I'm sorry to hear about Smitten's bad day at the vets.

What about giving your cats dental treats, these are chewy treats which remove tartar from their teeth, this is what we use, I don't brush their teeth...bad meomie.

As for people at work, you have to ignore those who don't understand your love of animals. I only talk to people who ask about my cats in a nice way, otherwise I come to Pet Talk to bore others about my cats.