drama, drama, drama

[winterbadger]

I need a "drama llama" icon...

So, I took the cats to the vet today to get their rabies blood test. Should have done it months ago, but, well, better late than never.

Except that when I got there and we were all set to go, the vet scanned the first one's chip and looked at the result and said, "This isn't an international chip."

At first she felt really bad because she thought that maybe she had messed up and put in the wrong chip. I reminded her that my previous vet (and NJ's) had done them, so she is not to blame. She and her assistant then shot off to call people and do web searches to see if there was some way to work around this, or whether we had to start over again by rechipping the cats, re-vaccinating them, and then finally testing them.

Turns out it's OK; as along as I provide a reader for the chips (in case the UK customs office one won't read their chips), all is OK. But there was further cat-based drama, because NO ONE wanted to go through the blood draw. Finn (who was rather morose by that point) kept twisting his neck around so they had to draw from his leg. Busby fought like a Tartar and had to be taken into the back room. Nicholas is so big and strong they just took him back in the back before starting.

Everyone is home now, and threatening that they will spend the next 12 months under the bed...

Comments

[ticktockmary.livejournal.com]

When I was a kid one of our dogs HATED shots and would become a shrieking writhing 12 pounds of fury. One time, the vet walked out and saw us in the waiting room, groaned, and went to the back. He then came back out to the waiting room and gave the dog his shot before he even knew what was happening. It was wonderful! Even better, since we left without Roosevelt having to get on the cold metal table, he thought he had gotten away with something :)

[winterbadger]

That's a great story!

My poor vet is flummoxed by Finn's continuing "mowing" of his fur. She feels it very personally that none of the approaches she's come up with to alleviate this have worked. And the boys were all being very difficult and complaining loudly. She said they didn't know why pets seemed to calm down a bit when they were moved out of the room with their owner for a shot/blood draw/etc., but I totally bought her "oh, cr@p, now I'm really in trouble--I'd better be very quiet and maybe they'll forget I'm here" theory. :-)

[zoefruitcake.livejournal.com]

I would have assumed all chips were the same. Silly me

[winterbadger]

Apparently they work on different wavelengths, and some are ISO while others aren't.

Same principle as "not all screws are threaded the same" I guess. At least the fix seems to be easy. (Buy a scanner of my own...)

[ban-leodhasach.livejournal.com]

Awww bless!! My uncle has the craziest dog ever, whenever he escapes from their garden he takes a walk to the local vet!! 1st time it happened they thought it was just a coincidence, but after the 3rd visit they discovered he enjoyed the attention of the veterinary nurses! I think it perhaps is because he was a rescue dog, and they believe he was a street dog so never developed a fear of vets?

[schizokitty.livejournal.com]

Peter is very tractable, so when I take them in for their yearlies, the vet does him first while Ezri sits in her carrier with a towel sprayed with Feliway draped over it. They've managed to do blood draws without any of the blood being their own! (Forget clipping claws, though -- she'd have to be freaking unconscious for that to go well.)