An Eye-Opener

The other day Sweetie got to try on two new things.

First, he got to use a new cat carrier. The old one we had is made of wood with a rigid steel wire dome. I had many good uses of it. But because of its solid sturdy construction and size, it is quite heavy. So I decided that we should get a new one that is smaller and lighter. The new one I got from a supermarket is made of canvas-type clothes with mesh on the sides. The floor of this pet taxi is padded with soft fleece material. Usage of velcro on the handle plus the adjustable long shoulder straps make travel with our pets a less strenuous exercise. That day I did not have to use any trickery to get Sweetie inside the cage. Putting him down into the carrier through an opening on the top is a cinch. He seemed to be quite at ease sitting up inside his new cab. This is the first time that he rode in his cage all the way to the vet’s office without much whimpering.

Then, believe or not Sweetie, our sweet old chap, got to have his blood pressure tested for the heart murmurs the vet detected during our last visit.

Since I never heard or read of checking b/p on animals, it is something entirely new to me. But for the sake of my kitty’s good health, I decided to put my poor cat through this testing procedure. I also stayed with Sweetie and observed what the vet had to do to get an accurate b/p reading from a fidgeting cat.

The measuring device on animals is a smaller version of the manometer our doctor used but it reads diastolic pressures only. It did not take long to fasten the cuff onto one of Sweetie’s front leg. But it took the vet and his assistance an embarrassingly long time to locate the right spot to stick a probe between the toes of the same leg. Apparently, this is not a frequently practiced diagnostic procedure. Then once the probe was at the right place, we could hear a rhythmic swishing sound emitted from a metal box labeled "Ultrasound Profiler." After many gentle squeezes of a rubber pump, the dial in the round-face meter settled on a couple of readings in the range between 118 and 120. According to the vet, Sweetie’s ticker seemed to be all right! And he also became the first cat in our feline family who had been tested for blood pressure! - Ayee