Angel Whispers

Dennis's Day Out

When I moved house I had to register with a new Veterinary Practice and have planned on taking Dennis for a check up. It’s something I kept putting off for various reasons, mainly because I’m a coward. However, a few weeks ago I received a card in the post asking me to make an appointment for his annual vaccination so had to bite the bullet.

It seemed quite a daunting prospect. First of all what time to make an appointment with a cat who doesn’t acknowledge time, own a watch or follow orders? He has some routines, but I never know whether he’s going to spend the night indoors or out. If I made an appointment first thing in the morning he may not appear if he’d been out and if he’d been in the first thing he’d want to do is go out. In the end I decided an afternoon appointment would be best for both of us as I’m not a morning person anyway.

The next problem was to make sure Dennis was actually in at least half an hour before the appointment. As he tends to use the house rather like a feline hotel he usually pops in for a meal, a quick stroke, then off he goes again. I decided the only thing I could do was to make sure that once he was in the house I’d then go out myself until the allotted appointment so that he couldn’t escape or stand pathetically meowing at the door. Of course on the day he decided to come home at ten in the morning which meant I had to shoot out leaving him indoors and spend the next four hours roaming around town.

The next stage was to get him into his carrier. Not having used it since he was a small kitten I wasn’t even sure if he’d fit in it as he’s grown into quite a large cat. I approached with caution in a sweat, wondering if I’d be able to cram him in first time or if I’d have to fold him up in order to actually get him in it. Thankfully I managed on the first attempt and swiftly fastened it up. Apart from a bit of scratching there was little protest thank goodness.

I then waited for the taxi to pull up. Thankfully it arrived on time and Dennis behaved himself during the short journey to the vets. Of course I was early so sat in the waiting room with my heavy cat carrier wondering what lay ahead.

The vet was a very kind gentleman and gently removed Dennis from his carrier with no problems. With the help of an assistant he managed to vaccinate, flea and worm Dennis who didn’t make a murmur or attempt any scratching or biting during the whole process. The vet informed me he’s a lovely cat and that I could bring him as often as I wanted to. Despite the compliment I hope that won’t be something I have to do.

All that was left now was to get in the taxi home and release the cat back into his home. It was a great relief the ordeal was over and Dennis was able to return to his activities showing no signs of distress. Later in the evening I opened a bottle of wine and allowed Dennis the choice of what to watch on television as a reward.