Boo Boo Kitty

The next 30 minutes involves a vaccination for Trinket, a tongue lashing for me, a series of follow up boosters for the scheduler,  a bunch of twenties flying out of my wallet.  And the follow up appointments must be made with Dr. Tyson, not any of the presumably less condescending physicians.  Joy. 

But before I go, I must hear all about what signs and symptoms to be on the lookout for. And I have to promise to keep my other pets and all other occupants of my home sequestered from Trinket for a minimum of 3 weeks.  No one can feed her, touch her or clean her kitty litter but me.  (As if there is any competition for those tasks.) If Trinket has rabies, I am already exposed and will have to get the shots to prevent my brain from turning to a brick of scrapple.

What? Let's hope that the people variety of shots have improved since I was a kid. The threat of 21 daily shots in the abdomen was enough to make me run in fear from all the neighborhood domestic pets as a child. 

I ask for what signs and symptoms I should look for in Trinket.

My new Favorite Doctor in the World feels he must torture me some more. 

"Well the symptoms could take 6 months to appear."

"OK. But what are they?" I ask.

"I've heard of one case that took a year for symptoms to appear," he snarks.

Well, someone has obviously done entirely too much reading on the subject. And enjoys spewing facts and figures about it all. I am sure he's a blast at cocktail parties.

OK BUT WHAT ARE THEY?" I am getting old just waiting for an answer.

"For cats, universally, rabies presents as aggression.  There may be other signs but aggression usually tops the list. So if your cat is normally sweet and docile and suddenly she's hissing and growling at you, don't treat her like you would your adolescent with the same change of attitude. Don't go saying, 'Aw, kitty, it's not like you to snarl and gnash your teeth. What is wrong? Come sit on my lap.'  And while she is in isolation, you may want to keep her confined to one room. With no furniture.  If she starts to go mad and she's under the bed, you really aren't going to have an easy time getting her here. To...you know...euthanize her."

What a ray of sunshine this man is! 

I collect my information sheets, my cat of questionable rabies status and the carrier and skulk to the desk to make my appointments with Dr. Tyson.  It is going to be a very long three weeks.