the herd . . .

ninji had to go back to the vet for a weight check.  the poor little seven year old had porked up to 18.25 pounds and was put on a new diet.  it's imperative that she loose weight because she was suffering from arthritis in her knees and elbows. the good news, she lost a whole pound on her new food after just one month.  maybe i should start eating cat food.

since she was going in, i made an appointment for bear too. he was over due for his shots and i was curious how much my hairy elephant weighed.

then my brain started in.  bear and ninji do not get along.  let me rephrase that, bear likes to munch on ninji who doesn't appreciate it. visualize much fur flying, lots of hissing and two raised backs.  maybe i don't want to take them in the same trip.

add in the fact that whoever comes home stinking like he/she has been to the vet, is then immediately ostrosized and unwelcome until he/she smells normal again.  so i called the vet to see if she had extra time for one more beastie.  yup, all three at once.  sweet.

i rounded them up and stuffed them into their respective cages with some help from kidlet and then she loaded them all into her car, with no help from me . . .  bear in the backseat, pippin on the floor, ninji on the front seat, kidlet in the back.  she made me drive until i almost ran a stop sign.  oops.  good thing the car has good breaks and we were on back roads.  yes, kidlet revoked my privileges and she drove home.

upon arriving at the vets, she hopped out to corral some help and then there we were, three cages all lined up in a row with other visitors oohing and awing our little family, snickering over our inanity of thinking we could handle a herd of three, who were squalling like seventeen, at the vets.

ninji was first up since she just needed to be weighed.  good news.  and that was the only good news.

they found the pound when they weighted bear.  he came in at a whopping 22.38 pounds.  don't forget he is maine coonish.   he also has a tooth that is disintegrating.  pull or let it resolve itself, that is the question.

next up was poor frightened, wide eyed pippin.  she was terrified.  she let them poke her and prod her and shoot her all while frozen in one position.  she gained half a pound.  still not quite 8 pounds.  and it might be noted, she is roughly 1/3 the size of bear.  yes, they are both full grown.

the noise level did not drop until we were safely home.  bear was the first in the forgiveness category and made nice a mere hour after we were home.  mostly because he was hungry.  ninji followed shortly thereafter with lots of rubbing.  pippin however, was no pushover.  it wasn't until i rolled over in the middle of the night that i realized she had slipped into my crotch to sleep in peace.

all is well with the beasties and the vet has a much fatter wallet.