A Little Kitty Trauma

We got a notice from our vet a couple of months ago about needing to bring our cats in for a 'wellness exam.' We were hesitant - 2 month's worth of hesitant, actually - about making an appointment because there is so much trauma involved for them, but finally the guilt over responsibility became too much and I started bracing myself to at least call for an appointment.

Maybe I analyze too much, but it occurred to me that a little pre-planning could maybe minimize the trouble. When we take them in together, they seem to ramp each other up on the hysteria scale with growls and howls and hissing and general 'negative vibe,' so I thought that if we took them in separately, it might help. ('Each alone with his own thoughts' sort of thing.) Also, Maddie doesn't seem to recognize Frik as her dear friend when they come home from the vet (he smells funny, I'm sure, but I suspect she knows she does too and that really makes her mad) so she growls and hisses and bats at him for a week afterwards - making everyone miserable and generally requiring tranquilizers for her to get over it. Clearly they both have to go on the same day but it should be with back-to-back appointments, at least.

So I call for double appointments, explaining all this to the receptionist on the phone at the vet's office. We find a time Mark can leave work early so that he can bring Frik down for the 2nd appointment, while I have Maddie in for the first one. On the day of the appointment - yesterday, in fact - I turn on the fireplace and let Maddie get all warm and mellow in front of it, and then snatch her up and put her in a carrier (without Frik watching, of course) and dash down to the vet office - just down the hill from our house. Mark, in the meantime, is on his way home to give Frik a little something to eat (he likes a little something at that time of day) and then bring him down a little later. Good planning, right?

On our part, maybe...

I got to the vet office with Maddie and they were surprised to see us. They had the appointment listed for today instead of yesterday.... brought Maddie back home again - and she hissed and growled at Frik as soon as she jumped out of the carrier. We weren't up to it again today -just cancelled the whole thing.

'Wellness' is overrated for cats, right?