Okay, look. I know the cat’s got an attitude. He’s always had an attitude, but see, he completely digs on me and he always has, ever since he insisted that I take him home from the Hillsborough Humane Society in 2001.
Kristi thinks Tuck hates her, just because he doesn’t love up on her the way Ruca does. He’s drawn blood a couple times. I assure her that he just doesn’t know her yet, that he’s quite social once he gets to know someone.
Then mornings like this blow all that carefully-woven PR straight to hell.
I had to take the kids into the shop this morning for shots and travel documentation. They’re going to be in the checked baggage hold of a United 757 next Friday, making an eight-hour trek with me across the United States so that I can finally be reunited for good with my lady love. To make it more interesting, Tuck’s been fighting leukemia since 2005, has a spleen roughly the size of Kansas, and has been on low-dose chemo since he was diagnosed.
The guy’s always grumpy about the vet. Having your butt shaved for a bone marrow sample does that to a cat.
Anyway, so I put them together in a single big carrier (first time I’ve ever done that, and the last) and hauled them to the Cat Hospital in Altamonte. By the time we got in for our appointment, Tuck was already hissing and growling at Ruca and being pretty insistent on being out of the carrier.
When he finally did get out, he was a holy terror. At least two techs and one vet came away with bandaged flesh wounds; he was nothing but a big ball of hiss, claw and teeth the whole while, until a tech finally had enough and shoved him back in the carrier. Then when Ruca was being put back in, she instead made a mad dash down the hallway, sending me and two techs chasing her down to the tackle. The last thing she wanted was to be put back in the carrier with her highly irritated brother.
Like I keep telling people, he’s super-sweet around me. But Snowshoes tend to bond with a single person, and I’m obviously that person. Tuck rarely hisses or scratches at me, unless I’m intentionally trying to tease him.
But boy, he was a mean, cantankerous old man today with everyone else.
Can’t wait to see how well he flies!