Cleo's Big Day in the City

I finally made a vet appointment for my 17 year old cat, something I've been meaning to do since she's been acting a bit stranger than usual (loss of balance, head twitching). I figured it was probably just old age, but thought it would be best to get her a full check-up.

My rental car fell through at the last minute on Sunday evening, and I had no choice but to take her on the bus first thing Monday, since I wouldn't have been able to cancel the appointment on such short notice.

KTEL doesn't allow animals on the passenger part of the bus, and instead of just walking her on in her carrier in the hopes that no one would notice (her carrier is a Sherpa bag, and looks like a duffel bag of sorts), I had to be all proper and ask the driver if he would make an exception. He wouldn't. So down into the belly of the bus she went, along with a big bag of horta that someone had stowed down there.

I experienced a brief moment of panic when the bus detoured up into the hills and off of the usual route that I'm used to taking to get to Chania, and was sure I had somehow boarded the wrong bus and was on my way to Paleohora or some other destination that was not Chania. I asked the driver, and I was assured that we were in fact going to Chania. Phew.

Once in Chania I had to catch a cab to Souda where her vet is, just a 10 minute drive. We made the appointment on time, early in fact, and Cleo was then subjected to the indignity of sedation so that she could be molested without protest. I rather enjoyed seeing her so docile, as pathetic as it was. She is very easily agitated and doesn't really liked to be touched, and I was able to play around with her limp form while we waited for the blood work results.

Everything checked out OK, with the exception of some proteins found in her urine and cell count indication that she's got some sort of urinary infection. The vet gave her an injection of antibiotics, some Front Line for both cats since they've begun to scratch in earnest since we moved into the place, and a note for the bus driver on the way back to allow Cleo into the passenger section. He also told me not to bother asking this time, just to take her on, which I did and there were no problems.

She bounced back quickly from the sedative and enthusiastically devoured the food I put out for her when we got home.

So, all was well and the trip was much less stressful than I anticipated, but the BEST part about the morning was that I met a woman at the vet's office who lives here in Kastelli. She's a British expat who came to live here last September with her little dog, Sassy, and she has invited me to attend a coffee group that meets here once a month.

December is looking up...Mike is coming back to Crete to spend the holidays with his family, a couple of friends from the "other side" of the island are coming to visit me between Christmas and New Years, and now this. I'm really going to miss my family and friends back in the States this holiday season, but I'm happy that I'll be able to spend time with some new friends.