Murphy Goes To the Vet

[kybearfuzz]

The other day I noticed something when Murphy, my orange striped behemoth of a kitty, yawned. One of his fangs was missing. While opening a cat's mouth with your fingers is a tricky, often blood-letting experience, I did it anyway. His gums had some odd black specks on them and his tooth was indeed gone. I decided that this warranted a trip to the vet.

Murphy's vet visits are few and far between because he's a healthy cat. So naturally he didn't recognize the cat carrier for what it was, his transport vehicle to stressville.

"Just imagine it's a Starfleet shuttle craft and you're Data's cat on a mission," I told him to hopefully get him to stop crying as we drove to the very nearby vet's office. It didn't work. Apparently, my cat isn't a Star Trek fan.

At 8 AM, we were seen right away. In the exam room, the technician took Murphy from the carrier and weighed him (14 lbs!) and took his temperature in a most indiscreet manner (normal temperature too).

My usually sweet, even-tempered Murphy always freaks when he's in the exam room. He smells all those other animals and gets very possessive and defensive of me. His tail balloons to three times it's normal volume. He begins the process of quickly shedding his fur like a stripper sheds to her pasties and g-string in a room full of horny sailors on payday. He rubs himself against me, back and forth, over and over, coating me with a layer of cat hair and scent as if to say, "He's mine, bitches, keep away!" When other people enter the room, he growls and hisses, which is very uncharacteristic of him.

Despite his weird behavior, the good news was that the gum specks were freckles that appear on orange-striped cats at his age and are totally harmless. The tooth is ... well.. just gone. No harm there either. So Murphy got his rabies booster and we were done. So after shoving his fat, furry, reluctant-to-cooperate ass back into the shuttle craft and paying the bill, we were on our merry way home. He didn't say much on the trip back, I think he was exhausted. At home he was his normal happy self.

The only negative for a morning vet visit is that I'm at the office late today :(

Comments

[dendren.livejournal.com]

"Just imagine it's a Starfleet shuttle craft and you're Data's cat on a mission,"

hehehehehehehehee... you crack me up. Glad to hear Murphy survived his trip into space fine and dandy.

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

Oh I was sure he was okay, but a little professional opinion to back it up never hurts :)

[mississippicub.livejournal.com]

glad everything is ok :)

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

Thanks, he's a good ol' kitty :)

[ericdabear.livejournal.com]

Good to know he's ok!

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

LOL.. thanks. He says he misses you and wants you to come visit again :)

[ericdabear.livejournal.com]

I will certainly do my best to come up and give him some scritches :)

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

Ah, I know I.. um.. he will enjoy that :)

[martini-tim.livejournal.com]

I'm glad to hear that Murphy is OK. I just went through this with my dog, and I think I would rather wrestle my sixty pound dog into the vet than a fourteen pound cat. Especially if the cat takes offense to the thermometer insertion.

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

I'm glad to know he's doing well too. And I was holding him down during the nasty thermometer incident. There was much growling.

[queensheba.livejournal.com]

Wow, I never knew orange striped cats develop gum freckles. I'll have to watch for that on my orange striped cat.

Glad Murphy is okay! Hope he recovers from the indignities as soon as possible.

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

According to the vet, they start to appear around 6 to 8 years of age, so yours might not have them yet.

I'm sure Murphy is snoozing on my bed right now, so all is right with the world.

[raphbearish.livejournal.com]

Just imagine it's a Starfleet shuttle craft and you're Data's cat on a mission.

The nerdiest thing I've ever seen you write. Ever.

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

Really? Sounds like something I need to work on .... :)

[sweetjimmyto.livejournal.com]

behemoth
Such a fine, underutilized word.
A finely crafted tale, as well. Thank you for sharing.

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

I like that word. When the vet makes comment about how big a cat you own, it seems to fit :)

[spatts5.livejournal.com]

Some animals like to be held down and have something shoved up their...oh did I just type that out loud?

Poor Murph, glad he's ok.

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

Ah, you see, poor Murphy is not like his dad...oops, did I just type that?? ;D

[mat-t.livejournal.com]

To join the chorus, I'm glad Murphy's all right. He's a sweet kitty. :)

And I love how nerdy the Star Trek line was. You're so dreamy. *g*

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

Ah, I hope to keep Murphy around for a good long while.

...and you're quite dreamy yourself :)