Busy Sunday afternoon
Today was the annual rabies clinic. Nice, easy, fast and best of all far cheaper than going to the vet where it's $25 for the office visit, $5 for the vaccine, and whatever they decide to talk you into getting. $6 for the vaccine, just go, get in line, no appointment necessary. And cats only have to get the shot ever 3 years.
First of all, my cat hates going out. She's absolutely terrified of going out my front door. She hides from visitors, usually taking a minimum of four visits, or three consecutive days here before she will even peek out a visitor, excluding maintenance folk who say they have never seen her. When I have my window open she no longer curls up in it, instead she might, and I do say might with a grain of disbelief, climb on my pillow and then lean upward to thrust her nose in the sunlight but she does not look out the window. As I said, terrified of going out. I've never seen a cat with agoraphobia before but I'm sure she has it.
Second of all, I am like, well pretty close to terrified of dogs. Yes, I can manage to control the 'flee for your life' response. In fact, I can watch dogs and take pictures from a distance. Just please, don't ask me to pet them. And unless you want me to panic, don't let them jump on me. The mere thought is enough to give me nausea and shivers of fear.
So, rabies clinic. It's for dogs, cats and ferrets. All must have their semi-annual shot. I'd heard it's not too bad a wait and since all animals are required to be on leash or in carrier there would be no problem with getting jumped. Besides, cost wise, a bit less than an hour and $6 is way better than about an hour and over $30.
Got there at 1:30pm and was out by 2pm. In front of me? A man with a beautiful, bouncy, friendly pit bull which he kept in complete control at all times, even when his best friend showed up with the dog's son and another pit bull from another bloodline. The dog was beautiful (as was his son) and all three were almost perfectly behaved and when they got excited, their owners had them under control in seconds flat. Also in front of me, a woman with an aging, excited, baying, lunging, licking, sniffing, short legged beagle and a pug that would not stay, dragging her granddaughter all over the nearby field. A little in front of them, were a set of lovely looking German Shepherds, a Samoyed, what looked to be a Cockerpoo, a Husky-Shepherd mix and a host of other large dogs. Behind me a family with six cats in carriers.
Yes I was licked by the beagle. My cat carrier was sniffed and bayed at in hopes of a response. Liz then took over holding the carrier well above the dog's reach and I got to dodge the critter as it tried to investigate the cats behind me. Other than being a nuisance, it was a rather friendly, happy dog - it just needed obedience training. ::sighs::
Our wait time was about twenty minutes. The shot took less than five minutes. Then we drove home. As soon as the carrier door was open, Sweetie was out of the carrier. She paused at the hall to look back at us, hiss and then full out ran to my room. She is not in any of her normal hiding places and seems to be very well hidden behind the boxes of books. Or maybe she's under the bed, behind the bedframe, but I don't think she fits back there anymore. I may well be wrong.
I'm just glad it's over. Now all I have to do is finish prepping for tomorrow and Tuesday. Ugh. Starting at midnight tonight I'm on liquids until noon. Then the pre-op stuff which is downright icky. Hopefully outpatient as planned and home by 6pm. All rides are arranged - for me and for Lizzy. So is emergency contacts due to allergies and bad reactions... you know it's scary when the pre-admission folk have to double check that you've already made arrangements just in case.