Vet update

So we took all three cats to a new vet yesterday. We got in at 4:00, got out at 6:00... I think that's the longest we've ever taken. I have mixed feelings; they were very nice, but not very well organized for dealing with stressed out animals. They "recommended" a complete workup for all cats over age 7, which two of ours are, and bloodwork+ for all ages. We did everything they recommended only because we're trying to appease the Powers that Social Work, and it came to almost $600. *collapse* We'd only budgetted 1/6th of that. Three cheers for Discover, and formal apologies to Mr. Dave Ramsey for resorting to credit again.

Anyway, first they did the general check teeth, heartbeat, etc. touch tests and a blood draw for all but Colin, who got the blood draw at the very end. That's what set him off on shock and liver failure last time, so we weren't sure if we were even going to do it. So all three get a general inspection and a stick up the butt (fecal sample. Ew. Colin tried to bite for that one), two get the blood drawn, then there's a break. Then the actual vet comes in (the first woman was a tech) and does the manual test again and does the vaccines, and then tries to get blood from Colin. He totally flipped out, it was heartbreaking... then the vet went off to get something, and the tech decided to try it in the leg instead of the neck and he calmed down considerably. We opted to do the home gathering method of a urine sample, they gave us stuff to do it with. Apparently when they do it in the office they draw with a needle. Don't even want to think about it. *too late*

Then we were done, had some talk, came home, and everyone seems fine. Everyone's eating *THANK YOU GOD* and they're still snuggly and purring when appropriate. I did get a call back on the blood work, and Spook and Kira have slightly low white blood cell count and higher red blood cell count (not a problem unless they get sick), and Colin has "indicators" for heartworm. Lovely. Apparently there's nothing to do about it until he has symptoms (breathing problems or weird heart rates), at which point they would do tests to verify that's what it is. So this isn't even a diagnosis, it's just more of a note of concern, and a reminder to get everyone on preventative stuff, since something around here might carry heartworm.

So after all that, I'm still calming myself down. Although it didn't look like it at the time, I think the whole experience was much more traumatic for me and Lanse than the cats!