What Is Your Cat Like At The Vet?

[maggie101]

My carriers are big because they do not like getting in them. Quiet during the drive. Peaches hole body shakes in fear at the vets. My other 2 cats stay calm. Coco is the only one that wants to explore. Maggie and Peaches want to get back in the carrier. I occasionally take Coco to get her claws trimmed. She purrs for them!

 

[Ladewyn]

Mine is very fearful and becomes very aggressive, even toward me. My vet is really good about it though, and does what she can to take it at his pace using lots of Feliway and treats.

 

[Benjamin Franklin (Benji)]

I honestly agree with most! The ride is the worst part for Benji. During his neuter, apparently he put up a bit of a struggle in the pre-op exam though.

Usually on a typical vet visit he meows A LOT in the carrier (using his begging tone) then calms down around the time we get there. Despite this he is a perfect angel to the staff in the clinic. Even though he gets poked for vaccines or gets a complimentary nail clip he is usually very at ease.

The veterinarian treats Benji very well and has a calming sense about him so I think that really helps with it!

 

[Boris Diamond]

I have had cats that hated the vet's, but the ones I have now do fine. I have a soft sided carrier with a top opening. They are fine with being placed in from the top. Sometimes they meow in the car. Sometimes not.

Diamond acts interested in what is going on. He's fine with being handled by the vet or vet tech. If I put my arms around him while he is on the examining table, he is fine with having his temperature taken, having his teeth checked or being given a vaccine.

Seal is unsettled, but he turns toward me and puts his head against my belly. Then he is fine with anything. He let the vet tech pick him up and put him over her shoulder the last time I took him. She was charmed and used the term "teddy bear."

Leo used to be unaffected. He was a little freaked out the last time I took him. He still behaved very well. I'm hoping he gets over being freaked. He was calm, but mildly freaked.

The vet loves my kitties! She is always happy to see them.

 

[Beans<3r]

This, by the way, is the hell-beast Freya. Look at how ferocious she is! (We have to hold her paws up and at arm's length to trim her claws.)

Look at that belly

 

[calico man]

Lulu has no problems getting in the carrier and is fine in the car, but the actual vet visit is a little harder. She really doesn't like to be handled, and had to be sedated for a blood withdrawal. Another extra $$$ expense for the sedation! But overall I think she handles things pretty well and hopefully we won't have a vet visit for awhile. We all know that cats don't like to go to the "v. e. t.", but they need their routine visits to keep them in good health because we want them to live as long as possible!

 

[Bella's Mommy]

My cat is pretty calm at the vet but she sheds like crazy because she is scared lol

 

[1 bruce 1]

This, by the way, is the hell-beast Freya. Look at how ferocious she is! (We have to hold her paws up and at arm's length to trim her claws.)

That box picture is how Baby Girl lays outside of a box. So cute.

Ours have surprised me at the vets. I held off taking Queen Bee in for anything routine because her behavior at home is that of supreme royalty. But when she needed emergency care we couldn't hold off, and we were pleasantly surprised with how...sweet she was. She wasn't in pain, but wasn't comfortable either, but was soft eyed, blinking, purring, and doing the auto-butt thing whenever you touched her back end (butt in the air). The vet had to do some injections and fluids and commented on what a nice cat she is.
Once I managed to re-hinge my jaw so it wasn't on the floor, we went home. Sometimes they surprise us.
Baby Girl isn't what I'd call sassy, but she has that stink eyed prune face the whole time.
The others have always ranged from acceptably good to so fantastic I wish I could take credit.
Years ago we had two female cats. This was back when house calls were the normal thing. One cat was showing signs of a kidney/UTI problem. When the vet came to the house, I (a kid) stood back and watched, and this cat sat on the counter top and had the same poise, expression, and "ready to strike" look as an Eagle or a snake. The vet was unable to handle her.
A few years later we had a cat that mistook herself for a lioness. She was awful for the vet, and wasn't afraid to bite hard. As she got old, she became your sweet old granny that wouldn't hurt a fly.

 

[m3rma1d]

My 3 all behave well at the vet. The weird thing is that my timid girl Tallulah will lower herself and scoot outta the room to hide whenever I have visitors, but at the vet's office she's cool as a cuke. Cats, man.

 

[m3rma1d]

Oops forgot to attach her pic from the vet's last week. She's never this relaxed when meeting new people.

 

[misskestrel]

Hi! Funny to see this thread pop up—just got from the vet with my 5 month old kitten, Simon, for a wellcheck appointment. The vet and vet techs and I all noticed/noted how calm and quiet Simon was for the exam. During the waiting period—which was (unusually) almost 45 minutes—I had him out of the carrier because we were in a private room, and he only wanted to be held and petted. He didn’t fuss or hiss or meow or anything at all, when the vet took him out of my arms. And he was similarly quiet while she palpated his tummy, looked in his ears and then his mouth, and felt his testicles.

Now, my other two cats, both adult females, have NEVER been so well-behaved at the vet. They caterwaul in the car during the ride, start getting visibly and audibly upset once we’re inside the office, and even more agitated and unhappy when they’re taken out of the carrier.

The bottom line is that cats are like people: some have “white coat syndrome”, meaning they don’t like doctors. Other people don’t mind or actually like going to see a doctor; I’m in this latter category but that’s because I was raised around doctors (my dad is a doctor, he had many doctor friends), and I although spent a lot of time in hospitals because of a major birth defect, I still never had any fear of them.

 

[MischiefManaged]

I've only taken my cats to the vet so far within the first couple months of bringing them home. Sylvie messed in her bag and had to be washed but the most trouble was just the car ride with them. I think that stressed them out. Otherwise they were going around the vet room investigating everything. xD

 

[sabian]

He hates the Vet. So much so that he has put the fear of God in the staff.
To explain: The last time I left the vet, I was walking to the truck and heard a 2500lb bull out back, in squeeze pen, throwing a fit. Sounded like they had learned to harness weather and had a tornado penned up back there.
That doesn't really bother them, but, they are terrified of that cat.

basscat Well I reckon so!

Manny does pretty well at the vet. He doesn't like the carrier but, he doesn't go crazy or anything. He meows a lot and, loudly. He wants to hide behind me. He doesn't care to much for people being a shy guy. Overall though he does well. They say he behaves well when I'm not around also. He's never been aggressive though.

It's a big change from my last cat though. I never used a carrier with him and I could just set him down in the waiting room and he would just look out the window or jump up on my lap. All the staff loved him and said they wished all there patients were like him. When he got shots he acted liked it wasn't even happening. He was a pretty unique and special guy though.

 

[YukarisCats]

Panic, Nothing more but fear and panic. Squirms and screams with every injection and just tries to scratch the vet's eyes out! The ride to the vet isn't as bad, but getting home again? He whimpers so much i feel guilty for everytime we go to the vet..

 

[British Girls]

Thankfully my two kitties are quite well behaved at the vet. They love their kennels (I leave them out and open in the house and they tend to like to sleep in them) and are quiet during the car ride. When they get to the Vet they stay still while he checks them over and gives them their boosters, and when we get back in the car they fall asleep.

 

[British Girls]

Being at the vet is not a problem for any of our cats Getting to the vet is another story! Our vet is about half an hour away, and some handle it better than others. Taking them one at a time is not as easy as two or three at once. They just do better when they have a friend or two.

Going from oldest to youngest:
Simon acts as if you have betrayed him in the deepest way possible. He does this sort of honking noise every once in a while and glares. On the way home, he typically sleeps and occasionally honks and glares just to remind you that you are the worst.

Evangeline is a sweetie-pie who is partially deaf and rather skittish. She cries the whole way there, curls up in a ball at the vets, and then cries all the way home. We tell her that we are not returning her to the wild with the coyotes, but it does not help.

Tara has an almost silent, warbling cry that has a high pitch to it. We swear she has a dog whistle stuck in her throat. Haha! She also has a crazy stare. If you do not look at her, you can almost forget that she hates you for taking her to the vet.

Estella is a smart, loud cat. We have cloth carriers because they are easier for me to handle. We have to lock the zippers with a small padlock because she once got out of the carrier four times on the way to the vet. I was driving down the highway when my upset cat escaped four flipping times! I had to pull over, get her, and then put her back into the carrier. Our vet gave me some string to tie the zippers together. It held her, but, by the time we were close to our house, she had the string off and was working on the zippers.

Astrid, Estella's sister, is loud and vocal. The sound of her cries is almost enough to make me speed!

Willow makes some noise but is one of the best behaved at all times. She is our smallest adult cat, weighing in at 6.6 lbs. She cries a little to start, but it ends pretty quickly. If my (soon-to-be) daughter-in-law comes with me, Willow is perfectly happy.

Fennimore, Willow's brother, is the best behaved for just about everything because he is exceptionally laid back. (He is an 18 lbs lovey.) Yesterday did not fit his typical behavior. Fennimore sometimes licks all the fur off his belly, which, as we all know, can cause digestive issues. He has not been feeling well and is behaving rather sluggishly, warranting a vet visit. He was just sort of lying there, but, at one point, he uncharacteristically started getting loud. Then he peed all over. The poor vet got a pee covered tail in her face when she weighed him.

Freya is a beast. Getting her into the carrier, driving down the road with her, getting into the vets, having her examined, and then repeating the process to get home makes me want to up my accidental death insurance. She is a small 7 lbs beast with the face of an angel. (At home, she is a bit stand-offish but she is a sweetie when she wants to be.)

Silas likes to be in the carrier; however, he wants to look out the window. Obviously, I am not going to endanger him, myself, and others by driving down the road while holding my cat when there is a perfectly good carrier, so when we get to the vet, I take him out and let him look around before putting him back into his carrier. He just has a kitten cry now for when he does cry.

LOL My cat also learned how to open her kennel. She just scratches at the bottom of the kennel where the zipper is, and when there is a big enough hole to fit her paw out she unzips it.

 

[Elphaba09]

LOL My cat also learned how to open her kennel. She just scratches at the bottom of the kennel where the zipper is, and when there is a big enough hole to fit her paw out she unzips it.

Haha!

 

[Purr-fect]

He hates the Vet. So much so that he has put the fear of God in the staff.
To explain: The last time I left the vet, I was walking to the truck and heard a 2500lb bull out back, in squeeze pen, throwing a fit. Sounded like they had learned to harness weather and had a tornado penned up back there.
That doesn't really bother them, but, they are terrified of that cat.

As they should be.

If he can take down a deer, a few staff members would be easy "game".

 

[Purr-fect]

Greg cries all the way to the vets, as if I am betraying him and torturing him at the same time. Once there he is quiet, watchful and well behaved.

Arnold is quieter on the trip there, but isnt happy. He lets the vet examine him, but gives a constant glare that clearly says I can dismember you at any moment.

One his last visit to the vet, the staff were surprised by his size.

We use dog carriers to transport the boys as they wouldnt even be able to turn around in our previous cat carrier.

 

[basscat]

As they should be.

If he can take down a deer, a few staff members would be easy "game".

I'm pretty sure the only way he could take down a deer is if it saw a bear behind him and had a heart attack.