Vet Visit: Ve Ching & Missy

Ve Ching, waiting to go home. 


Missy, after tormenting the vet. 

A vet once told me that animals have two basic response when they arrive at the clinic. They are either very frightened and become very still, allowing the vet to do whatever, or they become aggressive and try to fight the vet at every turn. Sad to say, my two boys are the very frightened ones that will let the vet do anything to them, while my two girls are the fight-like-hell ones. (Read about Harmony's Vaccination Day). Well, at least you can't accuse them of adhering to stereotypes.

Bringing Ve Ching and Missy to the vet is a 2-man operation, that's why we made the appointment for last Saturday. They both have to be picked up and put into their carriers at the exact same time. Otherwise the other will get spooked and run under the bed to hide. In fact, the carriers have to be opened and placed by the front door the night before. Because once the carriers are taken out, everyone (kitties that is) usually runs to hide. It's only after a few hours that they deem it safe to come out of hiding.

Saturday's appointment ran true to form. Ve Ching was nervous and meowed all the way from our flat down to the car. In the car, we faced his carrier to Missy's and covered them both with a towel and he finally quieten down. Missy only started meowing halfway through the car ride cos she wanted a view and didn't appreciate having her carrier covered with the towel.

At the vet's waiting room, Ve Ching crouched as low as he could in a corner of his carrier, while Missy stuck her head out and had a good look around when I opened the top of the carrier. She even tried to come out for a wander when I put her carrier down on the floor for a few seconds.

In the consultation room, Ve Ching let himself be weighed, looked over, pilled and injected in under 3 minutes. Missy, on the other hand, protested at being weighed, growled so loudly that the vet couldn't hear her properly through his stethoscope, pushed the deworming pill out of her mouth with her tongue (the vet gave up after 3-4 tries), but was finally injected and popped back into her carrier.

I'm glad to report that both had no reactions to their vaccinations and are back to their usual routine of sleeping, eating and playing.