Day 103: Happy Birthday Charlotte

My Project: 365 Creative Writing Prompts

Day 103: Happy Birthday Charlotte

I seldom post pictures of Charlotte because she is a quiet cat. She eats, she grooms, she sleeps, and wouldn’t say boo to a goose. On the contrary, if a goose was to say boo to her, I’m quite sure she would faint.

Charlotte is an extremely nervous cat, literally afraid of her own shadow. If someone talks too loud, she goes running; if there's a thunderstorm, she dives under the bed; if the wind blows, she hides in the laundry basket; and as soon as the vacuum cleaner gets switched on, she hides under the duvet.

Why she is so on edge I have no idea, it’s not like she ever experienced abuse as we adopted her as a ten-week-old kitten.

We were in a pet food store one day and I overheard the owner talking that her cat had kittens. “I don’t know what happened,” she stated. “I thought my two cats were both males.” How someone can be so stupid is beyond me. Anyone who has a cat takes the animal for inoculations, at which time the vet would see whether the cat is male or female.

Anyway, so there they were, four adorable kittens looking for a home. I found it impossible to choose, so I waited which of the kittens would come to me. When one of them did, I immediately knew I would call her Charlotte.

Other than her inoculations and her spay, for years she never saw the inside of a doctor’s office. That changed a few years ago, Charlotte had to have dental work done, and this year in January she developed a urinary tract infection. The vet prescribed a course of antibiotics.

Now anyone who has ever tried to give a cat a pill knows what I’m about to say … giving Charlotte her medication was hell on wheels. With the help of Dieter, it wasn’t too bad, but on my own … OMG!!!

I tried pill pockets (she ate the pocket – left the pill), I tried a pill popper (that didn’t work at all), I tried coating the pill in butter, nothing worked. Eventually, with some gentle coaxing and a lot of perseverance, Charlotte got her medication, but only after she spat out the pill a few times. At the end of the antibiotics course, I don’t know who was more relieved, Charlotte or me.

When I heard about a special cat food that prevents urinary tract infections, I immediately bought it. It cost the earth, but as far as I was concerned, it was worth it. 24 hours later I returned the food. While the dry nibbles were indeed effective in preventing urinary tract infections, they could cause kidney failure. Well, I wasn’t gonna take that chance.

Now, about two weeks ago, Charlotte developed a lip infection. She had this type of infection twice before, but this time it was really bad, one side of her mouth was horribly swollen. Off we went to the vet.

When he mentioned a course of antibiotics I thought … OMG not again. That’s when the doctor asked if we considered giving Charlotte her meds via a two-week release shot. Come again? 

As the vet explained, a two-week release shot is an injection that releases antibiotics gradually over a two-week period. For a second I wasn’t sure what to do, slap or kiss the man. Why hadn’t he suggested this before? With this (painless) injection there was no need for pills, which was far less traumatic for Charlotte and for me.

Anyway, all is well and on her birthday, we wish Charlotte many happy returns.

Don’t forget to donate to the Toronto Cat Rescue.

Any amount will make a difference.

https://www.canadahelps.org/en/pages/toronto-cat-rescue-bowl-a-thon-9/