We had an awful experience with a vet and our cat, Maggie a few years ago. It involved a bladder infection, a guy who liked wearing polo shirts and chatting like a suburban yuppie far more than actually providing pet care, nervous Ecuadoran “orderlies,” and a loading dock cage pickup. I won’t go into details, because remembering the whole experience really riles me up, but the end result is that our anxiety-prone kitty does not make regular trips to the vet these days.

Nevertheless, approaching 11 years old, Maggie is pretty spry and healthy. She’s got the same massive cat-itude that she’s had since kitty-hood, and overall, she is doing well. That is, until a couple weeks ago when she climbed into bed with us and started acting weird. At first I panicked, sure that it was another bladder infection since her litter box appeared unused. I went crazy trying to find pet supplements or other meds that might help with the problem.

What I’ve come to realize, however, is that her real problem was some sort of leg injury or ailment. After a day of laying on my keyboard, I got her to walk around a bit, and saw that she was limping. I’m not sure if she took a tumble or got sat on, or what, but it looked like she was just trying to stay off one of her back legs. Improvement was obvious over the next couple days, and well within the confines of a week she was all better. Now, a couple weeks beyond, she is back to normal. Hissing and biting when she doesn’t get her way, purring and rubbing up against me when she does.

It makes me think I need to find one of those travelling vets in my area, though. If she does get sick, I am afraid to make it even worse by shoving her into a pet carrier and dragging her to an animal clinic. But I have heard there are vets that make house calls. I want one of those. You got one of those?