We had a major fight yesterday morning between Chris and Frankie. If you didn’t see the post you can find it here. Since Frankie was the aggressor we decided to bring him to the vet but after making the appointment we thought Chris should go instead. That decision came because Chris has seemed slightly more lethargic lately and because Frankie was getting along fine with Floki and with me so I doubted that a physical condition was making him irritable.
Since moving, I haven’t found a new vet. When I looked for one yesterday morning none stood out above the others so I just picked the one that was the closest to home. I made a 3:30 appointment at The Animal Care Clinic of Largo.
I put Chris in Floki’s carrier, which wasn’t easy, and made it there five minutes early. After a short wait someone put us in an exam room and an assistant, or vet tech, came in and asked a few questions and then took Chris away to weigh him. She came back with Chris in one arm and the carrier in the other. I guess she knew better than to try to shove him back in there. She told me he weighed 18 pounds, which was just over the 17.9 pounds on his last vet visit.
While we waited for the vet, Chris did some exploring.
He then settled down next to me.
The vet then came in with her assistant and we talked for a bit before she examined Chris. She did a lot of squeezing around his stomach, which Chris did not like. She also tried to look in his ears but Chris has always had a problem with some kind of black gunk that grows in his ears. Another vet gave us an ear cleaner for him which we don’t use as much as we should because he is such a pain to work with.
She did say that when cats lose a sense, such as hearing, they become more defensive. She offered to clean his ears and when I found out she would do it for only twelve dollars I said go ahead. It wasn’t easy. They had to wrap him in a towel and he kept breaking free so they had to keep rewrapping him.
After the exam, she thought Chris was okay. She didn’t think he had diabetes because of his weight. I said that I thought diabetes was associated with weight gain but she said that cats lose weight and then gain it again after they are put on medication. She offered to do blood tests to rule out certain illnesses but she also seemed to doubt they were necessary so didn’t push them. She said basic blood work was $88 plus more for additional tests. Since I didn’t know what my cost was up to already I thought it would be better to save the money and bring Frankie in.
The vet spent a lot of time with us, more than any other vet in recent memory. That is why I was shocked when I saw the bill was $54. It seemed we could never leave our last vet for less than $180. If I had known, I might have said to go ahead with the blood tests. I might still bring him back after Frankie goes there.
Many of you were concerned about my injuries and I appreciate that. I can tell you that all my wounds seem to be healing fine except for my left index finger which is swollen right now. I am keeping an eye on it.
When Chris got home Frankie seemed fine with him and almost five minutes passed before a fight started and we had to separate them. Chris slept in our room last night (which means I got very little sleep) and we tried to reintroduce them this morning. Frankie seems over it but Chris hasn’t forgotten and growled at Frankie so we decided to keep them separated for a while longer.
Bad Cat Chris 
Sounds like you picked a good, caring and most of all reasonable vet! Close to home too. Sounds like she felt Chris was ok AND he got his gunky ears cleaned out which is also great. A good vet is worth his or her weight in gold that’s for sure. Glad your own wounds are looking alright other than the swollen finger but Neosporin ought to help!
Pam
I do feel good about making the right choice for a change. At least with the vet. I’m sure I will continue to make wrong choices in other areas.
We all do that – as Forrest Gump said, “life is like a box of chocolates”…..you really never know if you’ve made the right choice until you go for it!
At least with chocolate it’s hard to make a wrong choice. 🙂
we hope nothing is wrong with one of the boys… hugs to you and lots of POTP…
Thanks. We’ll see him on Frankie and Thursday but I think he’ll be okay.
Yes, it might take a while…baby steps. Let each lay on a towel for a week and them swap them out so each can (especially Chris) get used to the smell of the other.
Everybody seems fine tonight. Not best friends but fine. I guess they got over themselves.
After a fight like they had, it’s probably a good idea to keep them separate until you’re sure they’re both over it. I see some of the other commenters have made some good suggestions for you!
Frankie made an effort to end the war and Chris seems to be over it now.
It looks like you found a great vet. Separating them is a good idea, and you have some interesting suggestions above. We hope things can slowly go back to normal. Purrs
Thank you. They are getting better.
That is a good vet indeed. We had a somewhat similar situation with our late Bud the cat, who became suddenly aggressive with us for no reason. Our vet prescribed Zylkene, which has a milk-derived calmative, but nothing sedating. It worked well, you just sprinkle it on canned food. Bud ate it right up!
I tried to give Puck Prozac last year and nothing worked. Shoving it down his throat caused anxiety. Grinding it and putting it in his food caused him to not eat his food. We even had it compounded into a chicken flavored liquid but that didn’t work either.
so happy you found a good Vet! You are wise to still keep them separated for a bit, until things have cooled down. I worry about “Cat Scratch Fever” which you know is real, keep an eye on that finger!
Thanks. Things are calm tonight and I have put a half dozen things on my finger hoping at least one will help.
Yikes. I missed the fight yesterday, but I caught up. Wow! This is a weird development. I’m dying to see who has the problem and how it can be solved. Cat fights. Wow.
They seem ok now. Cross your fingers.
I wish I had that vet, $88 for blood work is amazing.
Yes, that is pretty reasonable.
It was actually $133. $88 was the basic tests.
It sounds like you found a good veterinarian! If your cats are like mine – prefer not to be in a carrier and ride in a car – having the clinic closest to you being the one with this veterinarian is a happy find indeed! I hope you have peace at last, too. It is alarming to have one’s kitties get into brawls. Jackson Galaxie oftentimes finds cats brawling are cats that need more escape routes where they live, but I would imagine you have a cat friendly home with your cat experience.
Chris and Frankie are both dominant males. The escape, I believe, are meant for the more passive cats. They all seem to gather around the bedroom door before it’s time for us to get up. That is where the incident happened. Tsuki hid under the bed in the spare bedroom when that happened. He didn’t want to get involved. We started calling him Switzerland. 🙂 Anyway, they seem to be getting along fine now.
Great! I can appreciate the door business as a battle ground. I personally don’t close the door since they don’t sleep with me in bed, but they are reliable “alarm clocks”, thanks to their perception of when kitty food time comes around. Andy waits while Dougy torments me till I get up.
We have to close the door because Chris is extremely annoying in the middle of the night.
They can be that! Dougy’s one of those cats that fluffs his tail in your face, kneads your arm or leg, walks from one end to the other on your body, and sticks his floofy face in yours, a ticklish situation. That goes on till you wake up or stop pretending to be asleep and get up to feed the kitties. Since I tend to have the early to rise schedule the cats follow, it isn;t a problem, but it would have been before I retired.
Chris has to kneed on my bare skin, like my neck. He also has to bite my nose. He will hook his paw around my nose or in my mouth so he can pull my face towards him so can reach my nose. He does this at random times all night long.
Oh no! That would get tedious very fast! I have to be sure Dougy doesn’t knead me on my dialysis fistula or that arm because of infection concerns, but he is generally most interested in my right arm for some reason.
I guess every cat likes something a little different.