Rain and our first kitty vet trip

It's raining! This is good news for the hay and everything else that grows here. I was starting to worry!









And since it's raining, Baasha won't come outside. I hung his bucket on the tree this morning to get him out so I could clean his stall, and he nodded at me like, "Over here, this way, in the stall with the food!" So I caved. He really thinks he'll melt if he gets wet.

It's 6:30 PM and Baasha has not set foot outside all day. That means I had to clean the stall twice, geez! He spread his bale of hay all over the place, and he nickers to us everytime the housedoor opens. Poor baby, he missed out on a lot of grazing today! (But he received many crisp carrots.)

***

I just got back from the vet with the cats. They had their first examinations. I wanted to be sure they're healthy, and I really need to know how much they weigh, to know if I'm feeding the right amount. And are they actually neutered?! That was the big question of the day.

I received both cats' passports in the mail yesterday. All pets in Germany have passports - it contains their entire medical history. I think it's a cool system. They look like people passports. Back home, I just kept my bills as proof of my horse's medical treatments. (It was odd importing a horse into Germany cuz they wanted to see his passport and I was like, "Uh, I have registration papers, and vet receipts.")

These passports have a description of the animal, the owner's info, the birthday, the registration/pedigree if it's a horse, and columns for vaccinations. The vets put a sticker with the vaccine name, and the date, and then stamp it with their office stamp and signature.

The great thing was Lander's attitude at the vet. I didn't know what to do so I kind of stood back and watched the vet take him out. Lander came out proudly, looked at the vet, tail up, and said, "Oh, HI VET! Nice to meet you!" That cat is just too confident. Lander was proven neutered, shown to be healthy, and weighs in at 3,7 kilos (6 pounds?). Lander did not want to go back in the crate, he wanted to visit with the vet some more. He stood there waving his tail around showily. Too funny!

The vet looked at the passports and said that while they had both had their shots, they had missed their boosters. Hmph.

I was happy to see the vet wash his hands with soap between cat exams. I've received less adherence to Universal Precautions myself.

Mercer was miserable, as I expected. She acted as if she was going to die. She hunkered down, eyes wide, ears back. We cannot prove she is neutered, alghough he thought he felt a scar. She weighed in at 3,0 kilos and appeared healthy in all other ways. He said we could do an ultrasound but it would be even more traumatizing to her to shave her, better to wait and see if she comes in heat. Since she is an indoor cat, it should be OK to wait.

I got the whole vaccination story and learned about my options and the various kitty diseases. Wow, horses are so much easier. I mean, this is all new to me!

The "optimal" package includes a rabies shot but I'd recently been dissuaded from vaccinating Baasha against rabies, on the basis that there has been no case of rabies in this land for generations. Well, this kitty vet pushed for rabies. He said it is a death sentence if an animal is suspected to have it. I said, "In your entire carreer, have you ever heard of a case of rabies in Germany?" and he said, "Well, in Munich we thought we had a dog with it, but it turned out he was vaccinated." HM!

(I find this stuff fascinating and if anyone else has info for me about cat diseases, I'd love to learn more, please comment and relate your experiences.)

Then we had the worming talk. I was totally, totally surprised to learn that cats are wormed more often than horses. They worm every 3 months here. Whew, that sounds almost....American!

I said, "I find this interesting cuz horse people rarely worm here - twice a year, or less, they do fecal testing and skip it altogether."

He said, "The test doesn't show all the types of worms, or all the stages of the types, and they can pick up worms the day after the test. Better to be safe."

I said, "Exactly." Give me the wormers. So I have two little spot-on thingies I'm gonna have to learn to use in the next month.

The vet didn't have much to say about cat food and grain-free food. I was hoping he'd have something to say. Oh well.

***

Lander just begged for dinner, even though I thought they'd be too stressed to eat.

Mercer - well, I just found her on top of the piano! I expected her to hide all night. I won't approach her, she can tell me when she's OK again. (Although I'm sure my man will, he loves her and always approaches her. He lays on the ground next to her and talks to her. I have this secret fear that she will like him better for all his "intruding.")