Animal Adventures

On Friday, I had to take both cats to the vet. I (thought I) had arranged to leave them both for the day so I could pick them up after work. Darshin needed an exam and his yearly vaccines and Tiffin needed to be spade and have a microchip put in.

Friday morning, I get ready for work. I then put both cats into the two carriers and leave the house. I put Darshin in the bigger, hard sided carrier. Tiffin got the soft sided one that can be carried over my shoulder like a bag. OK, so I had both cats in their carriers. I went down the stairs. I started walking to the train station. I got to the train station, was lucky that nobody was really guarding the entrance and snuck both cats on. We rode to the stop. And then the 20 minute walk began. It was a windy day and the walk would normally take 10 minutes but Darshin is really heavy and it is awkward carrying a cat in a carrier. Especially when he keeps moving around the carrier and changing the weight balance. I had to stop a couple times because my hands were getting sore from the carrier.

At 9:45 AM I got to the vet. That was the time that I was supposed to be able to drop the kitties off. I waited outside in the cold until 10:00 when they let us in. I then waited to check the kitties in. They took Tiffin away quickly and told me to wait with Darshin. I waited. And waited. And then the vet called us in. He examined him and gave him his shots and sent me home. Now, that would normally be fine except that I then had to go back home to drop him off and then go into work instead of just going into work.

So, I leave and walk the 20 minutes back to the train station. Because Darshin is 13 pounds (6.3 kilos), he got really heavy. I kept switching which side I carried him on. I put the carrier on my shoulder. I stopped for a rest a bit. Finally, we got to the train station, waited for the train and got off. I then had the 10 minute walk back home. Again, I had to keep switching how I carried him because my hands were so sore. When I carried him on my shoulder (the carrier, that is), people looked at him and commented a lot. People were in awe that I was carrying a cat around in city centre. Did they move out of my way, no. They just marveled at my kitty in his carrier on my shoulder.

Finally we got home, and I let Darshin out of the carrier. He purred and purred. I grabbed the paperwork for the cats that I had forgotten to take earlier, and headed to the bank and post office to pay my phone bill.

I got to work at 12:45 PM. Just in time for lunch. I worked until about 5:30 when I had ordered a taxi to pick me up to take me to pick up Tiffin. I had to wait about 20 minutes for it to arrive. We got to the vet's office and they handed me a very groggy Tiffin. I gave them the forms to fill out and at one point they take Tiffin back. She growled when she saw the vet tech. (Darshin also growled most of the time he was at the vet's and yes cats can growl). They took her away from me and I got to wait. And wait.

Finally I got her back and we left the vet's. Again, I walked to the train station but it was much lighter and easier with Tiffin because she was slung over my shoulder. The wind batted her carrier around a bit, though. When we got home, I let her out of her carrier to find her dripping wet. She had urinated in the carrier! The fabric carrier. I transferred her into the hard sided carrier because I didn't want her sitting in her urine and I certainly wasn't going to let her run around the apartment that way.

So, I text John to see when he'll be home so he can help me clean up Tiffin. He's still at the pub. He gets home about 9:00 and we eat dinner. Then we clean up Tiffin. By this time, the anesthetic has worn off and she wants out of the carrier. We had to lock her in the bathroom and I held her while John used a rag to wipe her down. We couldn't give her a real bath since she had stitches. So, she got her sponge bath but wouldn't cooperate with being dried off. We had to let her go still quite wet but she just licked herself dry. I felt bad, though, because I was told not to let her get cold or run around too much.

So now Tiffin smells like Caineal used to after a bath (all I had was puppy/dog shampoo or human soap) and has a shaved side and a small scar. She'll look funny for a while.

Sometimes, I really miss having a car...