Two Happy Cats!

Here's Spider (the orange one) and Emily from yesterday, having just been loaded into the back of my car.

See how happy they look! They were both expressing their joy with loud, some would say shrieking, meows. That's OK folks, no need to thank me.

As it happens, I also have a very large carrier that could fit both of them comfortably. Part of me was tempted to throw them both in and say, “Time to settle your differences, folks.” I decided against it; too reminiscent of Thunderdome. Two cats enter, one cat leaves.

Of course, we all knew where we were going:

For my local readers, yes, that's an old picture. It didn't actually rain yesterday.

Emily stopped meowing as soon as the car started moving. I wasn't comforted, since I knew what was coming next. Yes, there it was. That unmistakable aroma that makes you say, “Only one thing smells like that!” Very mature, sweetie. The joke's on you, since this just means you have to get a bath when you get home. Spider, to his credit, remained continent. But let me tell you, that beast has an impressive set of pipes on him!

It was a slow day at the vet, since I had one of the last appointments on Friday afternoon. The cats are fine, by the way, it was just time for their annual check-ups. Actually, it was time for Emily's annual check-up. Spider got dragged along since this was my first trip to the vet since I took responsibility for him, and I wanted the vet to get a file started.

Emily was put through her paces first. She was taken “into the back,” carrier and all, where she got cleaned up and had some blood drawn. Spider walked out of his carrier and sulked underneath the chair.

I think he sensed that he was next.

Emily returned, now with a pee pad generously donated by the vet for the trip home. She'd lost two pounds since last year. Good girl! She's still rather heavy at thirteen pounds, but a considerable improvement nevertheless. I'll leave it to your imagination what she was thinking here.

Then it was Spider's turn. After the vet brought him back and completed her examination, he was perfectly happy to walk into his carrier on his own. Good boy!

Then it was back home. I let Spider out of his carrier, and he promptly ran down to his basement room to sulk in peace. Emily got her bath, and now she will smell like shampoo for a few days.

But the best part is that they are very forgiving. An hour after the whole ordeal, everything was back to normal. Both of the little darlings were sweet as could be towards me, and Emily was hissing at Spider. See, normalcy!

Actually, there's been progress on that front too. Last week it briefly warmed up enough to open windows for a few hours. That led to this charming moment:

Everyone was calm! I think Emily still doesn't like Spider, but she's slowly becoming resigned to the fact that he isn't going anywhere.