So we went to the new vet today, and Lily was a perfect lady and is in fine health. They all loved her, and she has put on a few pounds from last year.
Tunch, on the other hand, bled people again and it ultimately had to go down like this:
The picture is blurry because he could still strike at any moment and actually nailed me once with the blindfold on, using only the force to guide his claws. After the blindfold/muzzle, we had to hold him down with a towel to give him his shots. We then had to let him just be for 15 minutes before even trying to get him in the cage, because he was sitting there twitching his tail giving us the “Try it- I’ll cut ya” look.
He apparently has a cracked tooth and some plaque build-up, so we get our teeth cleaned next month. Tunch has also lost a little over a pound from this time last year, so that is good news.
BTW- the title of this post is what the veterinary’s assistant said when she first looked at Tunch. I laughed.
Wayne
Ready for water boarding.
djork
I’m reminded of photos of Saddam in captivity.
maye
My vet wants $600 to clean my 10-lb. dog’s teeth. (Includes anesthesia and an extraction or two.) Hope you’re getting a better price.
EdTheRed
Tunch looks ready to eat your liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti…slurp-slurp-slurp!
Rosalita
Jeebus he is feisty isn’t he… I’ve had cats make me chase them around the house before I could grab them and put them in the carrier, but never a mask/muzzle.
I’d sleep with my eyes open tonight if I were you.
mr. whipple
Wow. Does he have a spaz on the way to the vet?
One of our cats had his vet visit last month and the vet ordered him on a diet. He hasn’t been taking it well.
Roger Moore
I didn’t know that vet offices were good at trans-finite math.
mr. whipple
@maye:
“My vet wants $600 to clean my 10-lb. dog’s teeth. (Includes anesthesia and an extraction or two.) Hope you’re getting a better price”
Offer a chicken.
Randy P
So…. how’s his mood when you get him home after one of these visits?
And what kind of hell do you have to go through to get him to the vet in the first place?
schrodinger's cat
I ar being oppressed, let me go.
Tunch
Fwiffo
Why is that ottoman wearing a muzzle?
schrodinger's cat
@mr. whipple: Mr Whipple is on a diet?
Brian J
That’s like being Hannibal Lecter for cats.
R-Jud
I didn’t know Tunch is dating a Republican senator. Must make things awkward for you when he shows up for dates.
Rosalita
@mr. whipple:
FTW!
burnspbesq
My head just exploded. I agree with Thomas and Scalia, who dissented in the Comstock case. Indefinite detention of convicted sex offenders AFTER THEIR SENTENCES ARE OVER? Sorry, but no. That’s a travesty.
Will be interested in seeing Greenwald’s take on this – if he can set his anti-Kagan jihad aside long enough to weigh in.
Dave
I can sympathize. I have a Maine Coon that hates the vet. She once ran around the room knocking down books and shelves with a needle hanging out of her backside. Now she gets placed in a bag with a hole for her head and four zippered holes for her feet.
mr. whipple
@schrodinger’s cat:
Yeah. He came in at 21 lbs, but doesn’t have a big frame, so he looks like a beach ball. Vet said she would like to see him at 16 lbs.
This may take a while.
Linda Featheringill
That’s all right Tunchie. I don’t have any problems eating, either.
And don’t take no stuff off of nobody. Ya hear?
[sending an ear scratch your way]
Roger Moore
@R-Jud:
Authoritarians always seem to be submissives in the bedroom.
kid bitzer
trussed and blind-folded. did he request a cigarette, too?
c’mon–we all know tunch smokes. who can blame him? if he quit, he’d put on weight.
WereBear
Mr. Bond once punched out the carrier door three times. He didn’t lay a paw on me, went in resignedly, but the plastic door was fair game.
We now have a different carrier.
To whom it may concern, this is my article on slimming down fat cats.
My way is not just scientific, it’s easy.
garage mahal
Our family beagle used to get tagged by porcupines for his first 5 yrs of existence on our back 40 acres, before he figured out how to torment one without getting a face-full of quills. Snarling teeth, muzzles, and toenails sliding on stainless steel tables, [and finally sedation], brings back memories. Something about the vet clinic just brought out the absolute worst in that dog.
maye
@mr. whipple: for that price I’m happy to offer the dog.
JenJen
This actually relieved me greatly. Just two weeks ago at the vet, my dog Strider took a nice chunk out of the vet’s nose as he tried to pick him up and put him on the table. I was absolutely mortified, and had told him “You know, you might wanna use a muzzle, he can be a little badger when you try to pick him up.”
Next day, I took a box of chocolates to the office as a token of my regret. So, thanks again for the picture, because Tunch makes me feel less lonely in my pet-embarrassment. :-)
Alice Blue
All my kitties do fine at the vet. On the other hand, my sweet, goofy, lovable greyhound-bassett mix Bella turns into Cujo. The last time she went in for shots, four of us (me, my husband, vet’s assistant and vet) were holding her down, and she still got her muzzle off.
Glad to hear that Lily and Tunch are healthy!
Corner Stone
better
Skepticat
My late, lamented, beloved white cat was known at his first vet’s as the White Tornado. One visit took four people, three bath towels, a blanket, and considerable bloodshed–and even then we couldn’t control him. They finally gave him a shot to totally knock him out. For a while I sedated him before the visit, but the meds seemed to kick in right after we left their office no matter how long beforehand they were administered. He got better as he got older (with another vet), but never really reconciled himself, though toward the end he was not only docile but actually affectionate with the vet and staff. I can’t tell you what I’d give to be able to go through that hassle again.
Doctor Science
I’m surprised it took work to get him back into his carrier. Getting Sneakers into the carrier at home can be deeply traumatic — I still have the scar that made me decide to get a top-loading carrier — but at the vet’s when the visit is over, all we have to do is open the carrier door and he’ll slink right in on his own, huddling in the safe place.
LD50
The technique I’ve developed to get my obstreperous 14-YO tomcat into a carrier is as follows: make sure the carrier is nowhere in sight. the carrier must be standing up on end, with the door open, on the top end. pet the cat, make him all happy. suddenly hoist him up by the scruff of the neck, well away from your body. go into the other room, where the carrier awaits. lower the cat into the carrier, still holding him by the back of the neck, far from anything he could position himself against, letting gravity do the work. if he tries to buck with his hind legs during the lowering, use your free hand to hold his legs together. once he’s half in, the hard part’s over.
This technique has worked for me for years. it’s similar to how I put flea medicine on his head.
trollhattan
Love the title-quote.
Now mistah Cole, praytell how do you plan to get any sleep? Tunchie no forget; Tunchie keeps a list of slights received; Tunchie stalks you in the bathroom.
Also, too, the teeth cleaning thing has evidently become a major revenue source for vets. We used to get Dal #1’s teeth cleaned for under a hundred bucks, including anesthesia. Dal #2 cost us over four hundred the last time we did hers. Needless to say we don’t do it very often, which triggers much scolding from the vet. I see a perfect circle being formed here.
ellaesther
@schrodinger’s cat: I LOL-ed, I truly did.
@Fwiffo: It was in the Treat of Versailles. Dude, really, keep up with your history reading!
Tony Alva
Holy moly! Guess he’s not a fan of ye olde wellness visit.
Glad to hear you’re getting the teeth thing done. Some years ago, my best friend cat got VERY sick sort of suddenly, so I took him in to see what the matter was. The vet told me he had the equivalant of a 1/4″ of plaque built up and it was causing a blood infection in his gums. I felt terrible for letting it go like that, i just didn’t know better. He was an old boy so putting him under to do the work was risky (emmensly expensive too), but luckily he made it through and enjoyed a couple more years of quality living.
Now when the breath starts to stink, they go in for a cleaning.
I think Rosalita is right brutha, you may want sleep with one eye open for awhile and make sure he isn’t seen hanging around your favorite chair with any suspicious packages.
Violet
Aww…poor Tunchie looks hog tied. I hope he’s recovered from the vet trauma.
When I was a kid, my mom would take our dogs out on rides in the car if we were just going on a local trip. The bank we used was right by the vet. The dogs were so smart that they knew the route. They’d begin trembling and quaking as we drove down the road approaching the turnoff to the vet’s. Then as we’d pass the turnoff and go to the bank, the quaking and trembling would stop. They knew where they were and where they didn’t want to go!
Randy P
Couldn’t vet offices use tranquilizer rifles like they use on the nature shows? That would be kind of fun seeing somebody taking aim from behind the receptionist’s desk at the various carriers in the waiting room.
LD50
This is the same cat who, 10 years ago, demolished a cardboard pet carrier which I’d used with no problem with my other cats. En route to the vet, he started ripping at the air holes. Halfway to the vets’, he got his head all the way thru one of the enlarged air holes. Realizing that this wasn’t going to end well, I started to hurry back home, but before I got there, he managed to ram his entire body thru the air hole he’d enlarged, and escaped. Needless to say the ridiculous excuse for a pet carrier was totaled and I got a real carrier with hard plastic and metal bars the same day.
He yowls the whole way to the vet. Oddly, on the way back, he’s dead silent. He seems to know that he’s heading back home.
schrodinger's cat
John Cole@ top
Remember Tunch is watching you, always..
James Hare
So Tunch is ready to get sent to Gitmo? They’re going to let Cole keep his cat?
Shinobi
My vets always seem surprised that dealing with my kitties is not more like this. But they are usually okay as long as mommy holds their hand.
Actually the dog too, I don’t think the vet had any problems with him until they decided to take him in a back room away from us and then he was a jerkface. Separation Anxiety FTW.
WereBear
I know it sounds nutty, (but you have to consider where I am :) but many folks create a song for the cat, and then sing it to them on the way to the vet. It really works! Helps ground them.
My Olwyn was such a hit at the vet; she puts her paws around the tech’s neck and hugs her, before and after procedures. She’s a rock star there; I walk in and everyone comes out of the back and fusses over her.
schrodinger's cat
@ellaesther: Thanks!
El Tiburon
I had a similar experience with my white cat over a year ago. The vet and his assistant could not control him.
I don’t believe in Satan. But on this day I knew he existed and was being channeled through my cat.
They finally gave up and recommended next visit I come in early for some sedation.
fourlegsgood
Ah yes, my kitteh Ripley bites when she’s at the vet. She’s certain I’m going to leave her there so she gets a little perturbed and cranky. Maddie the maine coon is fine once she’s there, but getting her in the carrier is problematic.
She’s so big now she has DOG carrier. When we moved to the new place last summer she escaped from me three times. The last time she kicked out with the back feet and opened up my face. I got her stuff in and raced off to the new place to meet the cable guy, who kept stared at me, then looked at the carrier and said, “well, she looks calm now.”
After he left I went into the bathroom and realized that my face was covered in blood, as was a good bit of my t-shirt. I looked like a refugee from a zombie attack.
Rosalita
So I’ll throw in my pet carrier story… I had a very large Siamese cat. Not too bright but definitely a whiner. Anyhoo, getting him in the carrier was no thing. But one time, at the vet, getting him OUT was quite the show. He had all four feet wedged in each of the four corners of the carrier to keep from getting hauled out. The tech and I, laughing our asses off by this time, even tried tipping it forward to dislodge him. He wouldn’t budge. Had to take the top off the thing.
Chat Noir
Poor Tunch.
@JenJen:
That was very kind of you.
My two older cats have red “will bite” stickers on their respective files even though the last few visits have been relatively calm (significant low growling and some hissing notwithstanding); I always apologize if they become horrid.
Our youngster is still pretty good once he gets to the vet, though he’s not happy about having to travel in his kitty carrier.
aimai
Jeezus, isn’t this Kitty Bondage Porn NSFW?
Now I remember why I never read the pet threads.
aimai
Ash Can
What did he do, take a dump right before you went to the vet’s? Check the litter box. On second thought, check your shoes.
CalD
Reminds me of trips to the vet with my old cat (no longer with us, I’m afraid). I used to take her to a of vet who had a policy of not letting owners into the exam room with the cat. That never ended well. After I moved to New England I found vets clinic that was a little less full of themselves, but there was still a real limit to what the cat would allow even with me in the room.
artem1s
@burnspbesq:
don’t beat yourself up too much…
i believe they only dissented because its not specified in the Constitution that Congress can pass such a law… no lie. i’m assuming if say, Utah or Arizona wants to do it, they will be all for it. you know, states rights and all that.
schrodinger's cat
@WereBear: Its my cats who do the singing when they are in the car, its a duet! They make the most pathetic, heart rending sounds you have heard.
I have to drive for two hours next weekend with the kittehs, can’t say that I am looking forward to it.
Waynski
I don’t understand why people worry about their cat’s weight. All they have in life is eating, sleeping, fucking (if they’re very lucky) and their owner’s attention, pretty much in that order. Let them chow down I say. Cattay Diem.
Bill H
Our former cat, rather unfortunately named Fuzzybuns, was much the same. (I swear I never thought that name would stick. The vet thought he was named Tigger.) We had to dismantle the carrier to get him out at the vet, because attempting to pull him out through the door resulted in shredded arms. He didn’t get his temperature taken because the vet worried that he was so tense and agitated that the thermometer would break. He once was back into the carrier and the vet got too close as she was talking to us and he came out after her.
Our present cat, Molly, is a sweetheart and merely looks pitiful.
And the recommenrd for Innova Evo is a good one. Molly loves it and is thriving on it. Plump, but not fat.
Poopyman
Well, at least you didn’t put him in the orange jump suit.
My first cat taught me well. She was the kind who would lie passively and when you were starting to relax would suddenly explode in an escape attempt. To counter this I took to holding her head as the vet did his thing at the other end. What made me give up that tactic was when she got her mouth around my forefinger and chomped, burying her fangs to the gumline.
My damned doctor bills for the visit and all the antibiotics were twice what the vet bills were.
The second cat would just moan once he was in the carrier, then after about 5 minutes on the road would let go from both ends. A lovely drive that was. Every damned time we went to the vet.
frogspawn
“Old Herroit may not be good for much, but by God he can wrap a cat.”
Zuzu's Petals
@burnspbesq:
Well I just read the newspaper summary, but wasn’t Thomas’ dissent based on the idea that federal civil commitment of violent sex offenders was not a power listed in the Constitution? Not on the idea of commitment itself?
jeffreyw
Oh my. Toby just caught a mouse outside and brought it in. He let it go.
mr. whipple
@Waynski:
I hear ya, but the vet said they can develope diabetes, and I have no desire to go through that.
Poopyman
@Rosalita:
Removing the top is SOP for our cats now. It’s like checking on your roast to see if it’s done. Also, when the vet’s done with the cat they’re happy to dive in the box and welcome the top settling over them.
Ash Can
@El Tiburon:
Sedation for whom? You, them, or the cat? Or all of the above?
::pictures a vet’s office well stocked with catnip and a wet bar for the, ahem, more challenging cases::
Poopyman
@fourlegsgood:
… And that’s why she’s known as “Chainsaw”, eh?
mr. whipple
Only one of our cats is a major hassle to get to the vet. She’s one of those cats that just doesn’t like to be held, and the only way to even pick her up is to sneak up when she’s sleeping and grab her fast.
So getting her to a vet involves chasing her all over the house until she can be trapped in a bedroom, closing the door and then picking up the bed so Mrs. Whipple can nab her. No.fun.at.all.
Paul in KY
He looks like Tunchable Lector :-)
stuckinred
My cocker was dumped in a box at our vet in the middle of the night. Since we adopted her she just loves going back there and they love her right back.
kommrade reproductive vigor
Could be worse. An old friend had a cat that had to be shut in a plexiglass box and gassed before the vet could even touch her.
Tunch gets his teeth cleaned. YOU get your clock cleaned.
Sleep with one eye open Cole.
Bnut
You think cats are bad, try wrangling the occasional pet raccoon.
gnomedad
@Waynski:
We lost a great cat way too soon because of his weight. No, you don’t want to make them miserable, but it’s worth some effort.
Ash Can
@jeffreyw: I eagerly await pics.
And I’d like to say right now that this entire thread has me laughing tears. Gotta love those critters, even when they’re being less than lovable.
WereBear
My three are pretty good, but if a cat really stresses out, I do pre-visit drugs. Whatever it takes.
It’s easier on them that way. And on everyone else.
stuckinred
My cocker was dumped in a box at oiu in the middle of the night. Since we adopted her she just loves going back there and they love her right back.@gnomedad: Some folks just don’t want to hear it.
cmorenc
If you REALLY REALLY want to see a cat go totally batshit crazy, have the heating/ac ducts cleaned in your house by a professional service that attaches a Volkswagon-size vacumn cleaner to the duct input down in the crawl space/basement of your house. Though the duct vacumn isn’t ever anywhere even close to near your cats, it transmits such a fearsomely loud sucking/turbine engine sound throughout your house’s ductwork that your cats will dive immedately into the deepest closet they can find and try to scratch their way through the sheetrock to try to avoid this hideous gigantic monster they’re convinced must be stalking about nearby in the house, looking for kitties to gobble up.
Roger Moore
@jeffreyw:
I’ve met cats like that. The goal is to let it go so they can catch it again, but some times the “catch it again” part doesn’t go as planned. The really good ones will hang around for a long while waiting for the mouse to come out of hiding.
Devon Cole
I don’t like seeing Tunch like this. It upsets me!
soily
Gitmo kitty. Did you move on to waterboarding?
IndyLib
@frogspawn:
LOLZ
schrodinger's cat
@Waynski: I agree up to a point but diabetes and other health problems are a bigger concern with overweight cats, and I don’t think giving them medication is going to be good for my health either.
jeffreyw
@Ash Can: He also brought in a brown leaf he captured along with the mouse. I just happened to look up and see the mouse tun under a table. Noticed the leaf, Toby was nosing it around-looking for the mouse I guess. Not sure what the leaf was I went to it and threw it away, relived it wasn’t a finch. He lost interest in the mouse. Currently he’s atop the couch watching cattv.
Chat Noir
@Ash Can: I agree totally. It’s nice to have a break from the non-stop stupidity/bad news that is the US of A. I love these pet threads.
Citizen_X
Shorter Tunch: I IZ BEING OPRESSD
kommrade reproductive vigor
@jeffreyw: The evil little cat used to do that. She never, ever had any interest in her trophies once she dropped them on my feet.
Rosalita
@mr. whipple:
I had the SAME thing with my Bitsy… picking up the bed and all. I needed a drink after that.
Morbo
Watch out now. He could put that on intentionally and become an outlaw. The Tunchanista movement has been born.
Karen
Loki (5 year old female German shepherd) just went for her comprehensive exam & teeth cleaning. My vet got smart. They muzzle her, put her to sleep, then do the exam, the cleaning & the pedicure. She’s then put into a cage to sleep it off. They have her listed at 89 pounds. My son got a stern warning: No more people food, not even vegetables. The vet tech who was taking the initial information lost it when my son told her “89 pounds & the fat ass has never met a meal she didn’t like”. She’s now on a people food-free diet & finds it objectionable.
My cat is easier to deal with. But she has to be held on a baby scale, since she doesn’t weigh enough for the big one & will take off, given half a chance. She sees the carrier & she hides. She’s vocal, not violent.
mr. whipple
@Rosalita:
I think it’s more stressful for us than them. :)
Joseph Nobles
My caption for the pic:
CLOSER PLEAZ
CLOSER
Perfect Tommy
My rescued greyhound reduced the local groundhog population by one yesterday, and almost lost an eye in the process. At one point, I managed to get in between him and the groundhog, at which point the groundhog latched firmly onto the back of my leg. Fortunately he didn’t break the skin through my jeans. I finally got the dog under control, but the groundhog was a goner. After a trip to the vet to get his eyelid surgically reattached, the dog was pulling to go back in the yard for a rematch….
Tracy
Rather than get all nasty, Kato the cat prefers to poop on the vet while he’s there.
Meanwhile, Maggie the ten-pound dachshund needs two techs and a muzzle when getting her nails trimmed. Now that’s a tough dog.
Zuzu's Petals
@LD50:
That’s how I do it for my Maine Coon, though thankfully it doesn’t have to be by the scruff of the neck.
My little blue cream is a different story. Have to wrap her in a towel first … then they have to wrap her in a towel to do the exam. Even then they can only do the bare minimum.
Jules
I have one cat that I have to zip up in a tent bag with only her head sticking out to shoot liquid meds into her mouth.
And in the bag someone has to kind of sit on her and hold her head.
Medicine, she hates it.
Robertdsc-iphone
Tunchibal Lector indeed! I hope his catnip is extra strong after today’s trauma!
YellowJournalism
When does the t-shirt version come out?
BombIranForChrist
Oh man, what a classic picture. It reminds me of the time I tried to put an ID collar on one of my cats Woody. The other cats took to it fine, but Woody came close to garroting herself trying to get out of it. I finally just took it off, fearing she would try to gnaw her own head off in order to escape the collar.
Geeno
My own Otis fights like tiger until you close the carrier. After that, even on the steel table he’s just despondent and takes it without a struggle. Plenty of pitiful mewling, but no struggle.
El Tiburon
@Ash Can:
Well, for the cat. But I got the impression that they preferred I just not bring him back.
Same thing happened at the cat groomers. They said in no uncertain terms I was not to bring that cat back.
bemused
I would laugh hysterically at “WE get our teeth cleaned next month” but I have been known to utter similar doting pet parentisms. I could be really off base & John just happens to have a teeth cleaning appointment next month, presumably at the dental clinic. Maybe Tunch would be much more relaxed about his teeth cleaning if he saw the vet clean John’s teeth first & would be more convenient to get all the teeth cleaning done at one time, also.
LanceThruster
I’ve been quite fortunate in that my pets (even the fairly high-strung ones) seem to pick up on the vibe that the vets are their friends and are fairly compliant. I have had them go batsh*t crazy on me trying to give pills or apply antibiotic ointment on a boo-boo and such. Helped a friend deliver a new puppy (chihuahua/daschund mix) to her daughter for her daughter’s new baby and it would not quit yapping. After almost ten minutes of that, I exercised my alpha dog dominance and barked back at her until she shut up (even quelled her sour grapes growling by growling back at her). Trying to pick her up and hand her to my friend for the car ride over there was like trying to grab hold of a buzz saw. This dog acted as if my hands felt like a branding iron to her.
I thought she’d continue to freak in the small truck cab but suggested my friend crack the window for it (name: Kahlua) to be distracted by the new smells (it worked). When I got to her daughter’s house, it went back into full yap mode, though I was able to bribe it with a couple of Scooby snacks (quiet lasted for the duration of snack transfer and ingestion – a couple of seconds). I hope it grows out of that incessant barking phase. Don’t know under what circumstances they got the dog but it seems to be distrustful/antagonistic towards everybody. I’m sure it’s probably just a “I only was borned a little bit ago and have yet to figure out wtf is going on so until then, constant barking is probably a good strategy” phase. It will have plenty of time to embrace the small dog full time yappy mode in the future.
jeffreyw
It’s more fun if you can do it with a friend.
The mouse turned up.
licensed to kill time
Jeez, poor Tunch! All trussed up like a Thanksgiving turkey!
I had a friend who worked at a pet grooming place for a while, and the stories he told me about what goes on in the back room would curl your hair. They had some sort of sling for the recalcitrant dogs so they could suspend them from the ceiling and hose ’em down. The groomers all knew who the ‘bad doggies’ were, and would groan in dismay when one came in.
This also reminds me of taking two cats to the vet to be fixed. They were making such godawful noises in their cardboard carriers the vet asked if they were feral cats. Ha ha, nope, just my babies! Never been in a carrier before and completely freaked out. He gave them knockout shots in the carriers before he lifted them out.
Sometimes you don’t want to know what goes on behind the scenes.
Chuck Butcher
John,
You’d better either sleep in chain mail tonight or half sleep with one eye open and a loaded handgun.
All 150# of Gus just lets the vet do whatever it is he seems to think needs doing. Gus always wants to get in the truck. I will say that a pissed off Gus would be a bad thing, never seen it, but it would be bad.
Fergus Wooster
I notice John anticipated all of our Hannibal Lecter references with the pic filename (Hannibal Tunch). Well played, sir.
RedKitten
Aww…poor Tunchie.
He is SO going to crap in your shoes tonight.
LD50
@Zuzu’s Petals: My 14-YO Norwegian Forest tom is starting to show all kinds of old-cat ailments, including FIV & colitis. When the poor guy finally departs this world, I’m thinking very seriously of replacing him with a Maine Coon.
I also have a 15-YO little female silver tabby, who despite her advanced age is showing NO signs whatsoever of getting old. I fear she’d flip the fuck out if I got a new kitten while she was still alive. So the Maine Coon may have to wait.
Bob Arctor
Was that picture taken at Guantanamo Bay? Where’s his orange jumpsuit?
Mnemosyne
I’ve been very lucky so far: of the five cats I’ve owned, I’ve never had any vet problems with any of them. Keaton will sometimes freak out if he’s put in a cage for too long (not his carrier, but a separate cage at the vet’s or groomer’s) but he’s fine as long as he’s not confined. This last time, he was so mellow that he let them clean his teeth without anesthesia.
Natasha used to get recurring ear infections and she would actually be happy to go to the vet when her ear was bothering her because she figured out that she always felt better once she got back. She would get a serious overproduction of wax in that ear and the vet told me one time that he got pieces the size of a raisin out when he irrigated her ear. No wonder she felt better afterward.
Elie
@Skepticat:
I hear you.
My old cat, Bill is old and rickety but as recently as November put on quite a show at the Vet and also resulted in some blood through the gloves that were being used to handle him. Bill don’t take no mess and Dr. Cay and the team know they had better “bring it” when dealing with him. He is 13 lbs now, but was a pound or two heavier when in his prime and all muscle back then… I tell ya, I was scared of him back then.
The thing that I also hate is he seems to feel so humiliated afterwards and slinks around for a couple of days kind of low and depressed. Needless to say, he only goes to the vet when absolutely necessary…
Bruce (formerly Steve S.)
This is my opportunity to tell you my white & brown cat story. It is current and ongoing.
Last Wednesday morning there is a pounding on my door so loud that the whole house shakes. I quickly throw on some clothes and go outside and the neighbor from across the street starts screaming profanity at me at the top of his lungs. In between f-bombs I discern that his problem, allegedly, is that the cat is digging in his yard. After a profane tirade of approximately 45 seconds he says that “we have nothing more to say to each other” and he storms off.
The next morning it happens again. Inadvisably, perhaps, I stand in the middle of the street and try to talk calmly to him, but to no avail. His whole approach to me is really quite bizarre, like an angry parent who doesn’t know how to deal with a three year old. “You don’t listen! You just do what I tell you!”, plus all the profanity. This episode lasts more like 5-10 minutes. Long story short, on the advice of a local police officer I am never interacting with this individual again, any problems he might have he can explain to law enforcement while he’s being booked for disorderly conduct. And it will be a shame, because if this individual had approached me with even a minimal level of civility I would have helped him with his problem, whether it’s being caused by my cat or not.
Thursday I decided to take the cat to the vet and board him there for a couple of days because (1) he needed to have his shots and so forth and (2) I wanted him off the premises for a couple of days while I waited to see what my psychotic neighbor would do next. Long story short again, while at the vet the cat managed to unlatch his kennel and hide out for two days somewhere in the building before they managed to catch him. His stress level at being confined was off the charts.
This cat has shown an ability to figure out cat doors, people doors, and getting into impossible spaces all on his own. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if this is common to white & browns.
grandpajohn
Well love em while you have them, Just had to have our 11 year old pumpkin put to sleep this morning and an still in mourning. He was diagnosed as diabetic about a month ago and was on insulin twice a day last night he was fine, this morning he woke me crying. when I checked on him he was stumbling around
like he was weak, so took him to the vet and found out he had gone blind sometime during the night. we assume it was a result of the diabetes as he had very high blood sugar when diagnosed and we don’t know how long he had been diabetic before diagnosis.
Well he had had a good pampered life and was loved and treated like the king of the house.
we will miss him, he is being cremated and we will get a small urn with his ashes that we can place on the shelf that he always liked to knock things off of.
ET
Poor Tunch.
Mine is quite OK (as OK goes for a cat at the vet) but the puking in the car does not a happy mommy make. That and the pitiful meowing. I think I hate the meowing more.
Rosalita
@grandpajohn:
So sorry about Pumpkin! It’s heartbreaking to lose your furry friends, several of us here have been there.
Elroy's Lunch
Elroy’s name is changed to Hellroy whenever he visits my S-I-L’s practice. They take blood. He takes blood.
licensed to kill time
@grandpajohn: You have all my sympathy, that is so sad. It is so very difficult to go through the loss of your special buddy.
But I love your idea of putting his urn on the shelf he liked to knock things off of. Very fitting; just don’t get spooked if you see the urn on the floor one day!
Ash Can
@grandpajohn: Condolences on your loss. Diabetes is a scourge, no matter who it hits. You obviously gave Pumpkin a good, happy life. And what a fitting final resting place indeed.
Elroy's Lunch
@grandpajohn:
Sorry for your loss. Our cat is all that we have. He’s a fairly sick 15-year old but he doesn’t know he’s ill so we don’t tell him. When he’s gone we’re going to put his ashes in his favorite “treats” jar.
Steaming Pile
@mr. whipple: Well, if we only had the one cat, it would be easy to put her on a diet, but we have three, of which only one is fat. So the solution I came up with is to *sigh* measure the food as if they all ate the same amount – 3/4 cup per feeding, or 1/2 cup per cat per day. So far, so good on that; when the next feeding time comes around, the bowl is empty, or nearly so, so I figure the two non-fat cats are eating about the same amount, but leaving less surplus for the fat cat to gorge on.
Skepticat
@grandpajohn: I’m so sorry; it’s such a hard thing to do. But his resting place is a purrfect choice.
Paul in KY
@grandpajohn: Sorry about Pumpkin (nice cat name). You did the right thing. Hope you get another little furry Pumpkin soon.
YellowDog
A blindfold and leg restraints? You haven’t lived until you’ve held down a screaming cat while the vet cleans an infected claw. For the first 13 of his 21 years, BJ was an indoor/outdoor cat. Although neutered, he never backed down from a fight. Stitches, bite wounds, bent claws, I saw it all, as did the vet, who admired BJ’s scrappiness. The vet pointed out that the wounds were always in the front, never in the back. Here’s one story among many. BJ never weighed more than 12 lbs. A neighbor’s big tom (15+ lbs) would come and taunt BJ at my sliding glass door. One day they met outside. The tom never came to that door again. Since he always slept beside me, BJ now has an honored place on my bedstand.
Resident Firebagger
My kitty will actually sit there and purr at the attention, even while they’re vaccinating him.
As for Cole, he’ll have to sleep with one eye open for awhile…
Rosalita
@Resident Firebagger:
Are you sure it’s happiness? I recently learned that cats purr when they are under stress (i.e. at the vet). One of mine did that.
Anne Laurie
@maye:
I fully sympathise with your wallet’s pain. But I’ll add two modifiers. One, the smaller the pet, the more sensitive the veterinary dental work — the margin between ‘sedated’ and ‘dead’ is a lot trickier, and they can’t afford to lose as much blood or fluid before going into shock. (In some ways, it’s like the difference between working on a human adult and a baby.) So you can’t treat the expense of dental work the way you would the cost of boarding or grooming, where more pounds means more money. And cats have the same problems as small dogs, multiplied by the fact that felines are notorious for ‘over-reacting’ to any change in their medical status.
Two, despite the expense & the medical risk, getting a pet’s mouth healthy is really worth it… I have seen a number of dogs, especially geriatric dogs, wind the clock back from rickety ‘senility’ to frisky happy dog-of-a-certain-age prosperity after a dental cleaning/extraction. The little predators who live with us are genetically designed not to let on when they’re in pain, but low-grade chronic oral infections put a strain on the whole body, especially the heart. Just seeing the difference in a pet whose mouth is in good shape has done a lot to reconcile my personal life-long dental phobia… I still hate paying vast sums of money to be made miserable, but now I can’t just tell myself that they’re only doing all the scraping & jabbing & drilling just to take my money.
Anne Laurie
@jeffreyw:
He wants you to take one of your lovely photos of his dinner, obs!
Anne Laurie
@grandpajohn:
My condolences. Helping one of our beloved pets to move beyond the pain & fear is the last gift we can give them, but that doesn’t make it hurt us any less.
WaterGirl
@WereBear: I just want to chime in on this. I followed WereBear’s advice about high protein, no grain cat food. I switched my kitties from “Taste of the Wild” to “Evo” (both dry foods) on April 20th.
The kitty who had gotten chubby started to slim down right away, and the slim kitty stayed slim. It took 2 days for them to get used to the new routine – 1/4 cup each in the morning and another 1/4 cup at 5pm, but they have been fine since. They even started walking away from their bowls with a few pieces left in the bowl. It works!
Rosalita
@WaterGirl:
Thanks for that, I have three cats and one is a big fattie. I’m going to try the Evo.
WaterGirl
@Rosalita: Even my slim Bear LOVED the Evo, so there were no leftovers for Willow to snack on throughout the day.
Evo costs more, but you feed them less, so I think it comes out about the same. And they use what they eat more efficiently, so there is less poop to scoop and less kitty litter to purchase. So it’s a win all around!
SiubhanDuinne
@grandpajohn: I am so sorry to hear this. Mercifully, Pumpkin told you when it was his time. Not yours, maybe, but his. I love that you’re keeping his ashes on his “let’s knock things off” shelf. You are mourning now, understandably, but I promise the day will soon come when you look at that shelf and just smile.
Pumpkin, meanwhile, is lapping up all the cream in the Milky Way.
limniade
I LOLed at the picture of poor Tunch hogtied on the table. My older cat, Casey, actually loves attention. He doesn’t love the vet’s office, but he will quietly accept whatever you’re doing without complaint or struggle, with all petting and treats welcome for distractions. He has also greatly amused many a vet tech by opening all the cabinets and trying to hide in them.
I haven’t taken Reese (a.k.a. the Moocher) to the vet yet. He’s a very friendly cat once he’s had several hours to adjust, but until then, he’s pretty Boo Radley about strangers and will claw a little. (Me, not the strangers.) So I’m a little leery about how the first visit’s going to go.
Why not to have an overweight cat: Ever have to wipe a cat’s ass because he’s too fat to clean himself? And you don’t want to, either.
grandpajohn
@licensed to kill time:
Well my wife swears we already have one cat ghost roaming the house so another one won’t matter
grandpajohn
@Ash Can:One thing my vet told me when Pump was diagnosed was that cats fed a diet of dry cat food were more likely to develop diabetes because dry foods are mainly made of corn and other substances that are high in carbohydrates , cats in the natural or feral state would tend to be primarily meat eaters so foods containing lots of meaty types of ingredients would be better for them.