Yesterday I took Lily to the vet's. This was not the usual easy visit.
First off, because of Nick's disability we use the PDSA for our vet services. Without them, we would have been in serious trouble (and more importantly hock) when we got Cracker and discovered she had her stomach problem/food allergies and she had to go to the vets four times in the first month alone. Now of course whatever it is (even after all that time we're still not 100% sure, and since no-one's really keen on cutting her open just to have a poke around that's the way it'll likely stay) is under control and she only has to go in for quarterly check-ups and her booster vaccinations once a year, but the PDSA cover them too and they're good and so we take Lily to them as well.
Lily went in yesterday for her booster shots and to have her weight checked, because Lily is of course a flump. We've been doing this with her for about four months now, and her weight has been see-sawing all over the place - up, then down, then strangely down, and now up again. But regardless, Lily goes in once a month, which she hates, because (a) she's 16-17lbs being put in a small box, and (b) she doesn't travel well. Yesterday was worse than usual, because the taxi driver who took us there was the kind to accelerate sharply, brake sharply... generally if there was a way to make the passengers bounce around in their seats, he'd give it a go. So by the time we got to the vet's Lily was quite distressed, and she ended up doing two types of business in the carrier. Embarrassing for sure, but hardly the first time an animal's done that at the vet's.
I always arrive to appointments early, because I'd much rather be early than late, and so I was there a full 15 minutes before my appointment and, for once, the place was empty. Well, one couple came in with their elderly and reluctant dog, but that was it. I ended up being seen 10 minutes before my actual stated appointment, so I'm pretty sure they weren't hideously busy like I've seen them be in the past.
Appointment starts off normal, I apologise for Lily's accident in the carrier, get it up on the table and open it up. We weigh Lily and discover that, as I said, she's managed to put on weight again (I suspect she's been eating the wet food that Cracker refuses to eat when we're not looking, but every time I've asked whether to stop free-feeding them the vet advice has always been that it's fine to carry on like that). The first bit of bother came when the vet seemed unwilling to discuss this with me, telling me I really need to see a nurse about that. Well, fair enough, but when I had made this appointment I had stressed I had wanted to have her monthly weight check, and the boosters were just conveniently at the same time. Ah well, maybe they just got confused about what the appointment was for and decided it was just about the boosters. No big deal. The vet told me I'd have to make another appointment, which is added stress on both Lily and myself, but when she made the appointment for me she didn't write it down for me or anything like that. Okay, again, no big problem, maybe they just ran out of cards.
Booster shots were given, Lily being Lily she didn't make a peep, and it was time to get back in the carrier. Only... you remember I said she'd made a mess in the carrier? Well, every other time I've ever had this situation at the vet's, they've offered to clean the box out for me while the appointment's going on, I don't know if this is standard practice or if I'm expecting something that I shouldn't have been, but it was always offered in the past and I always thought it was a nice touch. This time, I realised that the vet expected me to put Lily back into a carrier that was, basically, covered in cat pee and poo.
I asked if there was something I could use to clean the box up a little. Almost as an afterthought, the vet handed me a wad of paper towels, and then watched as I did my best to clean the carrier with them. She then watched as I got Lily back into the carrier (to her credit, Lily is both clever and well-mannered, and all I had to do was put the box up on the table and ask her if she wanted to get in it herself to go home, and she stepped in and curled up in it without a peep. Then she watched me close up the box and leave. All this time the vet never said a word to me, other than a "goodbye" when I was leaving and even then she was already scrubbing down the table with disinfectant and some better-quality towels.
the whole thing just left me feeling... strange. Confused. And angry, after a while. Like I said, the PDSA are great people and I've never had a bad word to say about them before today... and honestly I've been second-guessing myself over whether to even write this since yesterday afternoon. But it just felt... not right, to me somehow. Almost like I wasn't really welcome there for some reason. This could, of course, be my OCD talking, as it kicked in after this and I've spent a lot of time since worrying that this was all, in fact, my fault but I just haven't figured out how yet. Obsessional thinking may well be the death of me. But regardless, it bothered me enough that I eventually felt I had to write this down, for better or for worse.
Lily's got her weight clinic/nurse's appointment in two weeks' time. I admit I'm now slightly scared about what's going to happen when I take her there. It's also why I don't feel like actually making a complaint or anything like that to the hospital, in case it turns out it's all in my head and they decide not to treat the cats any more because of it (hello again, obsessional thinking!).
I think I'm going to be stressing out a lot about this for a while.
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