Louis Catorze saw the vet on Tuesday. He’s had a good run this summer, with his last steroid shot being on 30th June, so we are glad we’ve been able to stretch it out until now.
As ever, the appointment couldn’t possibly have been straightforward and had to be a total comedy. (Funny for everyone else, I mean. Certainly not for me.)
This was the sequence of events on that morning:
1. Feed and water Catorze, as usual, then wait for him to join me on sofa.
2. Hear him gadding about in soft plastics recycling box in the dining room and figure that, as long as I can still hear him, I will be able to locate him when it’s time to go.
3. Gadding-about noises slow to a gentle rustle.
4. Check dining room, just to be sure.
5. No Catorze. Assume he has teleported out.
6. Search house and garden. Conscious of time (appointment in thirty minutes’ time) and start to feel anxious.
7. Wake Cat Daddy and ask him to come downstairs and act as bait to flush out Catorze. He is not pleased.
8. Final sweep of dining room, turning every metaphorical stone in ultra-meticulous CSI fashion. Eventually find Catorze asleep in Deliveroo bag.*
9. Cat Daddy is even more furious that I made him get up for nothing.
10. Bag up Catorze and schlep him to the vet.
11. Arrive at vet practice and Catorze emits a particularly long, rasping scream, startling a dog and his human who is paying their bill.
12. To break awkward silence following scream, I say, “Shush, Louis!” Dog pitter-patters over to me.
13. Dog Daddy: “Oh, is your cat called Louis? So is my dog!”
14. Catorze screams some more. Louis the dog rests his chin on my knee as if to offer me support in this excruciating situation.
15. Vet comes into waiting room and calls, “Louis, please?”
16. Louis the dog obediently pitter-patters into the examination room despite having already been seen.
Is this exceptional responsiveness from Louis the dog … or the ultimate in Catorzian mind control, with the little sod commanding his canine counterpart to take a bullet for him?
Anyway, apart from all that, everything is as it should be. I mentioned to the vet that Catorze’s mats were returning (although none were visible at the appointment, having inexplicably vanished the night before), and she said that we needn’t be concerned unless we could see Catorze struggling to groom certain areas (no) or having difficulty running and jumping (HELL, no).
The vet also checked his front right paw, where he’d managed to get a blob of pungent plant sap on himself a few days ago and now it’s left a hole. Again, nothing to worry about.
When we arrived back home, Cat Daddy made his boy do the Chubbing Up Dance when he found out his new, meaty weight of 3.34kg. And, at the time of writing this, they were both enjoying Boys’ Club somewhere.
To scrape some positives from the situation – well, I have to try – at least Le Roi is doing well. Let’s hope that this continues as summer draws to a close and his party season starts.
*Cat Daddy and I have only used Deliveroo once (during that fateful weekend away when he set that kettle on fire), and it was such a shambolic experience that we haven’t used it since. So how we came to have a Deliveroo bag is beyond me.
jesuisleroisoleil 
“Deliveroo” sounds like an Australian musical instrument. We are glad Louis did ok at the vet.
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Well, physically he was ok. Not much we can do about the psychological aspect!
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Continue to love all your recounts. Would never dare to call them ‘stories’ as obviously all is fact!
Our family cats now spread over three households with the occasional holiday gathering at ours plus two dogs ( daughters) have us in stitches but nothing as complex of the Sun King’s. May he and his servants continue xxx
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Thank you. But may he not continue with this kind of behaviour!
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Your life would be boring without Louis! Everything is exciting wondering what insane thing he will do next.
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It’s more like an ominous sense of dread.
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Number 16 is my favorite. That dog is unworthy to have such a nice firstname.
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Aww, he was sweet! He tried to comfort me, which was more than Catorze did.
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The Deliveroo bag has been magically teleported in. As for Louis the pooch – mind control. Most definitely mind control.
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Louis the pooch was such a sweet and gentle soul. The polar opposite of Le Roi.
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Glad to read Louis doing well. Jimi’s having his annual check up next week but I changed it in to a house call of the vet. It’s probably more expensive but I don’t have to deal with all the stress, and big smelly dogs in the waiting room…
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Oh dear, does Jimi get distressed by the dogs? Le Roi kind of sees them as a challenge.
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Hahaha… yes, Mr. Bowie also liked to challenge dogs, especially the big ones. He wasn’t afraid of them and liked the rides in the car. Jimi hates being in a car…
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Mr Bowie liked the rides in the car? Wow, that’s amazing! By the way, I thought of you when we went to see Bauhaus and they did a cover of Ziggy Stardust as part of their encore!
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Hey, I didn’t know that the band is still alive and kicking…
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Oh yes, although it was a very short set because the band are all 65 or so and needed to get home to bed! 🤣🤣🤣
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Hahaha… I can picture the scene. I always wonder how The Rolling Stones are still performing live, they should be in a retirement home by now… 😉
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Yeah, they probably have, erm, chemical assistance … 🤣🤣🤣
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Maybe somewhere on the internet there is the story of Louis the dog who encountered Louis the cat 🙂 Very funny story, the two Louis’s humains and the vet must have had a good laugh 🙂
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It was so funny watching Louis le Chien walk into the examination room! Louis le Chat must have thought, “What a sucker!”
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I did the same when reading number 16.
🙂
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🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
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Glad he is doing well. His fur looks very glossy in the close-up of his paw
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He is super-shiny at the moment. The rain is good for his fur!
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