Smokey the Kitten's Big Day: A Trip to the Veterinarian Clinic

Today was Smokey the kitten's big day. After arranging bus transportation a few days ago, we finally went to one of the local veterinarian clinics in order to have his infected eye taken care of.

We almost didn't go, because for the past several days I have been sick as a dog -- excuse the pun, cat lovers -- with a nasty sore throat and a cough which has since moved into my chest. I mean, the very last thing that I wanted to do today was to leave the house; and under any other circumstances, I would have stayed home. However, Smokey has endured this affliction since at least August 26th; so despite my own miserable condition, I was determined to take him to the veterinarian clinic as planned.

Considering that we would be away from the house for about three hours, I decided yesterday that it would be wise to prepare in advance. So, the first thing that I did was to create an emergency litter box by using an old 7 1/2 inch square tupperware with a handle on it. I placed a plastic bag inside of it, and then added several cups of litter from Smokey and Bandit's litter box. I also filled one small plastic container with water, and another one with some of their favorite chicken-tuna mix. After adding a few paper towels, the emergency kit was ready to go.

At four weeks and three days old, this was Smokey's first time to ever leave the house. To say the least, he did not like it, which is very understandable. You see, our home is very quiet and peaceful, and it is usually just me, Socks, and the two kittens, Smokey and Bandit, except when my daughter is home. I don't watch television or listen to the radio, so there is never any noise blaring in the house. Occasionally I will watch a video on my computer, but that is about it. So this is the kind of environment Smokey has known during the first four plus weeks of his little life.

The minute we stepped outside, even though he was laying inside the pouch I had recently sewn into one of my Iam's cat food T-shirts, I think Smokey sensed the difference. For one thing, the afternoon tropical sun made it much hotter and brighter. Our house is air conditioned and not nearly as bright, being as we try to save money on our outrageous utility bills by turning off lights and such when not in use.

But that was just Smokey's first shock. What followed next was even worse, and a bit traumatic for my dear little, furry, feline friend as well. Let's just say that riding in a very noisy, bumping, rattling bus is not Smokey's cup of tea. He began protesting immediately with his distressful cries and squirmed out of the shirt pouch. So much for trying to keep it a secret that I was bringing a kitten onto the bus; but the bus driver didn't seem to mind.

My comforting voice and soft strokes eventually calmed down Smokey, and he was quiet the rest of the way. However, the minute we got out of the bus, right next to the busiest road on our small island, his protests began again. As it turned out, the veterinarian clinic was not located on the second floor of the same building where the pet store was located, as I had assumed, so we had to walk about the length of one lot to get to it. Smokey was still unsettled; but once we got inside, sat down in the quiet waiting room, and I began to comfort him, he settled down again; and in fact, he had just about fallen asleep when the doctor entered the room.

To say the least, Smokey was a very good boy -- ahem, kitten -- with the vet. He was very cooperative the entire time as she trimmed his nails, put a saline solution in his eyes, and examined his eye in order to determine what was causing the conjunctivitis. Even I was a bit surprised by how well-behaved he was; because while he usually behaves well when I clean his eye at home, occasionally he does get a bit fussy about it. I suspect that, as he does with me, Smokey may have picked up on her spirit, and realized that she only wanted to help him. Perhaps he sensed her love for animals.

On a side note, I honestly do not believe that animals are nearly as stupid as some people seem to think they are. Neither do I believe that everything that they do is by instinct alone. I believe that animals are intelligent, caring and that they know how to make certain decisions which will affect their welfare, and the wellbeing of their offspring. I also believe that animals have emotions. I suspect that how some people view animals is sometimes influenced by their own vanity as human beings. While it is true that God gave humans a higher intelligence level, and commanded them to subdue the Earth in the opening chapters of the Book of Genesis, considering what we have done to the beautiful world that God has given to us, and to each other, I can't help but wonder sometimes who are the real savages and animals.

But concerning Smokey's infected eye, today while at the vet's office, I learned that there are actually two types of conjunctivitis; that is, contagious and non-contagious. Because I was not aware of this fact, lately, I had really begun to wonder if what Smokey has is conjunctivitis at all; the reason being that in the three weeks that he has had it, it has never spread to his other eye, or to his sister Bandit, or to his mother Socks. If Smokey has a non-contagious form of conjunctivitis, this would explain why this is so.

At any rate, the vet was a bit mystified concerning why Smokey has had conjunctivitis for so long. After examining his eye for physical damage -- and finding none -- she wondered if perhaps his eyelashes were growing improperly, and were lightly brushing his cornea, resulting in irritation. She also considered that there might be some other unknown irritant in his environment which might be causing the problem. In the end, she wasn't able to provide me with a definitive answer.

Before leaving the veterinarian clinic, she gave me a flask of saline solution, as well as a small tube of AK POLY BAC ointment, which I am to apply twice daily to Smokey's eye. That ought to be lots of fun . . . for both of us!

After a few pleasantries between myself and the doctor, we walked over to the nearby pet store in order to purchase some Hikari mini-pellets -- stable and gold -- for my forty-five gallon tank of Malawi cichlids. Being as I rarely ever leave the house, I stock up on fish food, which lasts me for many months.

Being as our return bus ride wasn't due to pick us up for another hour and a half, we had plenty of time to kill at the pet store. For his part, after initially protesting while we walked from the veterinarian clinic over to the pet store, Smokey settled down to sleep in the pouch in my Iam's cat food T-shirt, and remained so except for a few small stirs, until our bus arrived about one hour and forty-five minutes later.

I'll tell you, Smokey had it easy. As for me, being on my feet for three hours straight is very difficult, painful, and tiring, being as I have suffered from scoliosis and related problems -- including a broken leg which left one leg slightly shorter than the other one -- since I was a child. Add to that the fact that I was also sick, and you can understand that by the time the bus arrived, I was aching and wiped out, and very thankful to be on our way home.

Smokey complained again when we first got on the noisy bus, but he soon settled down as I talked to him and massaged his furry head. He even seemed to look at the sky through the bus window -- a new experience for him -- as he nestled comfortably in my arm against my chest.

Home at last! Thank God . . . and I do mean it. I was so tired, that I didn't even realize that I had left my cane outside the door. My daughter discovered it later when she came home. When we got home, mama Socks was there to greet us. I greeted her and then placed Smokey next to her. Socks did the usual licking and grooming in order to get all of those strange smells off of her little kitten.

I assumed that Smokey would be rather hungry by now, not having eaten or drunk anything during the entire time that we were out; so I immediately took the plate of soft, boiled chicken and tuna mix out of the refrigerator and set it on the floor. Before leaving the house, I had placed it in the refrigerator, because I knew that the ants would attack it otherwise. Needless-to-say, Smokey was chowing down in short order.

As I was unpacking everything from my bag, I realized that the water that I had discovered leaking all over my bag while we were in the pet store was not the drinking water that I had taken along for Smokey; rather, it was the saline solution which had been given to me by the veterinarian. It was all gone; so I sent her an email, asking her if I can use regular iodized table salt, or even marine aquarium salt, to mix my own saline solution. I hope to hear from her soon.

So that was Smokey's big day, and his first journey into the outside world to the veterinarian clinic. As I write this blog entry, mama Socks is sleeping on my bedroom floor about eight feet away from me, while sibling kittens Smokey and Bandit are sleeping in their maze of cardboard boxes which I arranged in the kitchen.

I think they've all got the right idea. That's all for now. Until next time. Please feel free to leave your comments below.