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Action Jack!

I am a merciful weasel. No more beards. Have a cat.

We took Jack for his annual checkup and shots. (Aside — do y’all think that’s really necessary? Annual boosters, I mean? It’s one thing to give him his baby shots, but I’m not sure it’s worth hauling him in once a year, he hates it so).

According to the medico, his weight is exactly the same as last time. So, that’s it. He’s not growing. He’s going to be a runty little boy 4eva. With a sweet little pink kitteny face and mad unfocused psychotic eyes.

He’s still a friendly little beast, though. He has a bad habit of making love to strangers and trying to crawl into their cars. Bad enough with the UPS man, but people stop at the end of our drive to make phone calls and exchange drivers and such, so there’s a real worry he might get in somebody’s ride and drive off one day.

So, weird story: we had a tree guy over to look at our drive (we’re overdue for a pollarding) and Jack wouldn’t go anywhere near him. Really, obviously shunned him. Not like Jack at all.

The tree guy tells us animals used to love him. People’s dogs and cats would crawl into his lap and they’d be all, like, “Mister Tibbles has never done that before!” and he’d be all, like, “shucks — happens to me all the time.”

Then, about five years ago, it stopped abruptly. Animals began to avoid him. No idea why. It obviously made him sad.

If it happened more recently, I’d tell him to get a complete checkup right away. But five years is ample time for a serious, personal-smell-changing disease to do him in.

Comments


Comment from QuasiModo
Time: March 25, 2015, 11:49 pm

He’s possessed!


Comment from Paula Douglas
Time: March 26, 2015, 12:00 am

For a strictly indoor cat, those shots are optional. For an outdoor cat they’re mandatory. Cats are susceptible to about ten thousand communicable feline diseases: AIDS, leukemia…okay, that’s two, but they’re really bad, and there are others that I can’t think of just now.

Don’t they say “jabs” in the UK?


Comment from musical mountaineer
Time: March 26, 2015, 12:47 am

Dude! What did you do? WHAT DID YOU DO???


Comment from iamfelix
Time: March 26, 2015, 1:08 am

Yay, Jack pic! He’s so cute.


Comment from Stark Dickflüssig
Time: March 26, 2015, 1:27 am

Yeah, FIV & rabies are kinda important.

He’s got such a lovely sneer.


Comment from catnip
Time: March 26, 2015, 2:38 am

Annual boosters are worth it, if only to ward off calicivirus infection, which is highly contagious. It’s a serious illness, if not fatal, and can result in arthritis, neurological damage, and other unpleasant residual effects on major organs. Previous bouts don’t confer immunity, unfortunately.

Since Jack is an outdoor adventurer (and eminently adorable) you’re wise to keep him as well protected as you can.


Comment from Some Vegetable
Time: March 26, 2015, 4:36 am

Taking him to the Vet is a great way to remind him how good his life is…. You can’t recognize beauty of sweet unless you taste a bit of bitter now and again (got this wisdom from a Fortune Cookie one night).

I mean he’s living a life right out of a Beatrice Potter story, A little Ronald Dahl is good for him now and again.


Comment from Christopher Taylor
Time: March 26, 2015, 4:48 am

Are you sure you can’t put a beard on the kitty? Just for us?


Comment from beasn
Time: March 26, 2015, 4:19 pm

Maybe tree guy has a slow growing tumor or the diabeetus.


Comment from JuliaM
Time: March 26, 2015, 4:40 pm

Yes, as an outdoor cat, the annual booster is a must. I get my indoor cats done every year too, because you never know if a visitor (and we have neighbours with cats who might come in).

Stark, rabies jabs are not required in the UK (unless you take your pet abroad.


Comment from Noona
Time: March 26, 2015, 7:04 pm

Consensus is agin me, but—

I have a bad tempered indoor-outdoor Siamese who hated going to the vet. I mean HATED. After three years of DefCon5, I quit taking her.

She’s 14. Maybe she’s an outlier. Eh, maybe she’s too cussed to actually contract anything. Anyway, I’ve enjoyed the peace…


Comment from mojo
Time: March 26, 2015, 7:49 pm

Always wear a face mask when you stuff him in the carrier to go vettie-bye. I suggest Tony Blair.


Comment from Anonymous
Time: March 26, 2015, 9:22 pm

On the other hand, mojo, I would suggest the Muslim in Chief. Or the Mad Cow – Angus Breed. Let him hate someone appropriate…


Comment from Steamboat McGoo
Time: March 26, 2015, 10:54 pm

” Are you sure you can’t put a beard on the kitty? Just for us? “.

Yeah! Kitty in disguise!


Comment from Nina
Time: March 27, 2015, 1:39 am

I still have a scar where I tried to put my cat in a carrier for a trip to the vet.


Comment from Some Vegetable
Time: March 27, 2015, 3:45 am

Bearded Cat?

http://bensbargains.net/thecheckout/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/cat_bearding_cat_beard_with_glasses.jpg


Comment from Bob Mulroy
Time: March 27, 2015, 5:54 am

The treeman might have just changed his laundry detergent or after shave. I used to were Grey flannel cologne, and it drove cats crazy. (The wimmins, not so much.)

Your Jack is well and truly a fine looking kitty!


Comment from Oceania
Time: March 30, 2015, 12:21 am

Harry the Little Ginger Bastard?

Whatever you do – don’t feed him Pacific Tuna …

There is a John West Tin bought that is pumping out 38,000+ CPM … pegging the meter.


Comment from Not Jim Ardis
Time: March 31, 2015, 5:13 pm

I must be having a psychotic break, because when I stare at the pic, it seems to move ever so slightly, like the nose and cheeks and forehead are twitching slowly…

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