The Rant--Part 2



After the Great Worm Debate…..

At some point it came up in conversation that Rizz is easily put off his food if he’s stressed, like after a vet visit. To which the vet replied that we should socialize our next cat better…for future reference, because it was “too late for Rizzo.” Now, how many of you have cats that don’t get stressed at all by vet visits? Show of hands?

So then she did his exam, which all went ok, besides Rizz making a lot of very unhappy faces, until she shone a light in his face. At which point she said (in a tone that can only be called accusatory), “What’s up with his nose?” I said, “I don’t know. Is something up with his nose?” I wanted to add that SHE was the doctor, but didn’t. She said, “There’s some discharge here.” In a tone that made it clear that such a thing should NEVER be allowed to happen. I said, “Yeah?” and she said, “Do you want to look?” – not in a way that made it seem like an informative exercise, but rather like she thought I was saying I didn’t believe her. I looked, and sure enough my pooky had some nose crusties. “Huh,” I said. She asked questions: has he been sneezing? No. Coughing? No. She looked a minute longer and said, “It’s probably the herpes virus. It could also be (a b-word and a c-word, both of which I can pronounce but not spell, so I’m not trying ).” She did NOT say that it could be an allergy (cats get allergies, don’t they?), a cold, a minor irritation, or anything small, simple and unimportant. She did not say to keep and eye on it and let her know if it doesn’t go away within a few days. Nothing like that. Just, “It’s the herpes virus.”

She proceeded to tell us to buy some L-Lysine and powder it into some wet food for him every day, and then come back in about 8 weeks to see if he’s improved. She talked about herpes viruses in general, and all of the different forms they can take in both humans and cats. She explained the benefits of L-Lysine in bolstering the immune system, and then she said, “I take it for my herpes.” Now, I know she meant cold sores or something, but as irritated as I was by then, I needed some sort of catharsis, and that just did me in. I spent the next three minutes thinking “DON’T look at Seth; DON’T look at Seth…” because my sweetheart has a very immature and infectious sense of humor, and I knew that if I looked at him it was all over. I also couldn’t look at the vet, b/c I knew I was making faces at her without meaning to. So, I looked at Rizzo for the remainder of the appointment. Good thing he’s so great to look at!

So, that’s that. I made an appt. to bring him back in May so that she could look at his nose again, but don’t think I’m going to, unless it’s still a problem. Yesterday, we shone a flashlight in his face, and there were no nose crusties at all. The day before he sneezed a couple of times and his eyes were a little runny. I’m willing to bet that he was having some sort of reaction to sleeping in the open windowsill with his nose stuck in the wind all night a few nights ago.

Honestly, though, what do you guys think? Am I being too sensitive? The more I think back on the whole appointment, the madder it makes me. And you know what? If I had a suspicion that something MIGHT be wrong with Rizz…if his appetite dropped a bit or his runny eyes had kept on for more than a morning or something…I don’t think I would call this vet office to get an opinion. I don’t trust this lady. I’d be afraid that she’d drag Rizzo into the office, hang him by his back claws, administer twenty different shots and put him on three types of medication, just in case. You know? I really would like your opinions, though. Or failing that, I would simply like to thank you all for letting me get this off my chest!! I know it’s a couple of ridiculously long posts, and I won’t to it again. *is sheepish*