I am an over-protective cat dad. My wife, Nikki, and I are the proud parents of two incredibly awesome cats, Daeva and Daksha. They are brother and sister.→[More:] They've been a part of our little family since 2003. We adopted them from a local shelter after meeting them entirely by accident at a local pet shop. We had no pets at the time, but the "pets adoptions today" sign beckoned. There they were and we were slain. Our first few months with them were trying, as both were unwell with various tummy issues. Daeva recovered quicker than her brother, but Daksha's illness bewildered just about every vet we saw. It was only after a very gracious Christmas Eve office visit with one more vet that we started seeing progress. Basically, he has the cat equivalent of IBS. To keep his tummy happy, we filter his water with a fountain and feed him what is essentially cat tofu. I guess it is pretty bland stuff, but he and his sister seem cool with it.

Since then, he's been doing quite well. He's got a great personality and spends his days either sleeping in his mom's lap, sitting with me at the computer, watching squirrels in the yard through the window, or chasing his sister up and down the stairs.

The only remaining issue has to do with his teeth. His stomach condition makes him salivate more than the average cat, and while he's not a drooler, this does leave his gums very irritated. And his breath, poor boy, is practically toxic to behold. Or besmell. Whatever. We've tried brushing his teeth, but that only seems to frustrate him.

So on Thursday morning, we're taking him down to the good vet for a teeth cleaning. Now, Daksha hates any trip outside the house. He is an indoor cat and he wants to forever be so. So the trip over will be bad enough. But we have to leave him for the morning, so he'll be on his own for a bit. And to do the actual cleaning, he'll have to be sedated.

I shouldn't be worried, because Dr Lafferty is a great vet, but still ... I'm nervous for Daksha. So if you have a moment on Thursday morning, send a positive thought or two to our sweet boy.

(And if you've known a cat to go through the dental thing, share how it went. Thanks.)