Allegra’s World: A Visit From the Vet

I had quite an exciting morning on Monday. All morning long, Mom told me that I would have a very special visitor. I couldn’t wait: I love visitors! When the doorbell finally rang, I sat at the top of the stairs, telling Mom to hurry and open the door. I would do it myself, but I know better. Mom says I’m not allowed to run down the stairs toward the door, or she won’t open it.

Anyway, this nice man came in, and I immediately went to say hello. He held out his hand and let me sniff it, and then he petted me. I like good manners in a visitor. I showed him the way to our living room – I’m a good hostess! Then the door bell rang again. Another visitor? What a great day! The young woman who came in was really nice, too. I liked her right away.

The man had a bag and a strange looking plastic tray with him, and as soon as he put them on the dining room table, I went over to check them out. The bag smelled very interesting.

Mom and the man and the woman sat down in the living room and started to talk to each other while I was busy checking everything out. In case you’re wondering where Ruby was: she was sleeping on the perch in Mom’s office, and once Ruby sleeps, not much wakes her!

After they all finished talking, Mom picked me up and put me on the strange plastic tray. Turns out it was a scale, and the man and the woman use it to weigh cats. What a strange custom! The woman put a treat on the scale, so I stayed on there without putting up a fuss and ate the treat. They said I weighed 8 pounds, and the man called me “petite.” I like the way that sounds.

The woman gave me a treat, and put me on a soft towel. Then the man put his hands on me, and very gently ran them all along my body, starting at my head and going all the way to my tail. I wasn’t sure about being touched like that at first, especially by someone I had just met, but it felt sort of nice. Sometimes he squeezed me a little. I wasn’t crazy about that, but Mom reassured me that it was okay. Then he put this cold round thing on my chest. That felt a little weird, but it didn’t hurt, so I figured it was another strange custom of his and I let him do it. Before I knew it, he moved his hands off of me. Just to be safe, though, I took off for the kitchen.

Mom thanked me for being so cooperative. She said what had just happened was my annual exam, and that I have to have it to make sure that I stay healthy. I guess I can deal with this once a year, especially since there were plenty of treats involved.

Ruby must have heard the sound of the treat bag, because she came out of the office to check things out. She’s a little shy around people she doesn’t know, so she kept her distance, but at least the man and the woman got to see that I really do have a sister.

Then Mom asked the man and the woman whether they could trim my nails. I know what that means! Usually, Mom’s friend Renee comes over and helps Mom do it. I love Renee, and I wasn’t sure whether I was going to like having my nails trimmed by these people.

The woman picked me up and held me very gently against her, and the man started clipping my nails. It felt really different from when Renee does it. At first I was fine, but then I got a little upset. I don’t like to be held for a long time, not even by Mom, and this was just getting to be too intense for me. Mom petted my head and reassured me that it was okay. Yeah, well. I don’t see her having her nails trimmed with someone holding her when she doesn’t want to be held! I expressed my displeasure with a couple of pitiful meows that I knew would make Mom feel a little bad, but I let them finish what they started. I knew there were going to be more treats.

After that, the man and the woman left. I was a little too stressed at that point to say my proper good byes the way I usually do with visitors. I hope they didn’t take that the wrong way, because I really liked them, and they’re definitely allowed to come back.

Mom told me she was very proud of how good I was! I know this check up stuff is important to humans, and I love that Mom wants to make sure that I’m happy and healthy.

A note from Ingrid

Allegra and Ruby don’t just have one vet now, they have a whole veterinary team! We love our feline vet, Dr. Andrea Tasi of Just Cats Naturally. Dr. Tasi uses classical homeopathy, nutritional therapy, and behavior/environment-related techniques to help healthy cats stay well and help ill cats regain their health. Since Dr. Tasi does not practice conventional veterinary medicine, we also need a vet who can provide conventional care when this is indicated. Dr. Tasi’s practice is housecall based.

I’ve always liked having vets come to the house. It makes the whole experience so much less stressful both for the cats, and for me. In the past, I’ve had vets who were affiliated with a regular clinic, but would make an exception and make housecalls for me, so I haven’t had to look for a true mobile practice until now.

I did a lot of research into mobile practices in the Washington DC area (and there are quite a few of them) before selecting Dr. Juan Villar. Dr. Villar owns and operates Home Veterinary Care of Northern Virginia. His state-of-the-art mobile clinic provides the full range of services typically offered by stationary practices. I was able to tour his mobile clinic, and I was extremely impressed. More importantly, I loved his kind and gentle “bedside” manner. He was wonderful with Allegra, and even though his practice treats both cats and dogs, he clearly knows and understands cats.

We’re very happy with our veterinary team!

To locate a mobile veterinarian in your area, visit the website of the American Association of Housecall and Mobile Veterinarians.