Harnessing Healthiness

One of the hallmarks of living with multiple cats is that, even when tragedy strikes, the other buddies continue to soldier on.  And so, by default, must we.  

So last Saturday, Reggie needed to go to the vet for his annual.  You may remember from previous posts that Reggie has always had an issue with car rides.  Even when our vet was something like four blocks away, Reggie would always expel things from both ends of his body every time the key hit the ignition.  So we decided to try things a new way.  Maybe Reggie needed to be out of the carrier.  Which meant that we had to pull out...you guessed it...the harness.  Here's Reggie getting used to wearing it before we head to the vet:

We bundled Reggie into the xB on a towel (and put the carrier and a couple of extra towels in the back, just in case).  I sat with him on my lap.  (Talk about a leap of faith.)  We rolled down the window and I held my breath.

I couldn't believe it--Sean started the car, and nothing happened.  Reg just looked out the window.  He even tried to crawl higher up on the window to get a better view, but there was no tell-tale lip-smacking.  He did great!  He even kind of settled in and enjoyed the ride.  It was awesome.  It was more than awesome...it was life-changing.  Now we know we can actually take Reggie places.  We'd always assumed that going somewhere to walk would be off-limits to him due to the vomiting.  Apparently, he just didn't like being in the carrier while also in the car.

Fair enough.

When we got to the vet, we let him walk around outside until it was obvious he wasn't going to go in there of his own volition.  I carried him up the stairs and into the building, and put him down.  Everyone was borderline stunned to see a cat walking around on a harness.  There was much cooing.  Reg walked around behind the desk to see what the two techs were up to.  Reggie was a Rock Star, and gained an instant fan following.

He did great during his exam as well.  And the best part was that his blood-work was beautiful.  It was absolutely perfect.  That was tremendously good news after the last few months.  Here's Reg rocking his Rock Star status:

(Try not to look too hard at his little backside...I could have framed that shot better.)

I wish I could say that the ride back was just as uneventful.  Unfortunately, Sean waited a few seconds too long to start up the hot car and I guess Reggie's gut got impatient.  Let's just say I'm glad I had the towel on my lap.

But no matter.  He still enjoyed the rest of the trip home just the same.  So much so, that Sean and I got peckish and stopped at our favorite Mexican deli for takeout for lunch.  While Sean went in, Reggie made a new friend:

Just a cat on a harness hanging out with a giraffe on a bicycle.  I wish I could say this was the weirdest scenario we've ever gotten ourselves into with one of the Buddies Eclectic, but sadly, that would probably not be the case.