Monday, October 6, 2014: Our First Appointment with the Vet

Tommy woke me up during the night when she needed some attention. This time she spent the rest of my sleeping time up curled up near my head. I know that it was only a few hours, but it’s showing that she’s feeling more comfortable.

We had a usual morning and I headed off to class. When I returned we just hung out fro the couple hours until we needed to leave to have our first appointment with our veterinarian. There was nothing wrong with Tommy, but I just wanted to establish a rapport with a vet so that when we needed her for shots or illness, she’d already know us.

I put out her carrier so she could see it and get reacquainted with it. When it was time to go, Tommy didn’t want to stay in the carrier. She would enter, but would try to escape before I could zip it up. I’d never had that much trouble, so this was a surprise. I finally got her in and we left for the animal hospital.  She doesn’t like riding in the elevator, so she was quite vocal during that part of our trip.

When we got to the small animal hospital. Everyone was very nice and helpful.  We were escorted into an exam room and I got Tommy out of the carrier and on the exam table.  It wasn’t long before Cassie, the tech. came in and did the preliminary work. Tommy was very cooperative and really liked Cassie. We found out that Tommy now weighs 9 pounds and 2 ounces. When I got her three months ago she weighed 6 ½ pounds. She is definitely eating well and enjoying the good life.

Dr. Becky came in and she and Tommy hit it off right away. Then Tommy had her exam. Becky needed to remove a little tartar and then took her temperature. Although it wasn’t a pleasant experience Tommy just tried to squirm away, but didn’t bite, hiss, or scratch.  We all felt sorry for her.

After the preliminary work was done, Tommy and I were given some time alone in the room. Tommy jumped down and explored. It seemed to take her mind off the exam. When the Dr. Banks returned Tommy was ready to go explore the rest of the building. Little did she know that there were a couple more tests and Becky would be taking her to the lab to draw blood, so she just picked up Tommy and off they went to the lab.

When they returned, Tommy was put on the exam table and she immediately jumped into her carrier. We all laughed because we knew the trouble I had getting her in the carrier. It seemed that Tommy was now ready to leave.

We finished and checked out and waited for the results. She’s in great health, but we need to watch her calorie intake. It was suggested that part of her diet consist of moist food, so we’ll be trying that starting tomorrow. I also probably need to be a little more conservative with the treats, but just a little more because she’s very close to her ideal weight.

When we got home, Tommy ate the couple dental treats that she wouldn’t eat at the exam. The day had been pretty stressful for her, so she spent much of the rest of the day napping. She would get up every so often, check on me, get water and/or food and head back to sleep.

During the evening she got up and jumped up on top of her scratching post in the living room which has a platform on top. She’d never done that before, so I’m not sure what prompted her action. When she jumped down, she looked at me and it looked like there was blood coming out of her eyes. I raced for a wet cloth and came back to clean the area.

Tommy wasn’t happy when I tried to clean around her eyes and once I started I saw that it wasn’t blood, but just her natural darker spots around her nose. The light had played a trick on me and Tommy wasn’t amused. She didn’t want to play but did run around the condo.

Later Tommy decided that it was play time and of course that meant the fleece teaser. We played with that for a while, but then Tommy went from vigorously to halfheartedly to barely playing.  It was time for bed, so I turned off the lights and went into the bedroom.  Tommy stood by the doorway, so I went back and told her it was time for me to sleep. She then came into the bedroom and sat near her scratching post. I got ready for bed and put her treats in the usual spot on the bed. Just as I was ready to turn off the lights, Tommy jumped up on the bed and ate her snacks. I knew that she’d be sleeping “below,” but would wake me up during the night. I turned out the lights and was glad that we had made it through the day.