I love my cat Little Guy.  He’s my handsome & special little boy.  He is getting a little older though.  He’s about 8 years old.  Recently, he’d had a lot of eye boogers and a little lump on his side, like a nipple, so I brought him to the vet.

look at his little tongue!

I’ve always put off taking the cat anywhere because it’s difficult.  He hates the carrier.  Not in the way of it is difficult to get him in there, but once inside the carrier he wastes no time pissing and shitting on himself.  In order to calm him for his trip, I bought a calming spray for animals that you spray in their carrier before a trip.  I left his carrier out in the living room for a few days for him to get used to it being there and investigate it if he needs to.  All of these precautions worked because Little Guy did not wet his invisible pants or drop a cat carrier deuce.

I’d chosen Banfield Pet Hospital at PetSmart near me because they have a good reputation.  I also really like PetSmart because of their charities, works with shelters and rescues and it’s a good place to shop in general.  I signed him up for their Wellness Plan, which is like health insurance for cats.  It’s a really good value.

Things went fine.  Our first appointment was two weeks ago.  I waited a little longer than I’d liked but all in all, I’m really pleased with that place.  My vet is so nice, great with Little Guy and very smart.  She did some blood work on Lil’ G, gave me an ointment for his eyes, cleaning solution for his ears and took some blood to run general tests to gauge his health.  The vet also noticed that Little Guy has a kneecap that pops out sometimes, and has been like that since birth most likely and recommended a glucosamine supplement to prevent arthritis in the future.  The nipple-like lump I noticed?  Nothing more than what would be called a skin-tag on a human.  Like a mole. She also said that fatty needs to lose weight and said it would be best to switch to a wet-food only diet.  Other than that, she said he was very healthy and looked good and sent me on my way with a follow-up in two weeks.

on the exam table

Later that day I received a voicemail from the vet about his bloodwork.  One of his enzymes was slightly elevated, from fighting off the eye infection we went in for, and his platelet count was low.  She said it wasn’t anything to worry about right now and that we would re-check his platelets at his next appointment to see where he stands.  I didn’t panic, because I know that once you let that panic rat out of its cage, it’s hard to get a hold of again.  There was nothing I could do about that as it was, so I just continued with the course of treatment as the doctor prescribed – ointment twice a day, wet food, ear cleaning twice a week and glucosamine treat supplements.

Today was his follow-up.  I’d been nervous, I’m not going to lie.  I was really hoping that his carrier-phobia had been cured and that he’d be 2 for 2 with not peeing and pooping on himself.  I was more hoping that his bloodwork was OK today.  I got all his stuff ready, switched purses so I could bring his folder of paperwork, his medicines, and the treats to see what the vet thought of them.  Know what I didn’t switch to my purse?  My wallet.  So after his exam, which went great, while he was getting his blood drawn and his rabies vaccine, I drove home in the pouring rain to get my wallet (and switch to sneakers from flip-flops), and drove back to get my kitty.  On the way back though, the panic started to set in.  What set it off was walking into my house to get my wallet and no kitty greeting me at the door.  I started to worry “what if there is something wrong with him, and I lose him?  What about all those days I will walk through that door with no Little Guy there?!”  It was a rough trip back to the vet’s office.  Right as I was pulling into the parking lot, one of the techs called me and I said “I’ll be right in, I’m just parking now.”  I thought that maybe they were just calling me to remind me about how I left my cat there.  But I was surprised when I got there that the blood test results were back already.  His platelet count is NORMAL!  Thank goodness.  I was so happy I could cry.  All I could think the whole ride there was “what if my cat has cancer…. what if… what if….”  And that’s that.  With just that one normal test result, we don’t have to go back until January.  He’ll be back a bit sooner though for a teeth cleaning (covered in his Wellness plan!), but I figured I’d give him a month off from going to the vet.

Little Guy has been a very good boy through all of this.  He’s happy & healthy, and since switching to wet food, he’s already lost 0.2 pounds.  That might not sound like a lot to you, but it’d be like a human fatty losing 2 pounds.  Lil’ G-Unit is on his way to being a lean, mean meowing machine.

Yeah!  I’m OK!