Take Your Cat to the Vet Week! The Tiniest Tiger Visits Doctor.

Thundershirt for Cats means Successful Vet Visit for Gracey

Super Hurrah!!  My Thundershirt for Cats training really paid off.  For the first time…ever…. both my mom and I made it all the way to my doctor’s office and back without any accidents or anxiety attacks.  I have been in training for a few months, wearing my Thundershirt for Cats during big spooky storms and on the scariest holiday for cats, the 4th of July.  All of this training was leading up to the big event…. a trip to visit my doctors at the Morris Veterinary Clinic.

Now, I love my doctors at the clinic, every one of them.  They are super nice and I know they are truly concerned and take excellent care of me, so it is not visiting them so much as it is being confined to my carrier and having to be transported in the car to and from the clinic. ~shiver~.

My mom loads me up into my Pet Taxi and  places some training pads in the bottom of the carrier.  Then she

carries me carefully to the car and places me in a seat with a seat belt looped through my carrier in case of any sudden stops. I always face in a direction where I can see her and she talks to me.  We listen to Andrea Bocelli while we drive to help keep us both calm.

The Dreaded Car Ride to the Morris Veterinary Clinic

Now on an ordinary car ride to the Morris Veterinary Clinic I begin to panic.  About ten minutes into the journey my stomach starts to toss and turn. I vocalize my distress to my mom and she tries to calm me down but after another ten minutes we cross a set of railroad tracks and the when we go over the bump, I am known to have an accident or two in my carrier.  It is most unpleasant and embarrassing.

Due to my embarrassment, I begin to panic about what has happened and most often cry out in the most pitiful way.  This causes my mom’s heart to race and I can see the worry on her face as she gently reassures me that we are almost there and everything will be alright.

When we arrive at the clinic, the staff is on standby.  I am typically whisked out of my carrier and showered clean. It is most unpleasant for everyone.  After my bath, I am ready for my check up. But because I am so wound up from the experience, they can’t get an accurate glucose check on me.

I am telling you this, even though it is humiliating as a cat to admit that I am prone to carrier accidents, because I don’t want difficult transports be a reason that you don’t take your own cat to the vet.  Did you know  cats outnumber dogs in the U.S. by 15 million according to the CATalyst Council , yet the American Humane Association estimates that cats go to the vet only half as often as dogs!

We cats need to go to the vet too.  Sometimes our parents choose the path of least resistance because we get ourselves so worked up into a lather that they think going to the vet is harder on us and perhaps not worth the anxiety on the cat and them.

Thundershirt Training Pays Off Big with a Clean Carrier, Cat and Check-Up!

Well, this visit was COMPLETELY different and I can only attribute the success to wearing my Thundershirt for Cats! Upon my arrival there was no need for emergency bathing.  I couldn’t decide if the staff’s expression was shock or relief so perhaps it was both.  I behaved in the waiting room even though I was beside two full grown Irish Wolf Hounds.  Those are some big dogs.  I was glad a little boy asked the owners how they got them into their carriers because I was wondering the same thing.

Then when I was called back into the room, Dr. Teresa was nearly panicked thinking I was super sick because I wasn’t my

usual wild smelly self upon arrival.  When I came out of my carrier in my Thundershirt, her eyes got super big and she said, “Wow!  This is amazing!”  When she took me back to be weighed, she showed all the other doctors and staff that I had arrived and was clean and calm.

I hope this story encourages those of you that struggle getting your cats to the vet for their check-ups.  My parents had hopes that the Thundershirt for Cats would help me and it truly did.  My doctors said that some parents had come in with dogs wearing Thundershirts and they too expressed success in keeping their canines calm.  I was the first feline to come in wearing the new Thundershirt for cats at my clinic.  The doctors are going to recommend  it to other cat parents to help relieve stress.

I am proud that I could be a role model for my fellow felines so that more parents will be able to take their cats to the vet for regular check ups without so much anxiety and accidents.

How about you?  What are your visits to the Vet like with your cat?

We were given a Thundershirt for Cats. We received no other compensation from Thundershirt.