Kitty update

Thanks for the kind words and hope for my kitty. Max is showing signs of improvement, the most notable one being that now he is fighting HARD when approached with his antibiotic pill. He managed to spit it out twice tonight and get a claw into my wrist when I was forcing it into his throat. It's a nasty bitter pill that apparently makes cats foam at the mouth if it doesn't go right down right away. I'm glad they warned me of that. Aside from being strong and vital enough to put up a fight on the pill, he's more alert and acting much less sad and lethargic. Still a little under the weather, but definitely better.

The giggling vet who has been in charge of Max (and whom I've never spoken to face to face) has decided that it is probably an infection that is affecting his liver. Or an infection in his liver. I'm not sure which, and I'm not sure she is sure either. So it's more antibiotics for Max. I'm hoping that will do the trick and that he'll keep improving.

Meanwhile, the combo of the vet's inappropriate mirth and the office help has made me consider if this animal hospital is the best place for us. I had to deal with the other receptionist, who never fails to do something to remind me why I don't like her, when I picked up my partially shaved and very displeased cat Monday evening. I called them at about 5 to get info and they said he'd be ready to pick up at 6:00. I got out of work late and called at 6:00 to say so, and the receptionist told me I HAD to get there by 6:30. When I came in at 6:20, she was having a conversation about what she usually eats for breakfast with some people already in the waiting room. Bacon and oatmeal. Ooh but they're all overweight so they had to cut out the bacon! Tee hee hee!

I waited. Finally, the receptionist turned her attention to me and I gave her my name. "For Max. You can pick him up in back. There are a few people ahead of you," she told me without looking up. As I was asking if she could let the people in back know I needed more food for Max, she cut me off saying curtly "I SAID they'll take care of you IN BACK." This pissed me off because I was quite sincerely trying to avoid causing confusion and delays IN BACK by giving her a heads up on the food. While you don't need to be a sweetheart to to be a good medical professional, having been raised in a family of nurses, having worked in hospitals for years as a younger woman, and having been married to a doctor has convinced me that rotten people make rotten doctors (and nurses and receptionists and techs) . So that's about it.

I am VERY happy my cat is doing better. I don't think it is due to any great effort on their part. I've had problems with them before when I first took Max there. He had a bad reaction to a vaccine that he never reacted to at his other vets. I figured it was bad luck. It probably was, but, well, this is my kitty - the light of my life. I'm looking into taking him back to the former vet for follow up on this. I liked the former vet, they have an all night emergency clinic, but we moved back in 2000. My nomadic grad student existence has brought me back to where I started out in CT, so the old vet is local once again.

I'll post a picture of Max with his bare midriff soon (his belly was shaved for the ultrasound). He looks cute but terribly undignified. My fella promised me when I came home tonight, he and my cat would be sitting together on my couch with their hands draped over their bare bellies - trailer park style.