Emily's a rare cat. Since kittenhood she's actually enjoyed visiting the
vet. She likes all the shiny bottles and vials on the counter just out of
her reach; and she likes all the attention. But this created a problem
during today's visit. She began to purr. She purred when the vet pried open
her mouth to check her teeth. She purred when he examined her from tip to
tail. She even purred when he gave her two hypodermic syringes of serum. But
when he tried to hear her heart with the stethoscope, all he got was a deep
rumble. We tried everything to stop Emily purring. Finally we stood her on
her hind legs, and this confused her just long enough for the doctor to hear
her heartbeat before the rumble resumed. Dear little Emily - she always
finds some way to complicate things!
Katz - 17 Feb 2005 18:17 GMT
Moxie sometimes purrs at the vet's, too. He says it's because she's
nervous. Makes it hard to check her heart. Silly girls!
Katz
CatNipped - 17 Feb 2005 18:24 GMT
> Emily's a rare cat. Since kittenhood she's actually enjoyed visiting the
> vet. She likes all the shiny bottles and vials on the counter just out of
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
> the doctor to hear her heartbeat before the rumble resumed. Dear little
> Emily - she always finds some way to complicate things!
AAAWWWWWW! Even though it "complicates" hearing her heartbeat, I bet the
vet still would rather examine her than a hissy/spitty/bitey/scratchy cat
(like my Bandit! ;>).
Hugs,
catNipped
jmcquown - 17 Feb 2005 18:36 GMT
>> Emily's a rare cat. Since kittenhood she's actually enjoyed visiting
>> the vet. She likes all the shiny bottles and vials on the counter
[quoted text clipped - 16 lines]
>
> catNipped
Persia gets so scared at the vet she sticks her head under the vet tech's
armpit. It's like she thinks if we can't see her head she's not really
there! LOL
Cats DO purr (usually more loudly) to attempt to calm themselves down in
stressful situations.
Jill
Katz - 17 Feb 2005 18:42 GMT
> Persia gets so scared at the vet she sticks her head under the vet tech's
> armpit. It's like she thinks if we can't see her head she's not really
> there! LOL
Several of my cats have been known to put their heads in my armpit
while at the vet's. LOL. "Mommy, help!"
Monique Y. Mudama - 17 Feb 2005 22:45 GMT
> Several of my cats have been known to put their heads in my armpit while at
> the vet's. LOL. "Mommy, help!"
The vet office is the only place where I am allowed to hold Oscar for more
than 0.2 picoseconds. In fact, it's getting her to let *go* of me that's the
problem.

Signature
monique, who spoils Oscar unmercifully
pictures: http://www.bounceswoosh.org/rpca
Lorraine - 19 Feb 2005 02:49 GMT
>Several of my cats have been known to put their heads in my armpit
>while at the vet's. LOL. "Mommy, help!"
Cinder(RB) would crawl up and try to hide under my hair at the vets.
The first time she did it, I almost cried as I felt so sorry for her. I
knew she had to be really scared as that's the only place she ever did
that. She did regularly sleep in my bed on top of my hair though.
L.
JB - 17 Feb 2005 19:24 GMT
In <Ep5Rd.158$9B4.108@bignews1.bellsouth.net>,
jmcquown <jmcquown@bellsouth.net> shouted to everyone in earshot,
>Cats DO purr (usually more loudly) to attempt to calm themselves down in
>stressful situations.
Ahh, maybe that would explain Buck's purring as/after I gave her a
nice, wet bath when my cousins delivered her (and Grizzly) to my
house.
Heh, this thread made me remember one of Buck's vet visits... after
the tech weighed her and left the room, she was sitting on the scale
looking utterly terrified, so I went to pick her up, and she just
about took the scale with her (and she's not big at all). She calmed
down quite a bit by the time the vet was done with her, though. Back
then, she was scared of just about everybody she didn't know,
regardless of setting, but as the vet was writing on the charts, she
first peered up onto the exam counter (where he was writing) from the
bench beside it and then actually hopped up there and asked him for
scritches.
Jeff
CatNipped - 17 Feb 2005 20:07 GMT
>>> Emily's a rare cat. Since kittenhood she's actually enjoyed visiting
>>> the vet. She likes all the shiny bottles and vials on the counter
[quoted text clipped - 25 lines]
>
> Jill
AAWWWW poor baby! But that's so cute!
Hugs,
CatNipped
Gabey8 - 18 Feb 2005 18:10 GMT
[[Cats DO purr (usually more loudly) to attempt to calm themselves down in
stressful situations. ]]
It's either that, or else they're showing the person (ie, TED) who is
making them nervous, "See? I'm a FRIENDLY cat. A nice kitty. There's no
need to threaten ME."
Donna and the kitties who purr because they're spoiled rotten, Captain and
Stanley
Jo Firey - 18 Feb 2005 18:55 GMT
Its strange but cats do purr when they are stressed or in pain. Hard to
believe until you've held one that is doing it and really know why its
purring.
Jo
> [[Cats DO purr (usually more loudly) to attempt to calm themselves down in
> stressful situations. ]]
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> Donna and the kitties who purr because they're spoiled rotten, Captain and
> Stanley
Kreisleriana - 18 Feb 2005 18:59 GMT
>Its strange but cats do purr when they are stressed or in pain. Hard to
>believe until you've held one that is doing it and really know why its
>purring.
>
>Jo
Many years ago, a cat died in my lap. She was purring, and I always
hoped that she was relaxed and happy, but I was aware too that she
could have been in pain. I still pray it was the former.
Theresa
Stinky Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/125591586JWEFwh
My Blog: http://www.humanitas.blogspot.com
Sam Nash - 18 Feb 2005 03:57 GMT
> Emily's a rare cat. Since kittenhood she's actually enjoyed visiting the
> vet. She likes all the shiny bottles and vials on the counter just out of
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
> the doctor to hear her heartbeat before the rumble resumed. Dear little
> Emily - she always finds some way to complicate things!
Our Smokey Lo-o-oves his vet. Loud, rumbly purrs start as soon as he gets
into the office and don't stop until we leave. He's always anxious to get
into the office and doesn't want to leave. Doesn't matter what the vet does
to him, he's all purrs.
Gabey8 - 18 Feb 2005 18:07 GMT
[[Emily's a rare cat. Since kittenhood she's actually enjoyed visiting the
vet. She likes all the shiny bottles and vials on the counter just out of
her reach; and she likes all the attention. But this created a problem
during today's visit. She began to purr. She purred when the vet pried
open
her mouth to check her teeth. She purred when he examined her from tip to
tail. She even purred when he gave her two hypodermic syringes of serum.
But
when he tried to hear her heart with the stethoscope, all he got was a
deep
rumble. We tried everything to stop Emily purring. Finally we stood her
on
her hind legs, and this confused her just long enough for the doctor to
hear
her heartbeat before the rumble resumed. Dear little Emily - she always
finds some way to complicate things! ]]
LOL! Melody (RB) did exactly the same thing, the first time I brought her
and Harmony (also RB) to the vet. They were kittens and this was my
required "bring the cats to the vet after adopting them from the shelter"
vet appointment.
From the moment the checkup began, Melody purred her little fuzzy head
off, which was fine until it was time to check her heartbeat. NOTHING got
her to stop purring. The vet covered her eyes abruptly. PURRRR. He blew
air in the cat's face. PURRRR. He picked her up under her front legs only,
so that her hind legs were dangling just above the tabletop. PURRRR.
He finally had to give up on hearing her heartbeat. She was purring way
too loudly for him to hear anything. Any cat who can purr that vigorously
for that long must have a healthy heart, anyway.
Harmony, meanwhile, was fine when it came time to check her heartbeat. Her
TEMPERATURE, however, was another story. This was 1990, and they were
still using glass thermometers at the time. The instant that thermometer
went in, Harmony let out a screech fit to shatter every piece of glass
within a three-block radius. I can only imagine how long it took the
owners of pets in the waiting room to pry said pets off the ceiling after
Harmony produced that noise.
Needless to say, out came the thermometer at once. So much for taking
Harmony's temperature. No cat with the amount of energy it took to protest
that vigorously could possibly be running a fever, anyway.
So the end result was that I had one kitten with no heartbeat and one with
no temperature, but both received a clean bill of health. :o)
Donna, and the kitties whose first vet visit went MUCH more smoothly,
Captain and Stanley
Tanada - 20 Feb 2005 21:53 GMT
> Emily's a rare cat. Since kittenhood she's actually enjoyed visiting the
> vet. She likes all the shiny bottles and vials on the counter just out of
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
> her heartbeat before the rumble resumed. Dear little Emily - she always
> finds some way to complicate things!
Pine Cone did that with his first TEDs. It was an all women practice,
and Pine Cone loves the womens. He was the only cat that was displeased
when we switched to our current TED, Doc Stevenson. PC is a little
happier now, since Doc Stevenson took on a partner, a woman. PC purrs
his little fuzzy head off when she examines him, but shows Doc Stevens
his little PC fuzzy butt.
Pam S.
Julie Cook - 21 Feb 2005 03:07 GMT
> Emily's a rare cat. Since kittenhood she's actually enjoyed visiting the
> vet. She likes all the shiny bottles and vials on the counter just out of
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
> her heartbeat before the rumble resumed. Dear little Emily - she always
> finds some way to complicate things!
Awwww, what a sweet kitty. Give her scritches from me, she deserves them.
Julie