If you don't smarten up...

I'll take you back to the vet!

What do you tell bored, grumpy cats who fight all over the house?

Well, after a trip to the vet the other day - they didn't complain all afternoon! Quite content to curl up and have a big nap!

They want to go outdoors, but with -30 C. temperatures last night they whined an whinged in the morning. 
Oliver meowed the whole 45 minute trip in the car.

Sady sat quietly awaiting her fate. She is the old pro. Like those of us in middle age, we know that wellness and prevention is better than curing disease.

I wish that family physicians gave us Wellness Binders full of information!


Sady thought that her crate was the safest place to be! "Nope, not coming out. I've done this 7 times and know the indignities I must suffer!"

It is important, in cottage country, to keep their shots up to date. The vets poke and prod and ensure that their parts are in working order, give them a rabies shot, and worm pill and shove a thermometer up their butts.

With one cat having food allergies, the others have a special diet, too.  We have to watch Sady, she's not a cheap date!

The other issue: you could pick up a zoonosis from your animals.
Zoonoses consist of: rabies, avian influenza, but the Center for Disease Control (USA) estimates that between 1 and 3 million of their 300 million population are infected with a zoonisis each year. [Novartis Animal Health, 2006]

Those most at risk, as with H1N1, include the very young, or those with chronic diseases, or spend time in high-risk envronments such as landscape gardeners, breeders. Pregnant women, especially, are most susceptible.

Our vet explained that the bats have rabies, and cats are notorious about swatting at flying things, as well as bringing home a mouse or mole per day (each!).

There are round worms, mosquito-born illnesses, and all sorts of sand fleas out here in the wild, as well. Children play outdoors where round worms may be, and young children put their hands in their mouths. A problem, obviously, in sand boxes. Fleas can cause allergic bites on human skin.

Ringworm, actually a fungus - but lesions in the skin look like a worm.  Sarcoptic Mange is a skin mite. Ticks suck blood, and can transmit diseases, (Lime Disease, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Erhlichiosis, Tularemia).

Roundworms are shed in feces, and the parasite can be transmitted to hands, end end up in internal organs, or eyes where they live as larva. Raccoon Roundworm is found in 'coon droppings, and can cause a fatal brain infection in humans.   Dogs, in turn, can eat raccoon feces, or pick up the infection, shed the eggs in their feces, posing a rick to family members.

Cat feces hosts toxoplasmosis, normally found in uncooked meat, but also in the litter box. Bartonella causes cat-scratch disease, found on cat claws. In people they have a small red area, and can develop a fever, blisters, muscle aches, fatigue and headaches.


The solution to all these issues? Visit your vet for professional advice, and don't forget proper hand washing techniques. Keep litter boxes clean, wear gloves with cleaning them. Deworm animals, watch for wounds, control their fleas, and keep toilet bowl lids closed!
 
But, back to our adventure!

Oliver had a blast! He is a 'curtain climber', loves the attic, too, and got up onto the vet's counter. Of course, the treats were up there, and he began sniffing at the dog treat bag. He'll eat anything, even removes the tin foil wrapping from chocolate kisses and eats those!

He was happy looking out the window, watching the dogs arrive. He did the "Na, na, na, na, boo boo!" dance. Safe inside.

He gazed strangely as Sady was having HER worm pill, thinking - little food thief that he is, that she was getting food and he wasn't!

We know that cats live longer as indoor cats, but we love walking them on the ice, and around the property.  They like the outdoor life as much as we do.

They keep down the mice population and sit beside us as we sit on the deck or read by the lake shore.