It’s hard to believe I’m already 8 years old!

I should have known that it was almost time for my checkup and shots when Mom started telling people I was eight years old. I have to go every year, and since she sounded like I had just turned eight, that should have been my first clue. My other clue should have been that Panda was already inside our carrier when Mom put me in there.

“So, are we at the vet?” I asked, after Mom opened our carrier and Panda hopped out. “Yep, it looks like it,” he replied. “Aren’t you going to come out?”

“I wasn’t planning on it,” I answered truthfully. Panda yawned and stretched out on top of our carrier. “Well, I’m going to relax and wait for Dr. Duran to come in,” he replied calmly.

“Dr. Duran? Did you say Dr. Duran?” I was interested now. “Yes,” Panda replied. “Why do you ask?”

“Well, last year we didn’t get to see her,” I said uncertainly. “For some reason we were scheduled with someone else. I didn’t know if Dr. Duran was going to be the one examining us this year or not, so I was nervous about it. I guess for her I’ll come out.”

Once I was out of the carrier, I looked around cautiously.

I glanced up at the screen on the wall and read some of the info that was on it. Then I decided it might be a good idea to hide while I waited.

When I was younger, at Dr. Duran’s old location, there were good places to hide in the exam room. These pictures are from several years ago, and you can see how easily I fit into the little space under the computer back then.

But at this office, the only place it looked like you could hide in was this hole in the cabinet, and I could tell right off I wasn’t going to fit.

Fortunately, Mom was there with us, so waiting wasn’t so bad.

She even took a picture of me in “selfie mode”, but she didn’t want to be in it herself.

Then we heard a sound at the door. We could only assume it was time for our checkup. The reason I say “our” checkup is that Dr. Duran always checks Panda too, just to make sure. You may have read about this in our other “vet visit” posts.

On our third checkup in 2019, Dr. Duran let Panda come to the back with me when I got my shots. At first, we were a bit alarmed because there were two shot needles, and we thought Panda was going to get a shot, too! But to his relief, they were both for me. The picture on the right is from our sixth checkup, two years ago. We were happy to receive a clean bill of health.

Dr. Duran was glad to see us, and she said she missed us from last year. While she was checking me, Panda had a taste of a kitty treat she had given us. I hadn’t been that crazy about it, but he said it tasted like delicious bamboo.

She said my heart, lungs, and teeth were all doing great. I weigh 13.8 pounds, but she didn’t say I needed to go on a diet. Mom thinks I have a mild case of kitty acne, so Dr. Duran checked my chin, too. She offered to send us home with some ointment for it, but Mom knew I wouldn’t let her put it on me, so she declined. She told the doctor about the acne pads she had bought online the last time I had it, and we all know how that played out! They decided it was almost gone anyway, so they’ll just watch it for now.

After that it was Panda’s turn to get checked. He was fine, too, so we were happy about that.

Then we had to wait for the technician to come get me for my shots, plus I also got my claws trimmed. Mom thought she should have that done, since I seem to be getting them caught on things lately. She was afraid I wouldn’t like that, since they’ve only been trimmed once before, when I was a baby, but the technician said I did awesome!

Later that evening, Mom came into the front room to see my newly trimmed claws, so I showed her. She was impressed, but she didn’t stay long, because she said she was working on a blog post that she wanted to finish.