27 March 2007

Max and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day



This is Max.

Max likes to chew things. A lot.

He likes to chew things more than any other cat I have ever known.

Max could put any puppy to shame. In fact, it's possible he is part goat. He chews on, and eats, everything. Seriously. EVERYTHING. Nothing is safe from the Max. We already had one Very Bad Day due to his chewing fixation.

And today we had another.

Max was sick this morning. He was "violently expelling" parts of a toy that he had chewed and swallowed. I realized that one large piece was still missing. As the cats both needed their annual check-up, I crated them and took them to the vet.

It was the first visit with this vet. And Max left quite an impression.

When we went in I gave the vet the run-down of their medical history. When I mentioned they were declawed (in the US well before we even knew we were coming here), the vet said that declawing wasn't legal in Switzerland and is generally a bad idea.

Then the vet tried to examine Max. Max was feeling sick and cranky. Max turned into a snarling, raging, hissing ball of fur. I tried to calm him down, and came away with blood dripping off my hand.

So the vet and his assistant put on protective leather gloves that came up to their elbows. But they soon gave up trying. It just wasn't going to happen.

The vet thought perhaps declawing wasn't always such a bad idea.

I was sent away with instructions of what to watch and told if Max didn't feel better soon I would need to bring him back so he could be sedated and examined. Possibly have a second surgery to remove an inedible object.

Fortunately Max "violently expelled" the remaining piece this afternoon. He is starting to feel better, but periodically has flashbacks and hisses at the remembrance.

He had a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day...

8 comments:

Impossible Jane said...

Oh dear. My love muffin went to the vet today too because he has developed cat allergies. He's been sneezing up a storm. And his lovable self gets left at the door and starts growling at the vet techs. He's horrible. It took two vet techs and one person to clip his nails.

SwissTwist said...

I had to do a double take when I saw Max's picture! He looks just like my M&M. I haven't had to take them to the vet since we got our kitties 2 months ago, but we're due for a trip soon as M&M has a bit of a weight problem. I just hope they behave.

Good to hear Max is feeling better :)

Anonymous said...

Nice goin' Max. Dats just how I told ya to do it wit' dem vets!

Un-Swiss Miss said...

You go Max! Fight the power!

But perhaps in the future you'll be a little more wary about eating your toys?

Global Librarian said...

All "kitty-safe" toys have been removed. Max has proved how false those words are.

The vet gave us a treat that was supposed to make him chew for a long time. He blew through it in under 15 seconds.

We are going to the pet store to look for chew toys for puppies. Perhaps we will find something he can play with that he cannot destroy and eat bits and pieces of?

Impossible Jane said...

I wonder if you can turn his chewing habit into something useful...like being the household paper shredder. You know all those old documents you don't want to go in the garbage!
Jane

Unknown said...

oh wow.. glad things are better.

CanadianSwiss said...

A goat-cat? Hmm. New breed, eh?