When I put his carrier on the table and coaxed him out for his exam I was reminded that this was the first look Doctor Hailpern has gotten in a while. She was completely taken aback by his size and couldn't stop commenting on it during his general exam. When the time came to weigh him he tipped the scales at a healthy fourteen pounds. I couldn't help but grin when she leaned down, touched her nose to his and said, "I knew you five pounds ago." I grinned even more as she fussed over the scar on his nose (he gave it to himself when he kept nosing open the furnace room's doors after we first moved into the house), scolding him for ruining his "handsome face."
Ra received a clean bill of health and several compliments from the staff who have seen him at his worst. While he was given a rabies vaccination we skipped the feline distemper shot. Doctor Hailpern felt it might upset the balance we've struck between his various health problems and his medications (the doc was heard repeatedly telling Ra, "I love Pred, it makes you want to eat." Prednisolone is his primary medication). Since she told me it was not a particularly big deal for Ra to miss the distemper shot, especially given his status as an indoor-only cat, I also feel this was probably the best choice. One thing at a time, if it'll help him go even longer without a relapse! The doctor also felt this was too good an opportunity to pass up, so she asked to take a blood sample. Since this is the first time in years that he's been into the office while at the peak of health she wanted to check some of his panels and have a "known good" point of reference to put in his file. I didn't see a problem with that, so they took him in back to draw the sample and returned him a few minutes later. I'm amazed by how quickly the time went and before I knew it the time was 9:24 and we were being sent home.
All in all Ra's visit to the vet went very well and I'm pleased with his behavior, minus the hissing, spitting and growling treatment I received at the very end. Since he'd been poked, weighed, prodded, squeezed, probed by a thermometer, jabbed by a vaccination needle, swabbed with excessively fragrant rubbing alcohol and then had another jabbing to get his blood drawn -- all in the span of fifteen minutes! -- I don't begrudge him. After we got home from the vet's office he nestled in with me and started purring, so I guess Daddy is forgiven.
Would we escalate the value to be worth its weight in gold
