Title: Ryan's Cat
Summary: Ryan finds a kindred soul.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the cat.
Author's Notes: (1) Still overwhelmed by the reviews. Thanks very much. (2) The details of the vet visit here I'm sure are not entirely accurate. Call it dramatic license.
Chapter 6
On Friday morning, Sandy headed out to the pool house. He wanted Kirsten to handle all of the cat-related issues, but he was stuck with it this morning since Kirsten had to leave early for a breakfast meeting with Caleb. He hadn't been in the pool house since he came out here on Wednesday evening and the cat hid under the bed. He didn't expect anything different this time.
As he approached the pool house, he could see through the doors that Ryan was picking out his clothes for school. The cat was sitting near him, washing the right side of its face with its right front paw. Sandy watched Ryan turn and talk to the cat. It didn't react at all, unless you count the slight turning back of its ears, the partial closing of its eyes, and the little movement of its tail. These subtle cat behavioral clues didn't appeal to Sandy at all. Give him a nice obvious dog wagging its tail, or jumping up on him and licking his face, any day.
Sandy opened the door, walked into the pool house, and closed the door behind him. The cat did a similar thing as last time: it took one look at him, and quickly went out of sight behind Ryan and his laundry basket and the shoes that Ryan had on the floor in front of the storage shelves where he kept his clothes.
Ryan saw the whole thing. He turned to Sandy and said, "Sorry about that. I don't know why she doesn't like you."
"Cats have never liked me, and the feeling is mutual. Besides, the cat is not the one that I came out here to see. I came to remind you that you have to take your cat to the vet's after school. 4 O'Clock."
"Yeah. I remember." Ryan noticed that even Sandy was referring to her as your cat now.
"Do you know where the vet's office is?"
"Yeah. I'm all set."
"Kirsten had to leave for work early. She left you the Range Rover. You and Seth can take it to school, then you can use it to take your cat to the vet's this afternoon."
"OK, great."
"Great. Well, I'm off too. Good luck at the vet's and I'll see you tonight."
"Thanks."
Sandy nodded to Ryan and headed off to work.
Once Sandy was gone, Ryan figured that Cat would come out by herself, so he went ahead and got dressed and got his books together in his bookbag. Since Cat still hadn't reappeared by the time he was done, Ryan got down onto the floor and looked under the storage area. She was curled up against the wall, behind the sneakers that he never wore. She had her eyes closed and looked almost asleep. Since he was about to leave for school, Ryan didn't feel the need to try and get her to come out, or to reach in and pull her out. He spoke to her, and she flicked the tip of her tail a couple of times, showing that she heard him. That was good enough for Ryan. He left her under there, grabbed his bookbag, and headed over to the house.
In the kitchen, Ryan found Seth sitting at the island counter eating cereal and drinking coffee. He went and got his own cereal and coffee and sat down next to him.
Ryan said, "Hey."
Seth replied, "Hey."
It looked to Seth like Ryan wasn't still mad about his joke last night, but just in case he was a little, Seth decided to make nice and ask about Ryan's cat, even though the cat wasn't his favorite person, so to speak. Seth was beginning to see why his father didn't like cats.
"So, Ryan, how's your cat doing? How was last night? You don't seem as out of it this morning as you were yesterday."
Ryan looked over at Seth, gave him a gee thanks look, and said, "It was better. She slept more than the first night, but she still didn't sleep through the night. She still kept waking me up."
Seth laughed and said, "Sounds as if you have a baby out there instead of a cat."
Ryan gave Seth another one of his looks and said, "A baby wouldn't be playing in the middle of the night with those balls with the bells in them. They were driving me crazy. I had to get up and find them all and put them in a drawer, to keep Cat away from them."
"Where did you get those, anyway? I can't imagine you buying them."
"I didn't. Your Mom bought Cat some stuff, which she didn't have to do." And he wished that she hadn't. Too cute. And too noisy in the middle of the night.
Seth quipped, "You know my Mom -- all about the shopping."
Ryan smiled and said, "Oh, yeah, she left us the Range Rover today. Because I have to take Cat to the vet's this afternoon."
"Sweet."
"Are you going over to Summer's after school?"
"Yup. And we have a date tonight. Dinner and a movie."
Ryan sighed and took a sip of his coffee. He really needed the caffeine. "I'm so tired. I just hope I don't fall asleep in English. Mrs. Garcia's voice is so monotonous."
Ryan and Seth finished their breakfasts and headed off to school in the Range Rover.
After school, Ryan drove the Range Rover home by himself, since Seth went over to Summer's. Ryan arrived home about half an hour before he and Cat had to leave for the vet appointment. Since Kirsten warned him that it might take a while to get Cat into the pet carrier, Ryan figured he'd better start trying as soon as he got to the pool house.
On his way out there, Ryan stopped in the kitchen and got something to drink and a snack. He brought them out to the pool house with him. He found Cat there lying on the rug in the sun, like yesterday. And also similar to yesterday, she didn't have much of a response when he came in. This time she did pick up her head and look at him, but then she just put it back down again and closed her eyes.
Ryan headed for the kitchen island and put his drink and snack down on the counter and put his bookbag on one of the chairs there. He figured that if Cat was just going to lie there, it would be easy to just pick her up and put her in the carrier, so he took the time to sit down and eat his snack.
While he was eating, he sat sideways to the counter so he could keep an eye on Cat. Unfortunately, she spoiled his plans by getting up. She stretched as she usually did when getting up after sleeping, then she walked over and jumped up to the upper part of the pool house. She headed for the bathroom, going out of Ryan's sight when she walked through the doorway. In a few seconds, Ryan could hear her eating some dry food in the kitchen. Both of the doors into the bathroom were open, so she must have just walked through the bathroom on her way to the food in the kitchen. Which gave him an idea.
Ryan looked around the pool house, assessing it for places that Cat might hide. He figured that the only place that Cat might go that he couldn't get her out would be under the bed. Every other place, like in the cabinets in the kitchen, he would be able to reach in and get her out, as long as he could put up with any scratching or biting. But with the bed, she could go too far in for him to reach, especially near the middle at the top of the bed. If he wasn't able to get her out, he'd have to reschedule the vet appointment. But, if he could get her into the bathroom, with both doors closed, there was no place that she could hide that he couldn't get her.
While he was making these plans, Ryan could hear Cat finish eating some dry food and drinking some water. Then she surprised him by jumping up to the counter that he was sitting at. She landed lightly on her feet. Ryan thought it was so cool how cats could jump up so far above their heads so easily. Cat came over and sniffed at the food he was eating. Apparently she didn't find anything interesting because after a few seconds she stopped investigating it and sat down on the counter next to Ryan's arm. She leaned over and rubbed the side of her head against the back of his hand. Ryan turned in his chair to face the counter, and Cat.
Ryan was almost done with his snack, so he decided to keep her occupied there on the counter with him until he was done, then put her in the bathroom. So while he finished eating, he scratched her around the ears like she loves. She started to purr. She wasn't going anywhere. When he was done eating, he picked Cat up and carried her into the bathroom. While he held her, he closed the door that led into the kitchen, then he went to the door that led into the main part of the pool house. He closed the door most of the way, then put her down inside the bathroom and quickly closed the door.
After he cleaned up from his snack and drink, he went over and got the pet carrier from the side of the pool house where he had stashed it. He carried it over to the bathroom and carefully opened the door, trying to block it so that if Cat was right inside wanting out, he could stop her. She wasn't, so he quickly entered with the carrier and closed the door behind him. Ryan set the pet carrier down on the floor, and opened the carrier door.
He quietly walked over to where Cat was sitting near the litter box, picked her up, petted her a little, and put her into the carrier. She didn't like that. She tried to quickly turn around and get out. Ryan was quicker, though, and shut the door in her face before she could make it out. Now Ryan found out that she had a voice. Boy did he find out. She yowled and meowed, and tried to dig her way out, and pawed at the door. She was not very happy.
Ryan sat down on the floor next to the carrier and tried to settle her down by talking to her and petting her through the door. Although he couldn't do much of that because of her claws. He got scratched a couple times on his fingers before he gave up. When it came time to leave, she was still upset. Ryan figured he couldn't do anything more about it and just picked up the carrier, opened the bathroom door, and headed to the car. It was going to be a long drive if she was going to be like this the entire way.
Ryan walked into the vet's office, carrying the pet carrier with Cat in it. She had settled down during the car trip and was not digging any more, and only meowing every once in a while. Ryan approached the receptionist's counter, set the pet carrier on the floor, and waited for the receptionist to finish helping a man with a puppy.
When the receptionist was done, she turned to Ryan, smiled, and said, "Can I help you, hun?"
Ryan hated it when strangers called him things like hun, but since she was an older woman, he didn't want to say anything. So he just replied, "I have an appointment. At 4 O'Clock."
The receptionist consulted her computer screen and said, "Are you Ryan?"
"Yes."
The receptionist stood up and pulled over in front of Ryan a clipboard with a form on it. She picked up a pen and used it to point out the different parts of the form as she referred to them.
"OK, I need you to fill out this form. At the top here, where it says Owner's Name and Spouse/Other, put in your parents' names. Put your name and any other brothers or sisters down here where it says Children & Visitor Names. Don't worry about the part in the middle here where it says Payment. That's already been taken care of when your mother called. Fill in the Pet Information section at the bottom with the information about your cat. You can sit in one of those chairs over there, and just bring the form back to me when you're done. I'm here if you have any questions or need any help." And she smiled at him again, in a grandmotherly way.
Ryan didn't know what else to say, so he just said, "OK."
He took the clipboard and pen in one hand, and picked up the pet carrier in the other. He walked over to the chairs that the receptionist indicated, and sat down in one. He set the pet carrier on the floor next to him. He turned it so that the door was facing towards him. He bent down and looked inside to see how Cat was doing. She was crouching all the way in the back. When she saw him look in, she meowed at him a couple times. She looked like she was doing good enough, so Ryan sat back and started to fill out the form.
It sounded so weird when the receptionist referred to the Cohens as his parents and Kirsten as his mother. He wanted to correct her, but he didn't know what to say -- he didn't know how to explain it to someone who didn't already know what was going on. So Ryan decided not to say anything. It was just easier to let the vet's office continue thinking that he was Kirsten and Sandy's son.
When he finished filling out the form, as much as he could, he took it back to the receptionist. He left Cat in the pet carrier by the chairs. The receptionist took the clipboard and pen from him, saying, "Are you finished, hun? OK, let's see... the cat's name is Cat?"
Ryan was a little embarrassed, afraid that she would think that it was stupid. But he said, "Yeah."
The receptionist looked up at Ryan, and must have been able to see that he was embarrassed, because she smiled and said, "Sugar, on this job, I've seen plenty of cats named Cat, dogs named Dog, gerbils named Gerbil..."
The receptionist looked back down at the form, pointed with the pen at the Pet Information section, and said, "You didn't finish filling out the information about Cat."
Ryan wasn't able to check off if Cat was male or female, spayed/neutered or not, or fill in what her age was. "She's a stray. She just showed up the other day. I put down all I know."
"OK. Well, everything else looks in order. Have a seat. It should only be a few minutes." She smiled at him again. Boy does she smile a lot. Ryan guessed you had to, on this job.
Ryan gave her a little smile back, and said, "Thanks." He walked back over to the chairs and sat back down next to Cat and waited.
After about 5 minutes, a twentysomething woman came into the reception area from the back room. She was wearing dark blue hospital-type scrubs. Ryan figured that she wasn't the vet because she was too young. She was probably the equivalent of a nurse. Ryan watched this "pet nurse" go over to the receptionist. The two conferred for a few minutes apparently about several cases because Ryan saw them look at more than one case folder. Then she took one of the folders, opened it up, and walked around the receptionist's counter towards the waiting area. She looked straight at Ryan, smiled at him, and said, "Ryan? with Cat?"
Ryan thought that she had a great smile, definitely not grandmotherly. He smiled back and nodded. He stood up and reached down and picked up the pet carrier. She said to him, "I'm Cathy. Follow me please."
She turned and headed into a different room from the one she came from. He followed her in. It was an examination room. She closed the door, then lowered a tabletop which was folded up onto the wall. Ryan lifted the pet carrier up onto the tabletop. Cat was crouching close to the door. Ryan took a chance and tried sticking a finger in to pet her on the nose. She accepted that and didn't claw him, which was good.
Cathy asked him questions about Cat, which he answered, and she made notes about his answers on a sheet in Cat's folder. She asked about how long Ryan had had Cat, about the food he was giving her, whether she went outside, whether there were any problems he noticed, and other stuff. During this, Cat was pretty much on good behavior, just meowing a few times.
After Cathy was done asking questions, she came over to the tabletop and opened the carrier door. Ryan thought he'd have to try and pull Cat out, and risk serious bodily injury, but Cathy seemed to want Cat to come out on her own, so Ryan held back to see what Cat would do. To his surprise, after a few seconds, she slowly started to walk out on her own. It took a little time, but eventually Cat was completely out of the carrier and standing on the tabletop.
Cathy closed the carrier door behind Cat, saying to Ryan, "Let's get that closed. It is hard to get them into the carrier at home, but when they get here, they like to go back in."
Ryan just nodded. He then watched Cathy pick Cat up and carry her over to a countertop on one side of the room. She said to Cat, "Let's see how much you weigh."
Ryan saw that there was a scale on the countertop, just the right size to weigh small animals like cats. Cathy put Cat on the scale. Cat wanted to jump right off, but Cathy gently held her there for a few seconds, at which point she said, "OK. Seven and a half pounds."
Cathy carried Cat back to the tabletop. She looked at Ryan, smiled, and said, "The doctor will be with you in a few minutes."
Ryan replied, "Thanks."
And with that, Cathy left the examination room and closed the door behind her.
There was a chair in the room, next to the tabletop, so Ryan sat down. That put his head and shoulders right next to Cat, who was on the tabletop. It was convenient for petting her. But she had other ideas. She jumped down and went right over to the door. Ryan decided that cats were smart. They know what a door is and that it is the way out. Cat sniffed around the door a little, then walked a little bit away from the door and looked around the room. When she got back to facing the door, she crouched down and seemed fascinated by watching people walk by. She could see their feet under the door.
So Ryan sat and watched Cat and waited for the vet.
A couple minutes later, the door opened and another woman entered. This one was definitely the doctor. She was dressed like one. Ryan's attention was drawn away from the doctor by Cat, who was heading for the open door. Ryan reached forward from his seat to try and block her path. The doctor saw it too and quickly closed the door.
Since Cat was now at her feet, the vet reached down and picked her up and put her on the tabletop. Cat just crouched down, looking a little wary, but didn't look like she was about to attack anyone. Ryan reached over and petted the top of her head, to try and comfort her.
The doctor looked at Ryan, who was still seated, and said, "Hi. Ryan, right? I'm Dr. Kimball."
Ryan said, "Hi."
The vet asked Ryan some questions about Cat. Some were a follow up to the questions that the pet nurse had asked. And she explained to Ryan about the different shots that Cat would need. Once she was done with the questions and explanations, she started to do a physical exam of Cat.
The doctor looked at Cat's ears and her eyes. She turned Cat's head and opened her mouth and looked at her teeth. Then she ran her hands along Cat's body, feeling her internal organs. The vet gave Ryan a running commentary of what she was doing. She said she checked Cat's thyroid, her kidneys, and her bladder. She lifted up Cat's tail and looked underneath. She used a stethescope to listen to Cat's heart.
During all this, Cat didn't look too happy about the attention, but she didn't scratch or bite, or try too hard to get away, which surprised Ryan a little. But he figured that the doctor was enough of an expert at handling cats that she knew how to keep Cat under some kind of control. While the vet was listening to Cat's heart with the stethescope, Cat did kind of inch her way to the edge of the tabletop, like she wanted to jump off, but the vet blocked Cat with her body, so she couldn't go anywhere. And Ryan reached over and held Cat's head a little, to try and keep her in place.
When she was done, the doctor looked at Ryan and said, "Well, she's definitely a female. And she's been spayed, probably when she was under a year old. She's probably about 3 years old now, give or take. She's basically in good health."
Ryan nodded, relieved. That was good news.
The doctor continued, "She's had some minor injuries that have healed, such as the ones you can see on her ear here and under the ear over here, probably from fights with other cats."
Ryan nodded again. He had guessed that.
"You mentioned to Cathy that Cat had some soft poop, so I'm going to take a fecal sample and check for intestinal parasites or other problems. We'll take her into the other room for that, plus we'll give Cat her shots back there."
Ryan said, "OK."
The vet called Cathy back in to the exam room over an intercom. Cathy came in and she and the vet took Cat and her carrier, separately, out of the exam room and into the back room. Ryan followed them out of the exam room and went over to the reception area and sat down and waited, again.
About 10 minutes later, Dr. Kimball and Cathy came out of the back room. Cathy was holding the pet carrier, with Cat in it. The doctor was carrying some paperwork and something that looked like medicine. Ryan got up and went over to them. Cathy put the pet carrier down on the floor, gave Ryan a little smile, and headed back into the back room.
The vet turned to Ryan and told him, "As I suspected, Cat has an intestinal parasite called Coccidia. Here is some information about it and some medication that you'll have to give her."
Ryan took the stuff that the vet handed him. He was concerned. "Is Cat going to be OK?"
"She's young and healthy. The medication will clear it up in 10 days to 2 weeks. She'll be fine. You'll be able to enjoy 10 to 15 good years with Cat. This is a liquid medication that you'll have to give Cat by mouth every day. The information sheet explains it in more detail. It is pretty straightforward, but if you have any questions, don't hesitate to call the office here and one of us will help you."
"Thanks."
"Do you have any questions?"
Ryan replied, "No."
The doctor smiled at Ryan, and said, "Good luck." Then she headed for the back room also.
Cat started meowing in her pet carrier, so Ryan picked it up and raised it up to eye level so he could look in and see how she was doing. She looked ready to get out of here. Ryan said to her, "Let's get you home."
Ryan lowered the pet carrier down to his side and turned and saw the receptionist smiling at him in her grandmotherly way again. She said to him, "That stray cat is very lucky that she has someone like you to take her home."
Ryan smiled back at her and said, "Thank you."
"Bye now. Good luck."
And Ryan and Cat left the vet's office and headed home.