Pins and Needles

This has been a trying week. I have this nice velvety purple cave behind my favorite red sofa. I like to sometimes get in there for privacy. Or for catnip. Well, I got in for some catnip and zzzzip, I was locked in. And I was on the move. I was taken to the vet. Again! I hate this place. I hate going to the vet's. I have anxiety associated with these places. This place pretends to be nice but I don't like the people. To get there I am put in a car. If you want to know what I think of that contraption, read my earliest blog.

We get to the vets and my human lets me out of my little cave which, by now, I have realized is a cat trap/case. Sheesh, taken in for being trusting. I have a history with these places (I'll tell you about it sometime) and they make me nervous and anxious. I tried to crowd next to my human and I hissed at sounds outside the room to keep anything scary from coming in. You always wind up getting hurt in these places.

Then this other lady comes in and before I know it, inserts a probe in my bum! This is an indignity that I have to suffer on every trip to the vet. But it ain't the worst. I get taken to another room and got a whopping fat needle that inserted something in my shoulder. I am told it is a microchip. It seems my humans have grown quite attached to me and don't want to lose me. Well, let me tell you kiddos, giving me a pain in the neck ain't going to create a reciprocal sentiment in me for sure. If I had only known my last blog about the horrid harness would be taken this seriously, I might have let her know that I do take some dramatic license.

Then the vet comes in. The same lady who a minute ago put a huge piece of metal in me. She starts to touch me again so I let her have it. Drew blood from three spots. Meoowrrr. While my human tries to say to her that I am anxious and don't like to come here and am generally a sweety, the vet remarks that some cats have attitude issues!!!! Like hell!! Nuh-uh. I wanna see her attitude if I were to stick a fat needle in her with no "by-your-leaves." And then I got two more shots! It was like the worst kind of revenge. I decided to retire to the cat-cave. Even though, I knew what it was now. I just wanted my human to take me home.

My human has been concerned about this vaccination issue especially after her friends, Trini & Teresa- who are also owned by cats, have been communicating to her that it is not clear if kitties (or dogs for that matter as Teresa would point out) need all these constant injections. There are issues with benefits and costs of most of these vaccines being thrown at cats. Some are even known to create tumors at the site of the vaccination. Now I don't want to fall sick but I also don't want to be unnecessarily vaccinated. To the right you will find a link to an article published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (JAVMA) in 2006 laying out some guidelines for vaccinating us felines. Thanks to Trini for providing the article! Please disperse as widely as you can so us felines are not caused pain needlessly.

And thanks to Marian, another friend of my human, who when she heard about my vet experience, sympathized and recommended a new and nicer vet. She hopes that I am not turned off vets forever but I am.

The only not-bad news to come of the whole debacle is that my human knows I'm a big cat now (though I could have told you that without a trip to the vet). I used to be a 6 pounder when I was at the shelter. I am now sleek and long and 8 pounds heavy. I can rock my favorite couch if I hit it at a full run. My muscles are so compact and strong. I think my human is in awe of me. I get lots of kisses on what she calls nosies and pawsies (obviously, while I am fully grown, she still has a ways to go). Oh and she has taken to calling me stinky fish face. But I know envy when I hear it.