Yesterday we had to take Philly to the groomer. Yes, Philly, our cat, to the groomer. You may think it’s excessive/unusual/unheard of to take a cat to the groomer, but then again, you haven’t met Philly. Let me start with a little background. Philly lived for a year in the shelter in one room with no windows and about 10-15 other cats. I’d imagine after the first few months, or even weeks, you might stop caring about your appearance. So was the case for Philly. Sure, he cleans his head, face, and front paws. He doesn’t want to look ridiculous after all. But, the grooming pretty much stops there. So this lack of grooming alone might drive owners to seek professional grooming for their cat. Another personality flaw, er, charm that makes Philly the special little guy that he is, is that he is incredibly anxious. J has to constantly remind Philly that when he walks towards him and extends his hand that he is not in fact, going to kill him, which by the look in Philly's eyes accompanied by the tense crouch, Philly appears to not trust the simple act of petting by J. So where does all this nervous energy end up? Well, let’s just say if something traumatic (like a visitor comes to the house, you attempt to brush him, or there is a loud noise) has happened to or around Philly throughout the day, J can tell in the litter box. Philly suffers from a case of kitty IBS. The poor guy…and poor J for having to clean the litter box. So let’s recap, Philly doesn’t groom himself past his head, face, and front paws, he is terrified of being brushed, and he has IBS. Sooooo, the back end of him ain’t pretty. As a solution, he gets his back end shaved every 2-3 months. It’s really just better for everyone involved that way.
So back to yesterday. This was only the second time we have taken him to the groomer. The first time was an EMERGENCY situation where Philly had some kind of “explosion” that ended up all over the back of him, not to mention the several knots buried underneath it all. I called around frantically looking for a groomer that could help our dear Philly. One groomer thankfully picked up on the sense of urgency in my voice and said they would see him right away. As soon as we brought him in, they took him back and got him all cleaned up, brushed, and shaved. We couldn’t have been more grateful. Since I scheduled yesterday’s visit 2 weeks in advance, I figured J and I would take him in, wait while they groomed him, and then we would be on our merry little way. Even given this quick in and out situation, I was hesitant to put Philly through all this. Especially since he had been better about keeping himself in a presentable state. It broke my heart to distract Philly with his favorite activity (drinking water from the bathroom faucet), sweep him up mid-sip, and swoop him into the carrier. All the way to the groomer he looked so sad and scared in his carrier - not to mention the fact that his chin still had water droplets on it from drinking water out of the faucet. Talk about breaking my heart. So we finally get to the groomer, and Philly lets out a couple little cries just in case we didn’t already know how terrified he was. Apparently they only do the quick see-you-right-away, be-on-your-way scenario in emergency situations as described above. This time we get there, and they ask if we would like to wait or come back. Of course I’m not actually going to leave my anxious cat at the groomer ALONE. Surely they will take care of him right now, as I do have a CAT at the groomer! Um no. It will be an hour. WHAT! Reluctantly we leave our kitty in his carrier sitting on the waiting room floor. J and I were just an emotional wreck the entire way home. I kept picturing the little droplets of water that were probably still on his chin.
So an hour passes, I go to pick him up, and he is back in his carrier in the waiting room waiting for me to pick him up. I get him home, he darts out of the carrier and paces around the room for a bit. He is still letting me pet him, so I know he is ok. Later that night I find him sleeping off the experience in the office. Note what part of him is shielded from the rest of the world…just in case someone was planning on coming after him with a brush or clippers while he slept.
So after all is said and done, I’m not quite sure how in the world I’m going to deal with taking my child to the doctor’s office. Did I mention how the water droplets on Philly’s chin broke my heart? How I was an emotional wreck after leaving him there? Maybe we can enlist Grandma when it comes time for Little Miss Doodle to go to the doctor. If nothing else, maybe she will hold my hand while I hold my child’s hand.
So back to yesterday. This was only the second time we have taken him to the groomer. The first time was an EMERGENCY situation where Philly had some kind of “explosion” that ended up all over the back of him, not to mention the several knots buried underneath it all. I called around frantically looking for a groomer that could help our dear Philly. One groomer thankfully picked up on the sense of urgency in my voice and said they would see him right away. As soon as we brought him in, they took him back and got him all cleaned up, brushed, and shaved. We couldn’t have been more grateful. Since I scheduled yesterday’s visit 2 weeks in advance, I figured J and I would take him in, wait while they groomed him, and then we would be on our merry little way. Even given this quick in and out situation, I was hesitant to put Philly through all this. Especially since he had been better about keeping himself in a presentable state. It broke my heart to distract Philly with his favorite activity (drinking water from the bathroom faucet), sweep him up mid-sip, and swoop him into the carrier. All the way to the groomer he looked so sad and scared in his carrier - not to mention the fact that his chin still had water droplets on it from drinking water out of the faucet. Talk about breaking my heart. So we finally get to the groomer, and Philly lets out a couple little cries just in case we didn’t already know how terrified he was. Apparently they only do the quick see-you-right-away, be-on-your-way scenario in emergency situations as described above. This time we get there, and they ask if we would like to wait or come back. Of course I’m not actually going to leave my anxious cat at the groomer ALONE. Surely they will take care of him right now, as I do have a CAT at the groomer! Um no. It will be an hour. WHAT! Reluctantly we leave our kitty in his carrier sitting on the waiting room floor. J and I were just an emotional wreck the entire way home. I kept picturing the little droplets of water that were probably still on his chin.
So an hour passes, I go to pick him up, and he is back in his carrier in the waiting room waiting for me to pick him up. I get him home, he darts out of the carrier and paces around the room for a bit. He is still letting me pet him, so I know he is ok. Later that night I find him sleeping off the experience in the office. Note what part of him is shielded from the rest of the world…just in case someone was planning on coming after him with a brush or clippers while he slept.
So after all is said and done, I’m not quite sure how in the world I’m going to deal with taking my child to the doctor’s office. Did I mention how the water droplets on Philly’s chin broke my heart? How I was an emotional wreck after leaving him there? Maybe we can enlist Grandma when it comes time for Little Miss Doodle to go to the doctor. If nothing else, maybe she will hold my hand while I hold my child’s hand.
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