Oscar hasn't been to the vet in several years; my Virginia vet didn't think
cats needed to do annual checkups.  Her vaccinations were almost up, though,
so I made an appointment with the same vet that saw Eros, which is to say, an
acquaintance of ours.

Oscar, of course, didn't much care for my plans.  She knew something was up,
and she struggled when I picked her up and brought her down the stairs to the
carrier.  In she went, and the meowing started.  I carried her into the car
and wedged the carrier tightly behind the passenger seat; the meowing
continued.  As I drove, I tried soothing words, meows, and finally silence;
nothing phased her.  The tone did occasionally change from a strident "Let me
out, now!" to a softer, more desperate, "Please?  What have I done that you
hate me so?"  I imagined that she must feel terribly betrayed.  I felt awful.
I kept driving.

Once at the vet's, there was no wait; straight back to an exam room we go.
The room was much bigger than I've seen at other vets.  I opened the carrier,
but Oscar didn't express much interest in jumping out.  I picked her up and
held her, and for the first time since, well, the last visit, she stayed in my
arms without complaint; without even fidgeting.  In fact, she seemed to try to
meld herself to me.  So scared =/

Janet arrived, and we spoke for a while.  Eventually she helped me gently peel
Oscar off of my shoulder so that we could weigh her; 9lb 13oz, less than I had
expected. We talked about her health (good) and her weight (possibly a tiny
bit pudgy, but not much).  I kept petting Oscar; Janet tried to reassure her
as well; Oscar was immobile with fear.  Janet was able to slide Oscar around
on the table, angling her this way and that, and Oscar just wouldn't move.
The only signs of overt displeasure she gave were during the three shots --
two vaccines and one big fat ID chip.  She hissed, then, and growled in a way
I haven't heard since Eros left.

Janet and I spoke about the dry vs. wet food debate.  She said that she's been
coming around to disliking dry food over the years.  The reasoning was new to
me.  She said that dry food seems to be associated with feline diabetes, and
she's even been able to stop giving some cats insuline after switching them
to wet.  She also said that cats sense that they're full based on fat and
(maybe?) protein they've absorbed, so dry food, with all its carbs, takes
longer to make them feel full.  She pointed out that this made diet food even
worse, since they need to eat more to get enough fat to stop eating.  And she
said that dental issues seem to be cat-specific; she's seen cats in the same
household, fed the same things, have drastically different teeth.

End result, I'm going to try feeding oscar canned for the first time.  I'm
planning to buy nutro, since that's the dry food that seems to work best for
her.  I guess I shouldn't buy too much, in case she doesn't like it.  Janet
didn't see a problem with me continuing to free-feed Oscar when we're on
vacation, or to have some dry food available for snackies, though she warned
me I may have to hide away the dry food for a while to convince Oscar to eat
the wet.

Oscar was so scared that she didn't even object to being put in her carrier,
and she stayed silent the whole ride home, except for a single errant meow.
Once she got home, she of course got treats and praise, but she wasn't much
interested in being anywhere near me, that's for sure!  I hope she'll have
forgiven me by the time I get home.