I took Napolion for his first vet visit this week. He was overdue for some shots, but I wanted him to come to like us before I whisked him to the torture place. The time had come.
He almost seemed to enjoy it. Our two previous cats were strays that never really lost their wildness. Cat carriers, car rides, vet offices were NOT welcome parts of their worlds. Napolion took it all as just another part of his day.
So it was all going smoothly. Meego was with me as he had a day off school, and we arrived a little early as instructed to fill out paperwork for the new patient.
As we were in the waiting room, the receptionist was on the phone. It was clear from her side of the conversation that she was discussing having a pet euthanized. I was pretty sure the client on the other end of the conversation was upset and crying. It was going something like this:
Receptionist: Do you want to be in the room with her?
----- No, that's fine. You can just drop her off and we'll take care of everything.
----- Why don't you bring her in around 5:00...
----- Yes, I know... Well, 18 years is a long time, that shows how well she was cared for.... I know, but their bodies just can't last much longer than that...
---- It's okay, we'll take care of everything.... yes....
---- Okay.... okay..... yes.... Okay, you should just bring her NOW.
I was already feeling bad for this poor (I assumed) woman. Letting a pet go across the rainbow bridge is never easy, and I got the feeling that she just wasn't prepared.
Later, we were in the examination room enjoying Napolion's antics with the tech. Then the tech left to summon the vet and get the vaccines ready. As we waited, the woman from the phone arrived.
Oh, the wailing, the sorrow in her voice. She was really not in a good place.
Then I heard some small commotion followed by the receptionist's voice over the PA system into the back area, hailing a technician.
"I need you up front NOW!"
There were more comforting words, more murmurings and wailing. Things seemed to settle down a bit, then it was pretty quiet. This was followed by
**whisper** I don't know.. **whisper ** she's going to...**whisper**whisper**we'll have to..**
Eventually our tech returned, followed by the vet. She apologized for the wait, they'd had an "emergency".
No problem.
Then we watched as our young, healthy, funny cat charmed everyone in the room while being put through the paces.
A couple of weeks ago, I discovered that one of Tessa's tires was flat. I figured I'd run over some glass near the house because it didn't go flat while I was riding. When I patched it, the hole was quite small, but enough to release all the air in seconds.
I remembered seeing Napolion playing with my bike after I'd come home that previous day. Could he...? Nah... could he?
 |
| Well, it's POSSIBLE that I popped your bike tire... |
No problem.
This time.
.
7 comments:
Pets are such a joy but saying goodbye to them is SO very hard.
Napolion seems like he's really settling in with your family and with civilized life. I'm glad you can forgive him for the alleged tire popping. This time. :-)
Whoa. If the claws are strong enough to pop the bike tires, I am impressed!
Wailing? Seriously? I mean I love my cats - and I lost two within six months of each other, and they were not old - but have some dignity, people.
SORT OF innocent until proven guilty...
Claws or teeth - he's old enough to where they're both pretty strong, but young enough to where they're both pretty sharp. Still... I dunno...
Yeah, wailing. I felt bad for her, but come on. One of the staff had to take her to the hospital.
Awwwww! Napolion is super cute! What a good cat!
Ugh - I would hate to have to be the one to deliver that kind of bad news about a pet to anyone. That's terribly sad.
I like your labels for this post: "observations, pets, sad". Your kitty is so sweet. I have decided that I would like to get a cat rather than a dog for now. They are more independent. Now I have to work hard on my husband, who does not like cats.
I was in the vet waiting room once when there was a crying woman there, too. Her dog was so thin; I think she said he had cancer. I felt so bad for her.
I like the picture of the devious little Napolion.
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