June is Testing My Sanity: The Vet

I know I've already probably gotten a couple of eye rolls by the title, but here me out. This girl's such a drama queen. She thinks everything is a much bigger deal than it is. That's the problem, though. I'm not that girl anymore. I'm not the girl who enjoys the drama and, fortunately, as I've gotten older, I've started to actively avoid it. So, the fact that I let myself get into such a drama mine-field is really beyond me.

Let's go back to the beginning. When we adopted Sam, we knew he needed some booster shots in the upcoming weeks. Since he is our first "real" pet (Sorry Turtle, but you're just so low maintenance!), we didn't have a vet yet and I began looking for recommendations of a good vet. My sister likes her vet, but it's on the other side of town and I wanted a closer vet in case of emergency and just because I didn't want to be on the verge of tears for 40 minutes while Sam cries in his cat carrier on the drive. My mom gave me her vet's info, but she hasn't had to use them in years and didn't remember the vet being outstanding enough to be worth a recommendation.

With options running out, I put an open call out on facebook for recommendations and my manager recommended a vet fairly close to my house. I did some google reviews of this vet and realized they would probably be the best option for me. They were close to my house, my parents had actually used them when we were kids, and they basically had a 5/5 review on google.

So what was stopping me from pulling the trigger if they're the bee's knees? My ex-boyfriends' mom works there.

I know, I know. Mountains out of mole hills, but hear me out. I dated her son for five years. Five long years. And in that entire time, she never warmed up to me. I don't mean in the "she was overprotective of her son" sort of way. I mean the "she screamed at her son because my car battery accidentally died in her parking spot" kind of way. The kind of way where even though her mouth is smiling, her eyes are shooting daggers. Their house was a very unhealthy environment and I think she could always sense my discomfort.

As crappy as her son treated me all those years, I always thought deep in the back of my mind that he may have had the chance to be a good person if his mom hadn't screwed with him. Screwed with his view of relationships. There were so many mind games in that house that I really shouldn't have been surprised that my ex turned out to be a controlling loon. And who knows how he told her things ended between us? I hadn't seen her since the break-up and it was ugly, to put it very, very mildly.

And now, I had a tough decision. Should I pick a great, convenient vet with the potential for a very ugly run-in or keep looking? I could avoid drama like a grown-up or suck up a potential yelling-at for the health of my cat like a grown-up. Let me just say, being a grown-up SUCKS!

I did the right thing and called the vet to make an appointment. I figured, what's the worst that can happen? She'll yell at me? If she yelled at me at her work, it would just make her look bad. I was concerned for a minute that my cat may not get the best treatment because of her disdain for me, but if that seemed like a real possibility, I'd just have to have a word with the vet.

In spite of my calm strategy, I sat and worried and ran through all the possible scenarios in the three days before my appointment. However, the day of the appointment, my worries shifted. It's hard to be concerned with anything else when your poor, little kitten is basically distraught in a cat carrier because he doesn't understand what's going on. I just wanted to get everything over as quickly as possible, drama or not.

And guess what? Absolutely no drama. She wasn't there. I don't know if it just wasn't her day to work or if she doesn't work there anymore (although she was in the staff pictures on the office's website), but I didn't see her. And I absolutely LOVED the vet. She was awesome and, if didn't out the place of employment of my ex's mom, I'd give her a glowing review and recommendation on here.

Once we were in the exam room, Sam was remarkably behaved. The vet said she'd rarely seen a kitten as well behaved as Sam, which was a shock to me given how ornery he is most of the time. Poor little kitten did need three shots and mite treatments in both ears. Apparently the mites were so big, you could see them with your bare eye, the biggest the vet had ever seen.

He also got a big bag of medicated treats to help him overcome his constant cold. He's been sniffly the entire time we've had him. At first, we were told kittens sneeze a lot because they get into all the things we fail to dust and, if you've seen how well I clean, it made a lot of sense. Then, after a week of being sneezed on, we thought it might just be a cold and he would be getting over it soon. So once he was sneezing for three weeks, even the vet was concerned. The theory at this point is that it might be a virus that he'll never completely shake from his system, but it should only show symptoms with stress. With the treats and him becoming more comfortable in his new home, it should get better.

And it has. Look how quickly he bounced back after his vet visit! (Between the slow shutter on my phone's camera and a very quick cat, none of these are that great, but they are the best I have! Video one day, I swear!)

What do you mean? Your shorts aren't a chew toy?

Wait! Is there something to play with over there?

No new toy? Well, my foot will have to do.

He still has his sneezy moments, but it's definitely getting better.

I'm still nervous because I'm not out of the drama woods yet. Sam's still got a couple of vet appointments in the upcoming months, but after that, minus an emergency, he won't need to go back to the vet and I can put all this worrying behind me. I could still have to deal with her, but one visit down, right?