Visit to the Vet

Bacardi was a good doll for most of the visit. She meowed her head off in the car as usual, but I did not let her out of her new carry bag. Just put my hand in and kept petting her. Did not take her out of the bag @ vets (waiting room) either, till we reached her consultation room inside.

Then I kept the bag on the vets table and opened it and she had to be coaxed out, but she sat down quietly on the table once she was out. No catch-me-if-u-can race around the office!

Then I hugged her while she sat quietly. No manic racing around the room, no scratching and clawing. Just let me stand and hug her while she sat in "bastet" position on the table. She then proceeded to let the vet peacefully take a look at her eyes, nose, ears and mouth. Which were all ok.

Then was time for her 2 annual shots. Anti feline rabies and the one for other cat diseases. The doctor turned around to get the injections out of the fridge. Bacardi immediately turned her head into the crook of my elbow as though she did not want to see the injection coming. Even the doctor was laughing at how cute she looked while she filled the syringe. The first one, the doctor gave her at the neck, giving her this shot was not a problem at all (such a huge change) but after the shot, the doctor ruffled her neck fur to soothe her, but this had the complete opp effect as madam doesn’t like anyone reaching at her neck.

So she started protesting. I held her and calmed her down and told the doc to give the second injection elsewhere. So she gave it to her in the rump, which she also was ok with.

Then told the doc I had started her on revolution a couple of months ago, which to me seemed to be good in controlling the fleas and ear mites but I wasn't sure about its efficacy as a worm medicine. I had carried the medicine details, but the doc already knew about this medicine. She also confirmed my fears that it wasn't effective for the worms (she told me this, before I mentioned my same fear)

So now had to give the brat her worm medicine tablet which is as large as a aspirin. I knew this was gonna be tough, so instead of hugging her, I now caught a tight hold on the 2 front legs close to her body and the vet tried to put the tablet in her mouth. It came out as promptly as it went in and then madam slobbered like crazy to get the taste out of her mouth.


The doc said don’t worry, we will make her have it. So in it went, in attempt no 2. The vet held her mouth closed and massaged the throat so she would swallow the tablet. For the first minute she refused to swallow, and managed to scratch me royally, then finally she swallowed, so the vet let go.

One reverse contraction by madam and out it was again and this time she slobbered more than before.

Now the vet was really determined to make it go in. She took some cheese out of the fridge, wrapped the tablet in the soft cheese and repeated attempt no 2. Madam spat it out from the side of her mouth.

For the fourth attempt, we rewrapped it in fresh cheese and this time covered all angles and held the mouth shut for 3 minutes, till we felt it go down the throat to a bit lower. Only then did we give her more cheese so she would focus on swallowing rather than regurgitating and this time it stayed down!

Dread the time when I have to give her the second dose in 14 days at home and this time I will have to do it alone! Will have to powder it and mix it with the tinned mackerel treats if I hope to have any of it go down.

Then there is a gland above the butt which secretes some stuff, which if not cleaned regularly could give rise to infection. I have never heard of this before, but the last time we cleaned it at the vets a year ago, a lot of icky stuff came out. This time there wasn't even 10% of the last time, so the vet said it was a good sign.

Once this was finished, I let her go, she promptly jumped down and ran to her bag and went inside and sat tight. She was very happy when I zipped her in. This is a good sign that she is starting to see the bag as a safe place, it will make it easier for us to get her in there if we need to transport her anywhere. (We just carried her around in our arms for the first year and our backs received a couple of scratches whenever something startled her, she also managed to break 2 thin chains around my neck on seperate occasions)

So this is the highlight of my month!

A relatively stress and fight and race free visit to the vet. and an all clear bill of health to my brat. :)


Note : My vet is really good and kind and gentle with the cat. She never rushes me, listens to everything I have to say and makes informed decisions. She is well read and up-to-date which is much more than I can say of many of the Doctors in Egypt that we have visited for ourselves.

She normally schedules surgeries on Saturday's. She spayed my cat a year ago and it was one of the smallest incisions that I have seen done for spaying here in Egypt.

Her contact information is here.