Banfield Pet Hospital

Let's face it...no doctor can cure what's wrong with Mr. Kitty.  That's probably why he doesn't routinely go to the vet.  If there is something wrong with him, we take him for treatment.  Otherwise, the cat lives by the same rules I did growing up.  If we can stop the bleeding, you don't need a doctor.  Unfortunately, Mr. Kitty has had a long term problem and a more recent problem crop up that pushed us to take him to the vet. On reddit,  Mark found a coupon for a free visit to Banfield Pet Hospital, located inside Pet Smart.  

Early today, Mark called to see if he could get an appointment for the cat.  Unfortunately, they were all booked up after 2, which was when he could get the car, but they still accept walk-ins.  Point for them!  Mark's schedule is all over the place.  A vet that is open late, seven days a week, and can take walk-ins has our name all over it.  

When we arrived, we waited about half an hour before we could actually see someone.  Before sitting down to wait, we checked in with a very nice young lady.  She asked for basic information about our pet, our names, and our address.  She also weighed him; Mr. Kitty is seventeen pounds of evil!  Pet Smart provides benches to wait on, but Mr. Kitty wasn't really enjoying the wait.  He was in his carrier, letting out the intermittent kitty cry.  Also, there was a huge, dead cockroach under a display.  I like to think it was offending him.

When they finally called Mr. Kitty's name, we were led into a small, clean room.  After a few minutes, the cat nurse came in to see us, or rather Mr. Kitty.  She wasn't actually a cat, but she was a nurse.  We had been told she handles the cats, since she loves them so much.  At this point, she opened Mr. Kitty's carrier.  He would come out a bit to look around, then quickly reverse direction, back into his carrier.  Considering how much he didn't want to go into it when we left the house, it was funny how much he didn't want out of it when the nice lady wanted to examine him.

Eventually, she up-ended the carrier to get Mr. Kitty out.  She looked over him, paying attention to the spot on his back we came in to have looked at.  She also inspected his teeth and ears.  She intended to check his temperature anally, but he was having none of that.  After we explained his other problem, she told us she didn't really have an reason for either of our concerns and left to get the doctor.  She also took Mr. Kitty's carrier to clean it out for us.

When she returned, she brought the doctor along with her.  The doctor gave Mr. Kitty a quick once over and then spent the rest of the time addressing the problems we had come in to have explained.  The first problem is a spot on the back of his neck, which said said was nothing to worry about.  Apparently, he hurt the back of his neck.  It is now healing, which caused the minimal fur loss.  He'll be fine.  His other problem, the rabbit problem, may have to do with his anal glands.  At this point, the doctor decides they need expressed.  The nurse let her know Mr. Kitty wasn't a big fan of this plan, but she would "scruff" him, so the doctor could take care of business.  

At this point, I was very upset.  Mr. Kitty is not a nice kitty sometimes, but he is my kitty.  I don't like seeing him upset.  Luckily, the nurse, who was trying to keep him still, apologized to Mr. Kitty and told him they were violating him.  This made me laugh, hence breaking the tension a bit.  Mr. Kitty expects dinner first when someone violates him though, so he is still upset.  

The doctor tells us to just keep an eye on Mr. Kitty's neck.  She then lets us know that the visit is no charge, even though we hadn't mentioned our coupon to anyone.  It was a nice, unexpected surprise.  All in all, I was very happy with their services and professionalism.  Mr. Kitty is a biter, and I spent much of the time worried he was going to bite someone, but he really only appears to bite Mark and I.  This is good news? 

Other fun facts:

     The nurse who likes cats looks like Brittany Pierce, from Glee.  This means they both like cats.  The nurse told us she even likes mean cats, as it is more of a challenge.

     Mr. Kitty's full name is Mr. Bijou Phillips Kitty, Esquire.

     Mr. Kitty hates cars.

     Mr. Kitty will not poop candybars, no matter what you do.

(Moved from FB - January 27, 2012)