The Ninja Clowder visits the Sainted Vet...

[badgerpup]

Took the clowder into the vet for their 10,000 mile checkup and ear-cleaning...which Esme needed very badly. Weird...Esme spends most of her time inside, yet she was the one with the funky ears...her left ear looked like she had a mud factory in there. Poor kitty... The boys, not so much, but it's still Animax all around for a few days.
This means I have to go out and buy more catnip; they gets da 'nip after I put stuff in their ears or down their throats, and they KNOW this. Think this is part of the reason they are so cooperative.

They were their usual "made me so proud" selves at the vet. Wimsey didn't care for his 'proctological procedure', but he tolerated it with only minimal cussing and not even a threat of bloodshed.
Esme cussed a bit, but that ear-cleaning must have hurt, judging by what was coming out her ears...especially the left one... :yoiks:
and D'Artagnan didn't even growl! O8)
But then Sainted Doctor Dave did talk to him and explained everything that was going on to him. I think that helped.

Riktor, however damn near made me cry. Got him out of his carrier* and he crouched on the table in a state of abject and resigned fear. He wasn't fighting; he was utterly and completely passive. This isn't the same as 'cooperative'; a cooperative cat engages in what's going on. Riktor didn't. I picked him up and held him to try to comfort him, and my aloof, elegant, enigmatic, too-cool-for-anything little guy CLUNG to me and hid his head in my neck.
He managed to summon up a purr...but not the happy kind. It was the 'trying to get the endorphins going because I'm SCARED and I feel miserable' type of purr that some cats do.
No revenge or retaliation when we got home...but I was glad I didn't have to work that night, because Riktor needed a LOT of laptime, petting and reassurance.
As I said, this boy is usually very independent, aloof, and 'too cool to see you now'.**

Why does this affect me so? I'm doing the Right Thing...I'm making sure he has the best care I'm capable of giving him...and I think he understands this, that I'm not 'torturing' him or being mean. Yet to see him so abject and passive and fearful just about breaks my heart...and this is just for an ear-cleaning!


* got a couple of Boots and Barkley carriers at Target...very nice- they're big enough for even Wimsey. They've got wheels and a pull-up handle as well as a strap. Sainted Vet commented on them, as did a few fellow 'parents'...so I'm passing along. Target's got 'em, and they're nice. :thumbsup:
** Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy reference...Zaphod Beeblebrox's business acquaintance Zarniwoop who is 'too cool to see you now'.

[BrklynLiberal]

1. Awwww..poor babies. It is so hard when you cannot explain to them.

Is there ANY way to get the vet to come to your home so the trauma is not so bad??????

I hope Riktor is feeling better now...your description of him was heart-wrenching.

[Sanity Claws]

2. I've seen the passivity that you saw in Riktor

It is so sad when a cat does that.

Hugs to your clowder.