Poor Kitty!

This is the continuing saga of Milo the cat. For the original post see Friday, April 11 (also a little bit at the end of the April 20 post).

My youngest daughter’s cat was neutered yesterday. But let me back up to a couple of weekends ago when she (my daughter) purchased an identity tag for him at Wal-Mart. They were out of regular tags so she bought a bone. The cat’s name and address are on a bone! The mistaken gender early in his life was one thing, but a dog bone on the poor cat’s collar is too much! She and I had a little chuckle about it though and assured each other that it didn’t really matter.

I am very proud of my daughter for rescuing a homeless pet and that she is also doing the responsible pet owner thing and getting him “fixed.” There are way too many kittens and cats (not to mention dogs) at the SPCA (and other places) needing to be adopted. Prior to the neutering, she was also responsible about making sure Milo was vaccinated. Since she works and gets about town via Metro, I volunteered to help her out by taking the feline for its shots and checkup. The two youngest grandchildren and I crated him up (he hates his pet taxi) and headed for SNAP. Let me assure you, his meow button works just fine and for a good long while! As we waited in the lobby, Milo became a little distressed around the other animals so my eight year old grandson suggested we cover the box with his pink blanket (Milo’s, not the grandson’s). It worked very well! He settled down quite a bit. That is until we were in the examining room. Oh, that poor lady who was assisting the vet! I have seen pictures of cats in peculiar positions before but I am now convinced that they don’t have skeletons. If they do have bones in their little bodies, they must have a bazillion joints! I stated in my earlier post that Milo tends to be a little mean at times. Well, at that time, he was ferocious! They tried to clip his claws but only got two done and gave up. And if there is such thing as a cat muzzle, it could have been put to good use. They finally just hurried to get what they needed to do over with and somehow got him back into the crate. I watched in wonder as he happily munched on the treats they gave him. It was like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde! The vet, the assistant, and the receptionist all commented on what a beautiful cat he was. Amazing attitudes, in light of his behavior! But then, who can blame him.

Yesterday’s minor surgery was pretty much uneventful except he bit the attendant who checked him in at the SPCA. I think he was a little calmer because my daughter went with us to drop him off and to pick him up. The young lady who brought him out to us afterwards said he was such a sweet cat with a great personality. Daughter and I looked at each other as if to say, “Did they bring us the right cat?” He wasn’t interested in the little ball with a bell in it that I brought along to cheer him up and let him know I cared. He was happier with the fingers I placed inside the wired gate. He rubbed up against them with his face as if they were giving him some comfort but being a dog person, I’m not really sure. Back at their apartment and out of the cage, he scampered into the kitchen looking for food. As he disappeared around the corner, my innocent three year old granddaughter asked if Milo was a girl now. Where did that come from???