Cat Sad

One of our kitties had been flattening his right ear and squinting one eye for the past week, looking sort of like a grumpy stroke victim, so I finally took him in to the vet and determined that he has a mild infection.

As I was discussing treatment with the vet I felt the need to explain I would be getting married this weekend and afterwards would be away for a bit, wanting to find out if we could finish the course of ear drops before then. Once I said "wedding" the vet kept saying things like, "of course with a wedding going on the cat will take a back seat." I protested, but to no avail - he was convinced I'd be too busy stressing about napkin colors to take care of the cat. I mean, we'd like to still go on our honeymoon and everything, but I'm not going to skip the cat's antibiotics just because I'll be wearing a big white dress for a few hours this weekend. Some commitments are sacred, after all.

Anyway, it sounded like everything should be okay. As I was waiting at the front desk to pay, the receptionist got a phone call that was clearly taxing her patience. She kept rolling her eyes and saying things like, "Yes, that would be the normal course of the condition," and finally put the caller on hold. Then, as though against her better judgement, she burst out, "I don't know what to say to this woman anymore. There are these two sisters whose cat died, and after they buried it they dug it up three times. They're still not convinced it's really dead, and they keep calling to ask about it." She said they brought it in to confirm its condition ... after leaving it on their porch in a sealed Tupperware contained for a week. "Um, trust me, it's dead!" the girl said.

Meanwhile Bruno keeps moping around with his gimpy ear like a kid home sick from school, shaking his head madly as though that would get rid of whatever's hurting him. The twice-daily ear drops are the final indignity. They have to be kept refrigerated, and Bruno meows like we're doing something terrible to him when the cold liquid hits the ear.

The pain of pets: it's so heartbreaking.