Traumatizing Brianne’s Cat

I think I traumatized Kitty more than she’s ever been in her life and that includes taking her away from her mother!  She had a vet appointment and hasn’t ridden in a car for months.  I think I thought this car ride would be just like that one but didn’t take into consideration that 1. She’s not a kitten anymore and 2. No one was holding the box on their lap.

I put her in a box.  I found a build a bear box.  “Perfect!”  I thought, “It has a hole so she can breathe and a handle for carrying.  Unfortunately, I didn’t take into consideration it was designed for transporting stuffed animals rather than real ones.  I buckled the box into a seat and one minute later Kitty came and visited me.  How relieved I felt that the box was safe for the ride.

I didn’t take Kitty straight to the vet because I like to complicate things.  I dropped her off at my friend Karen’s house she would kitty-sit for an hour.  “She can stay in her box for the whole hour.”  I offered.  Karen said she didn’t need to.  That was fortunate because when I tried to put her back into her traveling box she refused.  I could have forced her but I really needed a third hand and I only had two available.  I carried her into Karen’s house.  After watching Lizzy read her Beethoven biography project I returned for the cat.  I didn’t try putting her into the box this time, I carried her to the car.  But I wrapped myself in a blanket before I picked her up … she hated being in the car.

We got to the vet’s ten minutes early.   I carried Kitty into to the waiting room.  There were three dogs there!  Kitty’s heart was pounding so hard it felt like it would burst from her chest!  She was shaking with fear.  I took her out.  I walked around to the back door to talk to someone.  There was another dog!  I told them we would wait in the car.  We waited for 50 minutes.

She got shots.  The office probably smelled like dog.  She had to ride in a car multiple times.  She was put in a box.  She was left with a stranger.  She saw 4 DOGS!  WORST. DAY. EVER!  I tried to pet her yesterday after we got home.  She kind of froze with fear.  She didn’t run away but was really suspicious.  I’m going to have to feed her a significant amount of meat to get her to trust me again.