cat's game

In a world...

One of our cats, Pumpkin, has been a bit out of sorts for a few weeks; with cats that means puking. It doesn't seem too serious, but both cats are certainly due for a vet visit so this seemed an opportune time to gather the furballs and take advantage of Obamacare. (All pets are covered under the 2012 initiative within the Affordable Care Act.) Destiny was for 1p today - X was alone, cats were loaded.

Over the weekend we grabbed a newish pet kennel/carrier specifically for this first of many future trips. X's plan, alone and unafraid, was thought out: gather Pumpkin around 12:30 (since he's never far away) and then hope that Lemon wasn't out on a death run. X found and locked Pumpkin in the kennel before heading out to scour the landscape for Killer - a whistle, a cluck, and along came the most beautiful cat in the World. How simple. She brought Lemon to the kennel, opened the door a dash, and was immediately in the midst of a Royal Rumble: Pumpkin blasting out, Lemon fighting (nicely), X hoping. In the frayed aftermath Lemon slipped out the cat door while X managed to squeeze ol' thickneck back into the kennel. Once more into the breech...outside to see if there was any hope that Lemon might have at least remained in the zip code. A quick gander about the place and sure enough she's just sitting on the table outside the cat door. How easy is this?

Back into the house with Lemon in hand and wondering exactly what to make of the 'man' situation. X being smarter than the average bear has headed into stage two with the cat door locked to prevent escape; with the house secured, where could the little demons possibly go? Here's what you do: open the kennel, put the second cat in, gently close the door, and if they escape - no worries, they can't get away. Let's cover what happened: open the kennel (check), put in the second cat/Lemon (sort of), easily close the door (trying), and if they escape - what? In the midst of this second round of battle it's Super Pumpkin who escapes while Lemon decides to take a nap in the perfectly acceptable pet carrier. Not only does Pumpky (Super) escape, he simply uses his Maori Warrior-like head to just bust through the locked cat door - THROUGH THE DOOR, leaving nothing but shards of humanity in his wake. There's no need to head outside to see of he's nearby, dude is gone daddy gone. So, X and Lemon head to the vet, sans SuperP.

Lemon is now fully inoculated. Unfortunately, she has a broken back tooth which is a serious concern. It's going to cause her lower jaw some long-term problems; it has to be removed, but there is serious risk to her lower jaw. We have a contact for a pet dentist in Vienna who can hopefully give us some good news - I'm pretty worried. I'm not willing to have her life limited if the jaw becomes a problem; she can't be locked in a house. I'm hoping. We'll see.