Kitty Trauma

I took my cat, Jackson, for his yearly physical and vaccinations today. Jackson hates going to the vet the way most people hate going to an IRS audit. Actually, Jackson may hate the vet worse than that.

Jackson understands that when the collapsible kitty carrier is retrieved from underneath my bed, where it stands idle approximately 362 days out of the year, bad things will quickly ensue. It will probably involve a ride in the car, another thing Jackson just hates and has always hated, even before he came to hate the vet so passionately.

So it was that we had a typical morning of going to the vet. I got the kitty carrier out from under the bed and assembled it while Jackson was elsewhere in my apartment. I then went on a hunt for Jackson, and found him perched on his kitty condo looking out the window, observing the morning's comings and goings. He heard my footfalls and turned towards me. I looked at him, and he at me. I walked towards him. He jumped down and tried to run. Jackson is not a dumb cat. He reads my emotions and facial expressions better than a fortune teller at a sideshow. He knew that I was coming after him for something. and whatever purpose I held it was not going to be to his liking. Fortunately, Jackson is not a very limber or agile cat, so catching him is not usually a problem. And so it passed this morning that I grabbed him handily and walked him back to my bed, whereupon sat the dreaded collapsible kitty carrier.

There are two ways to get a cat into a pet carrier. The first is to entice the cat into the carrier with treats, toys, gentle words of praise, food, anything that will appeal to the cat's desires to eat, play and be loved. In this way, the carrier becomes a safe haven, a little chamber wherein kitty can feel safe, not so much closed in but set apart from the world, free to enjoy his or her favorite things.

The second way is to push the cat bodily into the carrier through the gate on the top of the carrier, holding him/her with one hand and maneuvering kitty's paws and legs into the opening of the carrier with the other hand. Once the front paws and legs are in, one then must push down with nearly as much force as one can muster to get the head in, and the rest of the cat's body, limp from resisting, will soon follow.

Can you guess which method I used?

This was my first visit to a veterinarian's office in Chicago. This particular office was recommended by a colleague, someone who owns a dog and is owned by two cats. I was pleased with the vet, a lovely, seemingly ambitious professional woman who, as the framed copies of articles on her wall attest, is the first African American to open her own veterinary practice in Chicago in 20 years. She seemed very knowledgeable and was quite professional in her demeanor.

Jackson hated her instantly. This clinched it -- she must be good.

Unfortunately, Jackson has gained over a pound in the past year despite being on light kitty food with tightly regulated feedings. Coupled with his recent increased water intake and desire for more food than I am willing to feed him, the vet and I think he may be heading towards diabetes, a none too rare disease in kitties. This makes me unhappy, not only because I'm worried about the ill effects on his health, but also because this means that Jackson will suddenly become a much more expensive kitty to take care of.

First and foremost in the care of nearly any animal is feeding, not only what is fed but how often and in what quantity. My new veterinarian recommends a Purina diabetes formula dry food. On the web, I've found a couple of articles by vets advocating wet food because of the lower carbohydrate content versus dry food. Either way, my once every 3 months trips to buy a bag of Science Diet Light Hairball formula (which I just bought this weekend, of course) will soon be a distant memory. I seem to be faced with the choice of buying this premium Purina food at what I am sure will be a hefty cost, or switching Jackson to wet food, something he has never EVER had before.

I'm not sure how I'm going to handle this kitty health dilemma yet, but I do think some more research is in store. I am trained to seek out new knowledge, so I guess it's time I put my fancy degree to some use!

(Note to NIH reviewers out there -- this is a joke; I of course use my advanced degree [that you so graciously paid for] every day in the continuing pursuit of new knowledge! Yea, science!)