Lonely cat

The first time I took the cat to the vet was when she had a little wound on her tail, and she had been licking it so much she had a bald patch. I suspected that the initial wound had just resulted from an encounter with her nemesis: the neighbour’s cat. And when I got to the vet, he said that the little wound was not really anything to worry about. He was more worried about her being fat and having a broken tooth!

Recently I noticed she had another bald patch. Maybe Nemesis again? But this time I saw no scratch. And then she had more. She was still her happy cheerful self, but something was clearly not right. So I phoned the vet again. And I was advised to bring her in.

The cat looking characteristically cool, calm and collected; bald patches indicated

She really hates being brought in! She caught sight of the travelling basket and hid behind the sofa. That didn't work; I got her anyway. And drove her to Caernarfon. She was meowing pitifully all the way! And was still doing that in the waiting room. The receptionists turned to custard. I thought they would have seen and heard it all, but they were quite susceptible to her mournful sound.

The vet lifted her out of her basket and put her on the scales. She was 4.3 kg. And then she seemed to decide that she was scared but that the scales were the least scary place to be. So he just examined her on there. She still didn't look very happy, but she started purring! She seemed to like this vet. I decided to scratch her head a bit to distract her. She almost went in full petting mode, upside down. And given she also had a bald patch on her chest, he had to lift her up all lion king to get a good look. She didn't protest.

He also listened to her heart and lungs. He said there was absolutely no sign of anything being wrong with her! Nor of any parasites. He asked if anything had changed in her life. Her food was still the same, and Nemesis was also not a new development. And then I wondered if it had anything to do with me having returned to the office. Did she just miss me? The vet seemed to think that was likely. Oh dear! I am making my cat lonely.

The vet said he would probably just get used to it. But I wanted to make the transition easy for her. I stayed home the rest of the day. But after that, things didn't go so well in that respect! Two days later I didn't have to teach in the morning, so in theory I could just spend  the first hour or two working at home, and only then go into the office. But the weather forecast was: dry until 9 am, and then an absolute wash-out! Then I chose my own well-being over that of the cat. I made sure I was in the office by 9 am… and the weather then indeed turned absolutely atrocious.

That weekend I would be away. But I would really try to sometimes leave for the office a bit later in the week after that, so I could spend a bit of quality time with the little cat! And then I just hope her hair will gradually grow back…