Nicholas Joseph Purry is all of one year old, and it was time for his first official big-boy vet visit for his very first rabies vaccination. After a decade-and-a-half of dealing with cats I’ve evolved a fast and simple method of putting a cat in a carrier and then transporting them to the vet. In Nick’s case it was to leave out the carrier, with the top unlatched, in the same room I use to feed Nick. After an hour in the room Nick is a napping kind of cat, which makes it easy for me to gently but swiftly pick him up, pop open the top, and quickly place him in the carrier and latch the top closed. The only trick is to keep from agitating him so that he immediately throws out all four paws, blocking his entry into the carrier.

Once we got to the vet we settled into an examination room, where I took him out of his carrier and just held him. A tech came in to weigh him, and we both placed him in the scale’s bowl and then put up our hands as a kind of living barrier to get him to stay put. He weighed a good eleven pounds.

Since we were not the only patients, we needed to wait for the vet to arrive with Nick’s vaccinations. Nick wondered around the examination room and checked every nook and corner to see if he could get out through there. He was anxious and really wanted to leave. Barring an escape, he came up and sat next to me for the majority of the time. When the vet finally came in, Nick moved right up next to me, at which point I reached down and put both my hands on him to comfort and to rub him. He purred for a while, and when it came time for his shot, he didn’t move or give out a peep. He was a very good boy.

The day after his vet visit Nicholas wanted to nap more than usual. Two days after his official visit Nicholas is again all cuteness and playfulness and boundless energy.