Kitties Visit the Vet

In getting ready for our move, I decided it would be a good idea to try and get some tranquillizers for my cats this time around. When I moved from DC, Dory meowed for 7 out of the 10 hour drive. It felt like I was killing the poor thing. I did everything I could to make them more calm to no avail. This time around we wanted to have some ammo. :)

They went to the vet today and Rob helped lug their fat butts in. They took them to be weighed and Dory came in at 14.8 pounds and Sparky came in a 21.9 pounds. The house sitting service was right, they are mountain lions!! We got a little one on one time with the vet to ask some questions about general cat problems we have been having or things we wanted to know.

Question one - how to get my kitties to loose some freaken weight. Turns out they need a prescription to get some high fiber food that should help them shed a pound or two. That would be nice! I have the magic piece of paper, so when this food runs out, it's diet time!

Question two - Sparky bites, why? Apparently he just wants to play. Lovely. We are supposed to ignore this and hopefully he will stop.

Question three - Dory bites her nails, why? The vet said, "That's weird. In vet school they can tell us what dogs do and why, but when we get to cats, they have little explanation for a lot of their behaviors." Awesome. :P

Question four - We are moving to a complex with berber carpeting, what do you suggest for them to not get caught on the carpet? She suggested something called Soft Paws. It's like fake nails for kitties. I want to get pink ones for Dory and blue ones for Sparky. :) It should also help them not scratch the furniture anymore.

Also, I was able to play with this cool tool they had laying about called the FURminator. At first I thought it was some vet tool to run through their fur and check for fleas, but turns out, it's just to brush your pet with. The idea is that the tool grabs all the loose hairs that other brushes leave behind and I can tell you this thing works! The demos on their website are pretty much accurate with how much fur comes out. I had a mound when the vet came back and I was like, "Ummm, where can I put this small new cat?" She raved about it and I know why. I want one!

Overall it was a very educational trip AND we got the kitty tranquillizers. :) As the vet put it, they won't knock the kitty out, but just take the edge off, like having a few glasses of wine. Sweet. :)