By the time Oskar and Harley were ready to travel home to Shepparton (a three-hour drive from Cranbourne in the city of Melbourne), they were already well travelled for two kittens of eleven weeks of age.  They’d become familiar with the joys of a cat carrier and had shared two car trips of differing lengths to two different vet clinics in the city.

The first vet did their initial health check, microchipping both boys and giving them their first-ever vaccination.  Each boy was given his own little blue passport containing his personal identifying information along with the details of this first procedure.

For reasons passing understanding, there has been a shortage of vaccines for cats in Australia.  My breeder Christine let me know that, while she’d do her best to get both kittens their first two required vaccinations before they came home with me, it would depend on the availability of the supply.

Fortunately, when the second vet performed the boys’ desexing a few weeks later, they’d been able to source sufficient supplies of the required vaccine and so both boys received their second needle.  That meant that once they’d arrived in Shepparton and begun adapting to their new home, I would take them to my local vet for a once-over and they would be ready for their third and final vaccination (until their boosters are due a year or so from now).

Mandy, the receptionist at my vet clinic, was delighted to hear that I was bringing in two new little kittens.  She had seen me almost on a daily basis for weeks through the final illness of my beloved Sally back in August/September.  She knew how heavily her loss weighed upon me.  The prospect of celebrating new arrivals was an exciting one.

When I arrived at the vet clinic, my little boys were given quite the reception.  The welcoming committee included Mandy, who came out from behind the counter to peer into the cat carrier and coo over my gorgeous babies.  She was promptly joined by one of the vet nurses, who also peered and cooed, and a new vet that I hadn’t met before.

Her name was Lizzy.  Meeting her was impactful, to say the least.  She has a big personality, boundless energy, and enthusiasm for days.  With her expressive features, North American accent and a tendency to talk nineteen to the dozen, it was a whirlwind visit.  I know I talk a lot and I can speak pretty quickly, particularly when roused or excited, but believe me, Miss Lizzy absolutely left me in the shade.

Upon peering into the cat carrier and spending some time rhapsodising over my boys, she quickly whipped out her phone and declared herself to be a “certified crazy cat lady”.  Her home screen featured photos of her five cats, and I was quickly provided with a background history of all five, including names, origins and chief diseases.  All this was happening before I’d even left the reception area.

I was already blinking rather quickly and wondering what was going on here when we were spirited away into the special cat consulting suite, which had been liberally sprayed beforehand with Feliway, a special cat pheromone spray designed to decrease anxiety.

To her credit, Lizzy lowered the tone of her voice once we entered the consulting suite.  While she spoke more quietly, she rarely drew breath as she told me cat story after cat story while taking each little boy out of the carrier, performing general observations, giving them their vaccinations and claiming frequently that she was going to kidnap them and keep them at the clinic because they were just too gorgeous for words.  Both boys did themselves proud.  They were quiet and calm and didn’t react to being poked and prodded.  Neither of them meowed or reacted when receiving their needles.  Lizzy took some extra time at the end of the consultation to give them both lots of extra kisses and cuddles and seemed very sad when she finally put them back in their carrier and had to bid them a fond goodbye.

It was definitely a more eventful visit than I’d anticipated, and I’d learned a lot more than I’d expected to, but my little boys were both fully vaccinated and ready to begin their new lives in their new cat-friendly home.