bitten him. When the exam is over, Missy rushes into the carrier and can't wait to be home again.

 

[NY cat man]

Taking our 5 to the vets usually involves some bloodletting on our part, a symphony of plaintive meowing on the way there and in the waiting area, and more on the way home, at which time they all head for the bomb shelter for a couple of hours.

 

[MonaLyssa33]

They both do terrible. They aren't like Willie though who had to be sedated every time I took her to the vet. Maisie is very skittish and doesn't trust anyone touching her (including myself) so the vet is her worst nightmare. Remy also doesn't like people touching against his wishes. My parents' cat, Kirby though, purrs every time he's at the vet. He accidentally swallowed a needle last year and was still purring when I took him in.

 

[bbdoll22]

My Domino howls through the car ride and hates the waiting room. He’s a white cat and his ears get bright red due to stress and his heart races.
Once he is in the exam room he slowly calms. Then when the tec and vet come he’s all purrsonality. He makes sure everyone remembers him.

 

[betsygee]

Zoe is the best. She hunkers down in the carrier like she's scared but handles the drive and the visit pretty well.

The two boys, Rico and Ozzy, yowl during the drive like they're being murdered, but behave once they're in the office.

Hannah is quiet on the trip but then turns into a little hellion once she's there. She hates being poked and prodded. My vet had to get out the heavy gloves to get her back in the carrier last time because Hannah turned into a little monster. You'd never know she only weighs six pounds.

 

[neely]

When we first adopted Carleton I had to practically put on a coat of armor to get him into the carrier. However, it's much easier to get him into the carrier now. Our vet is so calm and compassionate that she even combs him before the official exam. He doesn't seem to mind the extra attention unless she tries to clip his nails.

 

[RajaNMizu]

Mizu is a trooper. Doesn't mind the drive much and is very cooperative at the office. Raja will cycle through 8 million pathetic "meows" on the 5 minute drive, be stoic at the office and nearly hyperventilate on the 5 minute drive home. Once home, she'll take a long nap to recover.

 

[1 bruce 1]

I've had a few cat that couldn't even GO to the vet because they were just...intense. And by intense, I mean flat out insane.

The cats we have now, so far, have been surprisingly excellent. I was shocked when Queen Bee (who hasn't seen a vet in YEARS) was so sweet and good. I really thought she'd try to re-arrange the vets face, but she didn't.
I think a big key is us. If we're sitting in the waiting room, nervous as heck and are nervously chatting to them while jiggling our feet and hands around because we're just SURE they're going to murder the vet, bad things can happen. If you can be cool, respond to growls or hisses without yelling or shrieking, this kind of calms things down.

 

[Draco]

Both cats are fine when I put them in the carrier.

Monet meows and growls non-stop in the car. Cassie is quiet.

At the vet..
Cassie is an angel. She hangs out and lets the vets do whatever with her. She does not even protest with the thermometer up her tushy.

However.. Monet turns feral. and I mean FERAL. Hisses, growls, howls, snarls, hisses, bites, claws- everything. The vets usually have to sedate him to run checkups on him. This new vet refuses to sedate. so the tech had to don long sleeved thick gloves and towels to hold him down long enough for the vet to at least get a look at him. This was a strong tech and he had a hard time managing Monet.

that "Sleep with one eye open" look.

vets don't believe me when I tell him he's NOT feral, really a sweet snuggly boy.

 

[DreamerRose]

Both of mine go in the carrier with no problem, and they are relatively quiet on the way to the vet, 5 minutes away.

Lily is apprehensive in the exam room, but is so easy going that the techs and the vets have no problem handling her.

Mingo, however, is a cat of a different color. Last time (fourth visit), he hissed at the vet when she opened the door. She refused to even try to take him out of the carrier. She stabbed him with the needle while he's still in the carrier, and weighed him in it, too. She offered to sedate him to do a full exam, but I declined. Next time, I will let them do it because he has a lot of wax buildup in his ears that's driving him crazy.

The second time I took him in, a different vet handled him very roughly, and in spite of clouds of Feliway and leather gloves, he reacted like a wild animal and nearly shredded everyone in the room. He hasn't forgotten it and reacts the same to all vets now.

At home, he doesn't like to be handled, but he's a big teddy bear when he comes to you.

 

[cassiopea]

Thankfully most of my kitties do wonderfully - they are friendly, relaxed and comfortable at the vet, purring, cuddling and enjoying the attention the staff lavish upon them even during their spay and neutering surgeries. I even got a couple of notes that said how so and so behaved wonderfully and was such a joy to have.

Awww Yeah Proud of my babies! Even joke around and call the vet "The Spa" now. *Le Humblebrag*


The only one who is apprehensive is Liffey, which is not a surprise and understandable since she is the one with the feral background. I was nervous the first time she went to the vet since she was only ever comfortable with being around me, and wasn't sure how she would have reacted with a bunch of strangers and first trip outside the house. Thankfully she did well and was compliant, but her body was tense and had a wide eyed look throughout her whole face.....

Liffey: "Seriously hooman mom what the fruitcake "


The vet and techs were very gentle and understanding throughout her visit! And I'm happy that she did so well during her first visits considering; including her own spay surgery. No hissing, stretching, struggling etc

 

[jcat]

Our last cat, Jamie, was known as "the cat from hell" at the vets' office. Mowgli, in contrast, is a little angel that will actually stretch out on the examination table. He's bad in the car, though. He wails both ways.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

Mooch is fine in the car but not a fan of being handled. Noodles isn't either. Thankfully our vet makes house calls so we just do that for annual check ups.

 

[Winchester]

Oh boy! I swear all I have to do is think about calling the vet and Amber disappears. I call the vet from work to make Amber's appt and when I get home that night, she's gone. Completely. She doesn't come out to eat, she doesn't show up period. It's like she doesn't even exist. She knows. I don't know how, but she knows. One time I made an appt for her and she didn't show up for a week. She stayed completely under the couch. She probably did come out for water during the night when we were in bed, but that girl did not eat for a week. Five minutes after her vet appt had been scheduled when it was too late to get her down to the doctor, she showed up in the kitchen and said, "Hey! I'm hungry here!" Brat.

We bring the carriers up from the basement and Mollipop hops right in. One night at the vet, I got her out of the carrier. Put her on the scale to be weighed. And she backed off the scales and walking completely backward, climbed up on me all the way to my neck where she turned around and hung on for dear life. She completely backed up on me. She's hilarious. Ever see those pictures of cats hiding in the sink in the exam room? That's Molli. She even crawled into an open drawer one night. We've gotten to the point where, after she's weighed, the vet examines her in my arms. It's easier that way. Thermometer and everything. The rabies shot. She won't let a vet tech touch her. It has to be me. I croon to her the entire time. "It's OK. You're mama's baby. I love you, baby girl." She does spit when the thermometer shows up. Every single time.

It's truly a mad dash to get Tabby in a carrier. "I have claws! I know how to use 'em!" We always win, but we bear the scars and it really is a struggle. Once she's at the vet, she's fine. Because of her ear mite infestation when she was a kitten and she first found us, she's used to putting up with a lot, bless her heart.

Ms. Pepe is OK and so is Muffin. They do the carrier thing with no trouble. They're both pretty laid-back.

On the way down to the vet, we listen to the cat-symphony. Screaming, crying, whining, yeowling. You name it, we hear it. After they're all done at the vet and we're on our way home, the car is completely silent. None of them say a word.

But we sleep with one eye open for a good week afterward.

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

Poor Pickle has been to the vets 5 times in the past 5 weeks. She is ok during the journey there but seems to knows that once I stop the car, it's time to be examined so she hides under the blanket in the carrier until no part of her can be seen. Once she is back home she rubs against me. So forgiving.

awww, your poor girl! sending Pickle gentle scritchins...

your Pickle does okay during the journey to your vet's, hides under the blanket once the car stops, and once back home she rubs against you!!! very nice!!

our Punky hides under the towel in her carrier, once we've entered the vet's.

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

Toffee is the only one who has been to the vet so far; though he finds the cat carrier very stressful and meowed for the whole journey there and throughout his time in the waiting room. However, once he's out and in the vet's room, he's fine and is curious, and begins to explore. He was very tolerant with the vet and let her check up on him, even tolerating the thermometer and ear thermometer that the vet said most of the cats who come there hate! She said he was her "star patient" and the most well behaved cat she'd seen all day.

your Toffee finds the cat carrier stressful, is quite vocal during the journey to the vet's and in the waiting room, but is fine and curious once he's in the vet's room, explores, and does really very well with the vet!!! most excellent!!

our Punky will meow occasionally on the ride home from our vet's. it's a kind of question-type meow, like she's asking 'home now?'