First Vet Visit

Little Red had his first vet visit on Monday of last week for his vaccinations. He was a little star and allowed the vet to do everything he needed without too much complaint. The key points were that Red is likely to be a semi-long haired and a 'biggie'. So, this means that some 6yrs later than we'd planned it seems like we are going to have our enormous ginger tom once Red grows up.

The vaccine was painful for Red and he still has a soft fleshy lump on his little back a week later which I am hoping is just a reaction that will go down. I am keeping an eye on it. The vet was kindness itself when he injected Red and spent time massaging the injection site and playing with him for a minute or two to distract him.

There were only two downsides to the visit. The first was the cost which was in three figures and the second was that although he was pronounced fit as a flea he also had a real honest to goodness flea - I am woman hear me scream like a girl!

This meant he needed flea treatment and so did Magic! I was surprised as I knew my colleague had already flea treated all eleven of her cats. The vet was most concerned as Red is a little light for the type of treatment he was proposing as he was only 900g and we discused the risk/benefits at length. Afterwards, I wondered why we'd bothered as at the rate he eats he'll be 1kg very soon! As I couldn't co-administer the flea treatment after the vaccine I combed him all out and only found another one so although I did my Lady Macbeth impression of "out, out damned flea - I think he really only had the odd hitchhiker. The cats are also lucky they weren't sucked up the steam hoover in my psychotic bid to stop any stray hitchhikers taking up permanent residence. I couldnt abide the thought of spraying noxious chemicals all over the place and decided to let the steam vacuum pay for its exorbitant cost.

The worst bit was telling my colleague, I had to break the news that not only had the treatment not worked but that the rest of the double litter and adult cats were also needing done again. I can only guess what she would be doing for the next couple of days.