Wednesday, September 14, 2005
Clean bill of health
A couple of days ago, I mentioned we were trying to tame an outside not-so-stray cat that has been living around my girlfriend's house for several years. Well, we caught it and it has been living in her room for the past 6 days. Each day, I've spent a little more time with her, petting her and getting her used to hanging around inside and with people, as well as having people touch her.
Well, today was the day she went to the veterinarian's office for her "checkup." We put her in a crate (which she was not happy about) and carted her off to the vet. What happened next is truly a miracle.
When we talked about taking her to the vet, I must admit I was a little nervous. The cat was just getting used to being inside and around us - I didn't know what would happen if she were transplanted out of that "safe" environment and into a veterinary office with people she had never seen before. I was worried there would be a biting or a scratching.
I was dead wrong. We got there, and aside from her being nervous and crying, she did wonderfully. She was very tame - there was no problems at all. She tested negative for FIV (Feline immunodeficiency virus - kitty-AIDS, basically) and feline leukemia virus, which was a relief. Since we knew she had spent a long time outside, we were concerned she may be infected with one of those, which is basically a death sentence. But she was negative.
We did get one shock during the visit, though; apparently, the cat is nearly 10 years old. The doctor said based on the cat's teeth and eyes, he would guesstimate her age between 9 and 10 years old! That is pretty amazing, since most outside cats live only 6-7 years. This went to confirm our suspicion that she had lived indoors at least at some point in her life, to be able to survive to 10 years old.
Other than being a little thin (and showing signs of previous malnutrition), the doctor gave the cat a clean bill of health. What a relief!
Anyway, we got her vaccinations, got her a collar and a name-tag. Now she is just like a regular cat... domesticated and everything (mostly). ¶ 9:37:00 PM
Well, today was the day she went to the veterinarian's office for her "checkup." We put her in a crate (which she was not happy about) and carted her off to the vet. What happened next is truly a miracle.
When we talked about taking her to the vet, I must admit I was a little nervous. The cat was just getting used to being inside and around us - I didn't know what would happen if she were transplanted out of that "safe" environment and into a veterinary office with people she had never seen before. I was worried there would be a biting or a scratching.
I was dead wrong. We got there, and aside from her being nervous and crying, she did wonderfully. She was very tame - there was no problems at all. She tested negative for FIV (Feline immunodeficiency virus - kitty-AIDS, basically) and feline leukemia virus, which was a relief. Since we knew she had spent a long time outside, we were concerned she may be infected with one of those, which is basically a death sentence. But she was negative.
We did get one shock during the visit, though; apparently, the cat is nearly 10 years old. The doctor said based on the cat's teeth and eyes, he would guesstimate her age between 9 and 10 years old! That is pretty amazing, since most outside cats live only 6-7 years. This went to confirm our suspicion that she had lived indoors at least at some point in her life, to be able to survive to 10 years old.
Other than being a little thin (and showing signs of previous malnutrition), the doctor gave the cat a clean bill of health. What a relief!
Anyway, we got her vaccinations, got her a collar and a name-tag. Now she is just like a regular cat... domesticated and everything (mostly). ¶ 9:37:00 PM
