Thursday, September 11, 2008

Noki vs. the Vet

Its that time of year again. The leaves start changing, the squirrels devour the seed in the bird feeder to fatten up, and it's time to bring Noki and Mamosa in for their yearly checkup.

Noki hates the vet. Actually, that may be putting it mildly. Noki is TERRIFIED of the vet, and therefore, tries to kill her. And what has the vet done to deserve this? Nothing, aside from being one of the best vets I've ever had.

So, I made the appointment, and brought Noki and Mosa in last night. I got home and pulled out the two cat carriers. Then I grabbed Mosa and struggled to get her into her carrier. Who knew that 8 pounds of cat could put up such a fight? Noki, as usual, came to see what was up, saw his carrier, and walked right into it. Two cats in carriers. So far, so good.

I drove to the vet, and all was quiet. As I got out of the car, juggling the cat carriers and my wallet, all was quiet. And as I stepped onto the porch, the growling started, coming from Noki's carrier. Mosa's was silent. As I walked into the office, a low yowl was added to the growling. I checked in and sat down to wait. And the carrier next to me continued to yowl.

We were called into an exam room by a tech. And as we walked in, the yowling and hissing got louder. I've learned from past experience, if Noki can't see anybody but me, he's quiet. So I put his carrier on the floor, and he was silent. I asked the tech about bringing home Noki's meds, aside from the rabies (by law, the vet has to administer that). She said she'd ask the vet, and left. The vet came in and checked out Mosa. Every thing's great, she's in wonderful shape, and her rabies shot went off without a hitch. Everybody at the vet's office loves Mosa. So the vet gave her a little cuddle, and then we let Mosa go back into her carrier and set it aside. Then it was time for Noki.

Noki is quite adept at putting all 4 legs out and no manner of dumping and shaking will get him out of the carrier. And nobody is going to stick their hands in to get him out, I tried that the first time and he had all 4 legs out then too. Did I mention he's still yowling and hissing? So the only way to let the vet see Noki is to take the carrier apart. Thankfully, there are wing nuts holding the top and bottom together, so this is fairly easy. But the second the top comes off, Noki's yowling and hissing goes up another notch. You'd think someone was torturing him, the noise he makes.

At this point in the visit, the vet always remembers Noki. And a crowd comes to the door to watch (he's that loud).

The vet tried to get closer to him and out came the teeth and claws. Not attacking, just letting her know what would happen if she got any closer. So the vet called for a tech to come and distract Noki so she could give him his rabies shot. Yeah, like that's going to work (it didn't).

Next, out came the wild animal gloves, you know, the gloves that go all the way up to your shoulder and you could use them to weld? The vet donned the gloves and petted Noki to try and calm him down, and managed to pick him up and weigh him (18 lbs, 9 oz, big guy). Then the vet distracted Noki while the tech gave him the rabies shot. And Noki attacked the gloves, but the tech had gotten the shot in. Whew! And then guess what? They agreed to let me take his other shot home, and I could give it to him here. And back on went the top of his carrier.

All I can say is, thank goodness for 3 year rabies shots!

Of course, as soon as we got home, he was his usual, lovable, mommas boy self. Go figure. Maybe next year I'll give him some Valium...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This? Is why I'm a dog person.

Aye, yi, yi.