The Tale of the Tail
Feb. 22nd, 2007 11:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
petardierThose of you I've seen in person since getting back from New Zealand may have heard this one already.
I had thought that the sprained knee, the leaking water heater, and the unscheduled dental visit fulfilled the traditional trinity of bad things arriving in threes. One of these must not have counted because on the morning of the day we were due to leave for New Zealand something else happened.
I was sitting at the kitchen table eating breakfast and thinking about everything that remained to be done before leaving the house at 11AM. Our cat, Tatonka, came into the room and something struck me as odd, but I could not, at first, place what it was.
After a few moments thought, I figured it out. Her tail, normally upright, was drooping down like a dog's. I looked more closely. In addition to drooping, it was not moving with its usual degree of animation. I put her on the sofa and carefully checked the tail. She didn't seem able to move it more than a few degrees in any direction, but didn't seem to be experiencing any discomfort. What to do? There wasn't anything visibly wrong, but the situation clearly not right. We didn't really have time for a vet visit; there was still plenty to do for the trip.
Fortunately for our sanity and schedule, I hit on the idea of having our cat sitter to take her to the vet. Once the vet was open, I called and authorized our cat sitter to bring the cat in (and provided means of payment). The vet, by way of the receptionist, said there was a variety
of reasons that might cause the problem I described - some serious, other not. Now all we had to do was get our cat sitter to
agree to help out.
We managed to contact her before we left, and she agreed to handle the vet visit. We decided that she would leave a message on our answering machine to save the aggravation of trying to keep up with our complex itinerary and the expense of international calling I will draw a veil over the tangled process (which spanned half the planet) of getting the results of the vet visit as it mainly involved punching in lots of phone access codes in airports or hotel rooms to get or leave messages.
The diagnosis - a sprained tail. Recommended treatment - time.
And in case you're wondering, Tatonka's tail seems to have made a full recovery.
I had thought that the sprained knee, the leaking water heater, and the unscheduled dental visit fulfilled the traditional trinity of bad things arriving in threes. One of these must not have counted because on the morning of the day we were due to leave for New Zealand something else happened.
I was sitting at the kitchen table eating breakfast and thinking about everything that remained to be done before leaving the house at 11AM. Our cat, Tatonka, came into the room and something struck me as odd, but I could not, at first, place what it was.
After a few moments thought, I figured it out. Her tail, normally upright, was drooping down like a dog's. I looked more closely. In addition to drooping, it was not moving with its usual degree of animation. I put her on the sofa and carefully checked the tail. She didn't seem able to move it more than a few degrees in any direction, but didn't seem to be experiencing any discomfort. What to do? There wasn't anything visibly wrong, but the situation clearly not right. We didn't really have time for a vet visit; there was still plenty to do for the trip.
Fortunately for our sanity and schedule, I hit on the idea of having our cat sitter to take her to the vet. Once the vet was open, I called and authorized our cat sitter to bring the cat in (and provided means of payment). The vet, by way of the receptionist, said there was a variety
of reasons that might cause the problem I described - some serious, other not. Now all we had to do was get our cat sitter to
agree to help out.
We managed to contact her before we left, and she agreed to handle the vet visit. We decided that she would leave a message on our answering machine to save the aggravation of trying to keep up with our complex itinerary and the expense of international calling I will draw a veil over the tangled process (which spanned half the planet) of getting the results of the vet visit as it mainly involved punching in lots of phone access codes in airports or hotel rooms to get or leave messages.
The diagnosis - a sprained tail. Recommended treatment - time.
And in case you're wondering, Tatonka's tail seems to have made a full recovery.
