A Wellness Vet Visit

Saturday was Vet Day in our home. We packed up our two black kitties and took them for a car ride to our friendly neighborhood vet.

I felt like a new mom as we took our cat family in for their Wellness Visit. This was not an emergency or SOS visit to the vet for the first time in a year. It was simply time for their annual check up and shots.

I hate to count the number of times we have been at our vet's office due to Junior Cat's diarrhea and Senior Cat's pneumonia/asthma/cancer (or otherwise unknown) visits.

Almost a year later we have discovered two things that have changed our cat's lives for the better. Gold Nugget Cat Food (also known as feline gastro intestinal food) and steroids.

Each of our cats has hit a plateau with their varied symptoms. Our vet confirmed that they are in a nice holding pattern, weight is good, teeth are good (all things considered) and generally they are pretty hale and hearty cats.

The ironic thing is that Junior Cat's lungs sound worse than Senior's. Senior's breathing is quiet and sounds good. Yay for the steroid medication which is doing its job! And ... Junior has a heart murmur. They don't do anything for this so it is simply a 'note in his file' for now. Our 'healthiest' cat is the one with symptoms that could go awry one day.

Junior struts his stuff around here like nobody's business. He chases ghosts, his tail, air mites, you name it. He is a feisty guy.

He is becoming pretty secure with his place within our family unit. I believe that going to the vet was a completely different experience in his Previous Life (where he lived with 20 cats, it was a long drive to the vet who gave them the best deal and vet visits were done as a group where they were dropped off in the morning and picked up at the day's end). He may or may not have been 'fostered' by other cat owners (I never thought to ask)), because when he comes home with us at the end of the office visit he simply acts grateful and relieved to come back home with his rightful family. It is subtle but it is there.

I wish that I knew more of Junior Cat's back story. You can tell that there is a novel within him by the little quirks and fears that he has. The subtle appreciation that I see in his eyes and feel in his heart each time that we have taken him to the vet and he has returned home with us in the same visit tells me that he has not felt this secure in a very, very long time.

It is a gift to love someone (or some pet) so easily. It makes one's heart swell up and beat a little faster to fall just a little bit more in love the more you get to know another. To feel that love and trust reciprocated is precious and special.