My dogs love going to the vet. As soon as we get there they are jumping up at the door, pawing at it and are weirdly excited about going in. Grace just loves people in general and going in anywhere so I understand that. I have never been in the vet with Benson though since he came home during Covid, so I have no idea what is going on in there but it is clearly working!

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The Kitty Crew

Bubbles and Miesha are great at the vet as well. I can lure them out with treats and easily grab them and get them in their carriers. They make a big fuss once in the carrier, and Miesha tends to go to the bathroom in it, but otherwise the process of getting them in there is not an issue.

Whiskers.

For a big cat, he is remarkably fast and agile! He is a giant Ragdoll cat that can disappear in a heartbeat in a big white blur! He also seems to have an uncanny sense of when I need to grab him to get him off to the vet…

Treats? I Think Not!

Treats do NOT work with this cat! Whiskers is an extremely finicky eater. When he was supposed to come home from the breeder, she asked me if she could have more time with him because she was unable to get him to transition off wet food to kibble.

When he came home, he still would not touch kibble. I convinced the breeder that I would be able to take the time to work with him. He would SCREAM when it was time to eat! At the top of his lungs! And eat his meal so fast that it more often than not would come right back up on him!

Finally, I was able to get him to eat kibble! I started mixing it in slowly to his wet food. Then added more and more…But he still would NOT eat dry food on its own. I had to buy the food directly from my vet because he refused to eat ANYTHING but that one brand!! I have never seen such a stubborn cat and I have had my fair share of finicky eaters!

Finicky Eater

One day he flat out refused to even eat the food from the vet! My guess is that they changed an ingredient. Whiskers would now only eat the dry food…and only that ONE brand of dry food! He has refused to eat anything but that food ever since. Treats?? Forget about it. NO interest.

So there is no luring him out of hiding with treats like I can with the other cats…

Vet Time

About a month ago, it was time for his annual shots. Where’s Whiskers?!? Nowhere to be found of course!

Managing to track him down under my bed, I had to try to get him out of there! I have a large king sized bed but the frame is very close to the floor so there is no way for me to get under there. He gets in at the top corner where there is a gap between the frame and mattress.

Here I am on the floor, trying my best to coax him out! He was not buying any of it. I would move from one side of the bed to the other calling him, only for him to move to the polar opposite corner!

Time’s Up!

Whiskers needed to come out! His appointment was fast approaching and one thing I pride myself on is being on time.

Shutting the bedroom door so he couldn’t escape to another hard to reach spot, I knew what I had to do.

Heaving the heavy king sized mattress of my bed into the small space between my bed and window took me a fair bit of maneuvering. I moved the box spring around to see if I could grab him. Whiskers still evaded my every move!

Gotcha!

Finally, I tossed the box spring off the bed. Whiskers just sat there with his big blue eyes staring at me. Sweating and muttering, I grabbed him. I did it!!

Getting him into the carrier is also a chore!! He HATES it, and fights with all his strength and turns from a floppy fluffy giant into a RAGING ball of contorting muscle! I got him in there though!

Turns out I had the wrong date written on the calendar! I was laughing to myself and secretly dreading having to go through all this again the next morning!

The Vet…Again…

Unsuspecting, the next day I managed to grab him when he tried to get outside well before his appointment and that day went relatively smoothly in comparison.

Fast forward a month when he is due for his booster…Yesterday I had to be at the vet first thing in the morning with him. I had left out the carrier since I knew getting it out all over again would cause him to flee!

Having my morning coffee, and watching the cat the whole time, he wandered around and was within sight. I acted casual so as to not give him a clue about what was going to happen momentarily but he must have been able to sense that something was up…About five minutes before we had to go up the stairs he went and disappeared!

Oh no.

Another Hiding Place

I have been shutting my bedroom door as Miss Miesha has taken a liking to marking her territory on my bed so I knew he was not in there. I would not be hauling around mattresses on this day!

He found another difficult hiding place. I tracked him down to the farthest corner under the bed in the spare bedroom.

There are storage containers under that bed, so I had to pull them out and get them out of the way. No amount of sweet talk was getting him out of there though!

Here Kitty Kitty

Getting down on my belly and running out of time, I managed to wiggle myself under the bed, slowly. Whiskers just sat there and stared at me the whole time, looking for any way to escape!

My daughter came in to see what was going on, and the dogs barged in creating a whole new element of chaos!

Managing to grab onto him, I held onto him and pulled him with me while I inched my way backwards out from under the bed.

Success!

I had him! I was covered in dust and hair and my hair was all over, but I HAD him!!!

Into the carrier with you! He screamed the whole time. And the whole drive to the vet. And the whole way home from the vet.

Relieved that it was over, when I got home I opened up the carrier and he streaked like a white flash to go hide again. At least that is over with. Until next time we have to go to the vet…I can only imagine what he is going to put me through!

The post Why I Cringe Every Time Whiskers Has a Vet Appointment first appeared on Help! I've Got Pets.