Minuet's Flying Colours

Minuet did very well at the veterinary hospital yesterday. I initially wanted to take her to the doctor due to a lack of appetite, but that problem solved itself, and Min’s eating is good now. Nonetheless, I felt that, with such an elderly cat, a veterinary visit was not a bad idea.

As well, Min’s bum-fur needed trimming, as I thought that it was collecting unpleasantries. Despite being told by her previous owner that Minuet doesn’t groom, she does; I’ve watched her. She washes her face and her paws and her rear end; her efforts probably just aren’t what they used to be. She had been cleaning her rear quite often, in fact. Now, her hair is trimmed and what equalled diaper rash is being treated with medicinal ointment. I suspect she feels better in that region.

Her mouth was examined and, though she has some tartar, her gums, the doctor remarked, “looked happy”. Minuet is about eighteen or nineteen, but with healthy sounding lungs and heart. The doctor looked over my list of Min’s blood-glucose readings, compiled during Madame’s three weeks with me, and took one herself: it was 5.6. The doctor agreed with me that Minuet does not have diabetes and likely never did.

The staff at the hospital were very pleased to meet Minuet. When she was taken from the examining room to the back for her trimmings, I heard a number of people ooh and ahh over her, and say very complimentary things. It is only her due, I think.

Just as good as what I heard at the hospital was Minuet’s reaction to the trip. She did not seem alarmed or stressed by it; when she came home, she was hungry and enjoyed an extra portion of food before bed-time. This morning, I found her, despite receiving a claw-cutting on each foot, on the carpeted top of the bookcase under the library window, perhaps waiting for sunrise. There was some wet outside a litter-box, but it was at the very lip, and there was more in the box, so I think it was only a hasty exit that deposited some where it should not have been; there were also two other wet deposits in the litter, and a satisfactorily firm stool added, for good measure.

Now that my latest cat has been to the veterinary, and the results are what they are, she need not go back unless something specific arises. I am planning to have Minuet shaved soon, to remove the remainder of the troublesome mats she has. She will start afresh and I will try to stay on top of any fur issues that arise.

Gladly, a long weekend looms. The library door will be open for Minuet’s exploratory possibilities and I will be able to spend more time with her. The veterinary visit was an auspicious end to Min’s first three weeks with me, and a similar beginning to the rest of her hopefully very long life.