The Bailey Chronicles

As I mentioned in the previous post we recently had to take our cat to the vet. We had planned on taking him in to remove his claws before the baby came because let's face it, Mr. Kitty has a bad reputation for attacking people. He doesn't attack everyone, John and I are safe, but people that approach him fast, talk loud, startle him, or maybe he just decides not to like them are all fair game to him. He especially hates it when people walk to the restroom for some reason. He has claimed all restrooms as his own personal den and feels threatened the moment a guest starts making their way back there. Obviously he can not be trusted around children because the younger they are the less likely they will have a gentle approach. We had planned on getting those claws out before the baby actually became mobile, but then last week we noticed flees. I am not entirely sure if they were already in the carpet when we moved in, or if he got them when he escaped from the last apartment because he freaked out about all of the boxes as we were moving. Did I mention he has separation anxiety? LOL, my cat has a list of mental issues, but we love him all the same. Anyway, I had noticed him scratching over a month ago and kept searching him for flees, but I never found any. He's all black with a thick coat so it is a challenge. Finally I noticed one crawl across his eye, and that same day started spotting them in my room. Yes, it was time to take him to the vet, and since he was making the trip to his loathed enemy we might as well get him completely taken care of. So goodbye claws! We decided to do front and back, even though vets recommend against the back ones so they can still defend themselves. They seriously underestimate Mr. Kitty's sneakiness. He will grab hold of you with his front paws, like a tackle or a bear hug, and then kick you with his back feet, digging all four sets of claws into your arm or foot. So yes, even though they advised against it, we still opted for all four to be removed. We also had to get a series of tests done, for parasites, luckily he passed! And had to update his shots. I felt like we were doing the right thing, the responsible thing, but when poor Mr. Kitty came home he was so incredibly miserable. He meowed with every step he took, then layed down in our closet and didn't move for 5 days. I kept checking on him to make sure he was still alive. I would have to scratch him and pet him to get any kind of response. It was so sad! They gave us pain meds to be given to him every 12 hours, I think they must have been pretty strong because he seemed to check out after every shot. Anyway, I am pleased to report that our beloved family pet is now showing signs of life once again. I knew this is something we would have to do eventually, but I wasn't prepared for how traumatic it was going to be for him. I would have felt really bad if we had decided to do that to him and he had never scratched anyone before, because that was major!