Veterinary Hospital: a pussycat that went to the dogs I took Trilby to the vet on Friday. Poor little guy, both the trip there and the actual visit terrified him. →[More:]

I lined his carrier with his Aristocrats cat blanket (don't look at me that way — my niece bought it for him) and put his favourite toy in, then tossed in three or four kitty treats to lure him in. He went for it, and, humming "Suspicious Minds" ("Caught in a trap/I can't walk out...") I latched the little wire door and left the house with him.

It's a ten minute walk to the subway station, so I thought I'd take the bus. Waited ten minutes for the bus, and the driver wouldn't let me on. Pets aren't allowed on the TTC before six p.m., it seems. Damn stupid rule — there was plenty of room on the bus and Trilby was securely crated so how does this improve customer service for anyone?

I walked to the station and went through the turnstiles with some trepidation, but I wasn't challenged by a TTC worker. Several people who were near us on the subway made a big fuss over Trilby and said how calm he looked, was he used to being on the subway?

Trilby stayed perfectly still and quiet for the entire trip and vet visit, so he looked calm, but he was actually still because he was petrified with fear. When I touched him I could feel him shaking slightly.

We got to the vet's office, the support staff made a big fuss over him and the vet kept referring to him as "Handsome Boy". Trilby let the vet do whatever she needed to do: look at his teeth and into his ears, feel his glands, give him his shots, listen to his heart, and pick him up and put him on the scales. His expression when the vet took his temperature with a rectal thermometer was hilarious — a wide-eyed stricken look, settling into a furrowed brow look of endurance. The vet was happy he was so co-operative.

The only thing he wouldn’t do was take his worm pill though it was contained in a treat, so I asked if we could get that to go. And though I stood there and petted him most of the time he never purred or rubbed his head against my hand. REALLY atypical behaviour from him. He's a very interactive pettee and loves treats.

His health is good, the vet says. He's gained two pounds since I got him a year ago and is now 12 pounds. The vet agreed with me that his shelter weight of ten pounds would have been too thin for him. She said he shouldn't gain any more weight, and not that he needs to lose any, but I think I might cut back his food just slightly. Eleven pounds is probably his ideal weight.

She does recommend that he have his teeth cleaned. I asked for an estimate of how much that would cost. And holy crap. They want to do blood work to make sure it's safe to put him under anesthetic and that costs about $120. Then the actual cleaning, aneasthetic and x-rays will cost $500, and depending on what they need to do when they get working on his mouth, it could be another $235. I don't know what I'll do about that. That is so much money for me and yet I don't want Trilby to lose his teeth.

Well, we headed home. There was a Beddington's Bed and Bath next to the Animal Hospital and I thought I'd just go in briefly and look for a new bathmat. I asked the sales associates if it was okay if I brought my cat into the store and they said, very eagerly, "Oh, you can put him right by the front desk here and we'll look after him while you shop!" I went down to the basement where the bathmats were and when I came back up about seven minutes later the sales associates were grouped around the carrier, cooing at Trilby.

We headed home. More people on the train made a big fuss over him and said how beautiful he was. When I got off the train at Dundas West five people waved bye-bye. Poor Trilby was immune to the flattery and curled up at the back of his carrier.

When I took the lid off the carrier Trilby looked around the kitchen wildly. Could his ordeal really be over? It is until next year unless I decide to have your teeth cleaned, champ.

I gave him a few hours to settle in and then gave him his deworming pill. He gobbled it up, searched my hand for more, and squawked in protest when he didn't find any. I took it from that that he was back to normal. It was a shame that the excursion scared him so much and yet he recovered very quickly, so that's good.