A couple nights ago I was sitting in the chair next to Tulip and I saw something on her fur near her butt.  It was a tapeworm.  GROSS!  I was totally confused because we haven’t spotted a single flea on either cat.  Nonetheless, Tu has worms.  We decided this was a good excuse to finally get both cats in to be checked by our veterinarian, Dr. Côté.  My schedule has been so horrible while I’m finishing up school that I’ve kept putting it off.  Well, today was the day.

I was pretty concerned that Moo might have some issues.  She’s a bit smaller than Tulip, but feels 10 times heavier.  She’s like a medicine ball.  She just feels dense.  Then there’s the constant black eye and nose boogers, the snoring, the horrible breath/bad teeth, and the occasional peeing on the floor instead of in the litterbox.  I was really afrad that she had some serious problems.

Eve loaded up both cats in their carriers and picked me up at work to head over to see Dr. Côté.  Moo was talking a bit in the car, but both cats were sweet angels on their way over, and throughout their entire visit.  They both got weighted and got their temperatures taken.  They both got a dose of worm medicine and and a dose of flea medicine.  Moo is getting some blood work done to see how everything else checks out.  But overall she seems to be in good shape other than some bad teeth.  We’ll wait and see if anything turns up in the blood work.  If not, we’ll set up an appointment to get her teeth cleaned.  She has one tooth in particular that will probably need to come out.  I’m sure that will make her feel a lot better.

I asked Dr. Côté about Moos boogers and eye.  She didn’t hesitate to grab Moo’s little head and show me that the eye in question is, in fact, surgically closed.  She just has a lot of fat around that one eye and it’s very deep set.  Unlike Tulip’s it appears that Moo’s eyes still have their tear ducts, so her eyes water on occasion.  Now that I know I’m not going to hurt her I can be more diligent about cleaning that goopy eye.  (I was afraid to try to open that eye because I wasn’t convinced it was sealed.)

Tulip has small organs, but seems to be happy and healthy.  She’s very low maintenance so far.  While in the vet’s office, she was very reserved and quiet.  She tends to play possum when she’s that nervous, which is a huge advantage for us.  It’s far better than having her to wild.  Moo, on the other hand, was working the party.  She was very interested in greeting everyone, and I’m pretty sure she made friends with most of the staff while she was out back.  She was her usual social butterfly self.

We’ll see what Moo’s blood work brings, but I’m more optimistic that she’s doing fairly well.  I’m looking forward to having them both in excellent condition.  I want to keep them as happy and healthy as we can.  They’ve had enough challenges in their short little lives.

If you’re in the area and in the market for a veterinarian, we highly recommend Dr. Côté at Côté Animal Hospital in La Jolla.  There is a link to her website on our front page if you would like further information.