I brought Floki to the vet on Wednesday because his groomer, who normally trimmed his nails, went out of business. Since Floki is a category 5 tornado when it comes to doing anything halfway unpleasant, the vet was the only nearby option. Since he was going to the vet, my wife thought it would be good to have the bumps on his neck checked out, so we scheduled him for a checkup as well as a nail trim. It was the first time either of our cats have visited the vet since before we moved here almost two years ago.

His appointment was at three, but my wife had to get on a conference call at two-thirty. Since I needed her help to catch the tornado, we managed to get him in the carrier five or ten minutes before her meeting.

I drove the ten minutes to the vet and was there twenty minutes early. About ten minutes after three, they put me in a room and then made me wait there with Floki for ten minutes shy of an eternity. I wished I had brought a razor.

Eventually they took Floki to the back and a while later the vet came in to talk to me. He told me his flea collar was causing the bumps on his neck. He said Floki was probably irritated by it and was scratching his neck near the collar. He told me he was not a fan of flea collars for that reason. He then said that he couldn’t do an exam on Floki because his three-year rabies vaccination had recently expired and state law forbade him from examining an unvaccinated pet. I thought the requirement was stupid for an indoor cat. I also wondered how he examined him to determine the cause of the bumps around the neck, but I didn’t ask.

It is here where I need to explain why we started using the Serresto collars. When Floki got the rabie’s vaccination, they also applied a topical flea medication to him. When he returned home, he walked around the house like a drunk sailor. He even fell over a couple of times. It was concerning but we didn’t know if he was reacting to the flea medication or the vaccine. To be safe, the next time he needed a flea treatment we switched to the collar.

I told my concerns to the vet. I said I hesitated to get him vaccinated because I didn’t know if that was the cause of his reaction. The vet suspected it was more likely the vaccine than the flea medication. He suggested a one-year vaccine which is less potent. I felt backed into a corner, so I agreed to the vaccination.

They took Floki away for a while and when the vet tech came back, she said Floki had an ear infection. They cleaned his ears, which was almost impossible because he was like a little twister. It’s funny she said “twister” because we use the same word to describe him. It is why we have to have someone else trim his nails. She also mentioned problems with his teeth and suggested we bring him in for a dental cleaning.

They gave me the medication and said I needed to put it in Floki’s ears every day. I told her there was no way we were going to be able to hold him down to put medicine in one ear. Two ears would be out of the question. She said if he were a dog they had a long lasting antibiotic but they didn’t have it for cats.

I called them the next day to learn about the teeth cleaning but the person at the desk didn’t know what I was talking about because it wasn’t on his chart and the vet was in surgery all day. She eventually got back to me saying we should brush his teeth every day. Really? The vet said that after experiencing him firsthand?

She did say we could bring him in for a cleaning which starts at well over $600 and could go higher if there are issues. There are always issues.

We did find out that they do have an option for a one-time antibiotic for his ears and we have an appointment for him Wednesday morning for that treatment. I also ordered a couple of treats designed to clean teeth. I know it is not the same as brushing, but we can only do what we can do.

I didn’t have a picture of Floki at the vet except for the one I already used so I thought I would post one of Frankie and Floki that I haven’t used yet.