Definition of "tough"

Tough is: Driving a vehicle with a clutch home from the vet with one extremely pissed off and stressed out cat planted firmly at your feet.

Deb 25... ROTFLLLLLLLLLL!

Tough is: grabbing your 16 lb. gray hellion by the tail as he takes out the kitchen window screen in a frantic howling attempt to leap through it and disembowel the very nice dog who just moved in next door and had the temerity to look in HIS window.

Tough is: meeting the new neighbours after their unhurt but panicked dog ky-yi-yi's back to their deck and explaining that your cat's dog-killer tendancies surprised you as much as them as he growls menacingly in the background.

Thank goodness they had a sense of humor.

Tough is having your drugged cat escape from the carrier while going through Nashville at 5:00, and having him run laps around your head and neck!

Oh Deb, I'm sorry to hear your trip home from the vets was so much fun.....but at least it is over!!! Those other stories are cute, too!

Soounds like you didn't have fun driving home from the vet.

Does your kitty not like a carrier?? Mine doesnt' either, but I make her go in one for the very reason you just described.
Getting in an accident over my cat being p'd off is not an option!!

I use a carrier too, otherwise the cats get so nervous they pee all over the car.

To KrazyKat2: That must have been quite the nightmare! Were you scratched up badly? How'd you ever get him back in?

To Deb25: Not that driving with a stressed out cat at your clutch foot isn't a nightmare... I hope at least that the vet visit went well.

Oh, getting him in the carrier is a no-win prospect. He's in a harness and leash.

He isn't usually too bad. But the vet tech did a number on him with the fecal stick. I had to take him out to the car wrapped in a towel, and when I ran back in to give them their towel back, he took up refuge on the floor. He was already so stressed out and ticked off that I really didn't dare handle him. I tried to coax him out for awhile, but no luck. Finally when I started to go, he moved a tiny bit, but I was pretty much riding the clutch all the way home. Fortunately, he doesn't hold a grudge and was fine once we got home.

Phew!

I liked reading everybody else's stories though. The joys of owning a cat!

He finally ran out of steam, and I managed to stuff him back in the carrier and get the door shut. I looked like I was on the losing end of a fight with a cheese grater! This is wht I do not advocate use of tranquilizers. It makes them very unpredictable.

Deb25:

Fecal stick! Poor guy, that's nasty! I know what you mean about carrier issues... It's a real fight to get Bugs into the carrier, but harness and leash isn't safe enough because he can have serious panic attacks if he's carried into the vet's office. 'Course, once he's in and at the vet's, getting him out of the carrier is another problem... last time my poor DH had to disassemble the carrier to get him out.


KrazyKat2:

Poor cat and poor, poor you. That's interesting about tranqs... I've always avoided using them even if it meant travel hell (Bugs has this tendancy to howl the whole time he's in a car), but mostly because I was concerned that I wouldn't recognize a bad reaction to the drug if one occurred. So Bugs howls, and we take the Valium at the end of the roadtrip, LOL!

Last time Squirt was actually IN the carrier, the vet turned the thing upside down to expel him, and he had all 4 legs against the sides holding himself in! Last week, I managed to jam him in, but when I went to get Joey in too, he slipped out. By the time he is in the car in the harness, he is too scared to bolt. So, it usually is a good solution for me. Joey is the prince. He just trots into the carrier when I put it out.

The bad thing is that Squirt has to make 2 vet visits a week apart. He can't have all of his shots at one time, because he had an allergic reaction once. So, when visit #2 is only 7 days from visit #1, he has a clear memory of what is going on.

All four feet wedged against the sides of the carrier . . . oh I know that so well. I cracks me up laughing every time they do it.

Fifi and Balie are usually quite good to get into the basket - they're both quite small and don't struggle too much. Now Ferdy, my ex-stray - he goes MENTAL. He's such a strong, muscular little chap that I really have to use all my strength to try and get him in. Sometimes if he's being really determined it takes two of us (ah - memories of 'Cat Pills').

I found the way to get him in is to reverse him in - i.e., bum first. The only thing you have to look out for then is him headbutting the door while you're doing the straps up!!! LOL.

One day this plug in our house started smoking, and my mom's like, "um, Nath? The house might be on fire. Can you get outside?" so, naturally, I first run upstairs, grab the kitty carrier (designed for ONE cat) and have to shove all three of my girls inside. they were NOT happy kitties. luckily, it was a false alarm and the plug was just bad.

I leave the cat carrier sitting out, door open, so the cats aren't afraid of it. One of them will go in on her own and hang out. Getting her out of it at the vet's office is another story. I had to dump her out during her last visit.

I tried that when I first bought the carrier. months before any vet visit was scheduled. I left the thing out and open. Squirt wanted no part of it. Joey, of course, trots right in. He does that when it's time to go to the vet as well.

You've all had some harrowing carrier experiences! I have a carrier for Murphy that has a top & a bottom, bolted together. He's not too bad about getting in the carrier at home but, like everyone else, impossible to get him out at the vets. I just unscrew the bolts and take off the top. On some occasions, the vet has done part of the exam while he was still in the bottom of the carrier. Eventually, he gets curious enough to come out. When it's time to go home, I re-assemble the carrier and he makes a beeline into it because he knows he's going home.

I so need some type of top-loading carrier. This little door just isn't doing it for me. Funny thing is, I brought Squirt home from the Humane Society some 6 years ago in some box they provided. It was tons better than the carrier I eventually upgraded to.