I just couldn't let the kittens go on any longer without shots,
defleaing and deworming, at the very least.  So I finally found
someone to take me to the Petco so I could get them taken care of.
And I wanted to take Arthur along, because the vet there is the same
one who diagnosed his asthma, and the Depo shot did not work, so I
wanted to know what to do next.

One friend said she could do it, but not until 7:00 pm (the clinic is
from 6-8 pm).  I called around, and they said they are not always
there until 8; it depends on how many people show up.  So I called
another friend, who could not be here until 6:30.  Still didn't think
that would get us there in time comfortably, so I called my ex-DH, and
he was able to come at 6:00 pm.  Yeah!

So he arrives and I go to put Arthur in his carrier. Unfortunately,
the last time Arthur was in that carrier was to get snipped.  And I
think he has a very good memory.  Heh.  He's usually a loving little
cat, who loves to ride on my shoulder and nuzzle my face.  But try
trimming his claws, and he turns into the squirmiest, wriggliest, most
stubborn little guy you could imagine.  Little did *I* imagine it
would be the same for the carrier.

I tried.  He scratched.  He ran.  I tried.  He scratched.  He ran.  I
screamed "Grab the carrier!  No, grab the cat!  No, grab the carrier!"
as he went up and down the stairs and I chased him.  Finally, with
about six nasty scratches on me and bleeding everywhere, I managed to
get him into the carrier and slap on a bunch of band-aids.  Then I
easily put the kittens in their carrier, and we were off!

They weren't very busy, but there were some people, and the vet and
staff were still there.  He determined they are about 3 months old, so
I was a little off thinking they were 4 months by now.  And I sexed
them right -- yeah!  Kate really is a girl and Jack really is a boy.
He thought they were both sweet and adorable, but he just took in two
more kittens himself, and has eight now, so they're still with me for
now.

The kittens behaved perfectly, and got their distemper shots (too
young for rabies, the vet said), and their first worming meds.  They
gave me worming meds for the second dose 10 days later, and gave me
Frontline to put on them for the fleas.

Then Dr. Beer checked out Arthur.  "Poor guy," he said.  He
recommended I put him on 5 mg of Prednisone twice a day to start, and
then try to back it off to once a day.  I have some Pred left over
from before Sabra died, so I could start him on it right away.  It
seems like a lot to me, so I am actually putting him only on one a day
right now.  And he's just as happy about pills as he is about carriers
and claw trimming :-(  And after he scratched me to ribbons, I had the
foresight to bring my claw trimmers and ask the vet "Would you be so
kind as to trim his claws?"  He didn't have his trimmer, so I brightly
said "I brought mine!"  lol!  I had to hold Arthur up while he trimmed
them, and of course, get a couple more good, bleeding scratches on me
in the course of it.

We got home just fine, and of course Arthur was a bit spooked.  It
took him all of two or three hours to go back to his nuzzling, loving
self.  And the kittens were sore and tired and off their food for the
night, but the next day, they were right back to being the little
rowdy destruco-kitties they usually are :-)

And Arthur did better taking his pill yesterday.  He is a very smart
little guy,and I hope he is realizing it is making him feel better,
and I won't have to wrestle him so much in the future to get it down
him!

And Kate and Jack didn't lick off their flea medication, and are right
now contentedly curled up in their large carrier, napping.

ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzz.

Ginger-lyn

Home Pages:
 http://www.spiritrealm.com/summer/
 http://www.angelfire.com/folk/glsummer (homepage & cats)
 http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~summer/index.htm (genealogy)
 http://www.movieanimals.bravehost.com/ (The Violence Against
                        Animals in Movies Website)