Daytona's head is stuck, and
she did it all by herself!

I took Daytona to the vet today to update her on her shots and to get a ID microchip implanted. When we entered the waiting area, she was perfectly calm. She even let Lance, the office cat, check her out without complaint. But when the receptionist picked up her carrier, she started to let out a low growl. I hoped for the best, but I knew things would get ugly.

When I returned to pick her up, I first noticed that it was taking them a long time to get her. I found out later that she had been fighting them all day long. Once I received her, I then noticed a strange odor emanating from the carrier. She had decided to give the vets her opinion of them by messing in her carrier. I asked them if they could help me by cleaning it up before it rubbed off on her. The vet and the receptionist both looked at each other with "Uh-oh!" expressions. I could tell that they wanted to serve, but they were scared to. So I offered to go back there with them to help out. That settled them and into the exam room we went.

Getting Daytona out of the carrier was relatively easy, but she wasn't happy about it. Her growls were the loudest they had ever been, and her normally perfect coat was sticking in random directions with loose hair everywhere. As one vet cleaned the carrier, the other tried to get some of the mess off of her. She would have no part of it. I stepped in front of her and started talking to her. She finally realized that I wasn't one of THEM and walked over too me. Once she reached me, she huddled very close to me and continued growling at the vets. Once the carrier was cleaned, we couldn't convince her that it was OK to be back in it. Even an offering of a treat lead to a fierce bite attempt (of my hand, even!).

After we finally got her packed up and ready to go, the vets kept apologizing to me for the way she acted. I still can't figure out why that was necessary. After all, I'm sure they've encountered worse. Besides, you don't see me doing that job!

Now I have to finish cleaning up the carrier from Daytona's "opinion."

Copyright © Karen Hooper
December 7, 2000