Coated With Fur: A Blind Cat's Love

by Kristen Nelson

  “I’ve only got one cookie left,” Ned said in a worried voice.

  “No problem,” I said, letting his paw go. “He’s done.”

  Ned looked up and smiled. Farley stood flat-footed with his wrists in a comfortable position.

  “Well, that wasn’t so bad,” Ned said, smiling.

  Steve shot him a look that begged to differ as he straightened up.

  “I might have to add a biscuit fee to your bill, Ned,” he joked.

  “Please do. Farley is worth every penny.” Ned patted his dog’s head. Farley wagged his tail and burped. Steve and Ned lifted the big dog onto the ground. He pranced around like a kid with a new pair of shoes.

  “Would you like to come back and see your iguana?” I asked.

  Ned nodded.

  “We’ll leave his royal highness with Steve.” Steve kept Farley in the lobby while I led Ned back to the treatment room. When I opened the top of the incubator, Mr. Rogers jumped onto Ned’s shoulder and wrapped his body around the back of Ned’s head. Ned reached up and stroked his chin.

  “He does this at home,” Ned explained. “You must have clipped his nails because they’re not digging into me like they normally do.”

  “You can thank Allie and Kim for that. They are the nail police.”

  One foot at a time, I loosened Mr. Rogers grip on Ned’s shoulders. When all the feet were free, I placed him in his carrier with two warm water bottles. I coiled his tail around his body to fit inside the carrier and closed the door. Ned wrapped a quilt around the carrier to protect him from the cold.

  “Thank you so much for taking care of my kids, Dr. Nelson,” Ned said as he shook my hand. “Farley and Mr. Rogers have found their veterinarian. I’ll bring both of them back in six weeks for another nail trim.”

  “Great, I look forward to seeing all of you again,” I replied, even though I wasn’t much looking forward to trimming Farley’s nails again. Minnesota nice lives on!

  Chapter 31

  Radar

  Bright April sunlight reflected off the school bus parked in front of the clinic. Inside the bus, Monica Anthony stood in the front giving her class last-minute instructions. The third graders squirmed in their seats, eager to enter the clinic.

  For the last eight months, Kim and Allie visited the classroom, teaching them about animal care. The children learned about vaccinations, grooming, food, parasites and heartworm disease as well as what it’s like to work in a veterinary hospital. Now they would experience it for themselves.

  “Remember, talk softly because we don’t want to scare the animals,” Monica instructed them. “Keep your hands out of the cages. Anyone who breaks the rules will be sent back to the bus to wait with Mrs. Anderson.” She nodded in the direction of a woman seated at the back of the bus with gray hair. A girl wearing a skirt with fancy red shoes raised her hand. She swung her feet back and forth, almost kicking the seat in front of her.

  “Yes, Mandy!”

  “Ms. Anthony, when can I see Radar?” Mandy asked with her hand still high in the air.

  “I want to see Radar, too,” the girl next to her said.

  “Me too,” said the boy behind them right before he pulled their ponytails. Both girls turned around and glared at him.

  “Soon,” Monica said. “All right, it’s time to go.” The slender woman turned around and looked at the driver. When he opened the door, children rushed into the aisle. She descended the stairs, walked to the front door and turned to face her young charges. “Line up,” she commanded. The children formed two lines in front of her. She raised her hand in the air, counting down the line in twos and mouthing the numbers. “Sixteen, 18.” She paused. One child was missing.

  “Where’s Adam?” she asked. Two children shrugged while most ignored her. One boy wearing a jean jacket with a Twins patch on the back pointed at the bus. Monica looked up to see her aide escorting Adam down the steps by the hand. When they reached the group, Monica opened the door to the clinic. The students filed past her into the lobby. A boy spotted Radar sitting on the corner of the counter.

  “Radar!” he screamed. All the children rushed the counter with their hands extended. All the children, except one. Adam stood just inside the door against the wall. He didn’t want to pet Radar or come to the clinic or even go to school anymore. Adam, the straight “A” student who was everyone’s friend wanted to hide at home away from the world.

  “Radar, Radar!” more children screamed as they swarmed around him. Radar sat still, intrigued by the commotion and all the attention. Tiny hands petted every part of his body.

  “Be gentle,” Allie reminded the children from behind the counter. Kim stood next to her wearing identical scrubs with their Minnesota Veterinary Center name badges. “He’s not used to having so many people pet him at one time.”

  “Why does he keep his eyes closed all the time?” Mandy asked, fingering the pink bow on her ponytail.

  “Because he doesn’t have eyes,” Allie answered. “Remember, we talked about this last month.”

  “Why doesn’t he have eyes?” her friend asked.

  “Because he was born without them,” Allie answered.

  “Why was he born without eyes?” another child asked.

  “It was an accident when Radar was in his mother’s womb,” Allie said.

  “Why was it an accident?” Mandy continued. “Was his Mom naughty?” Allie looked at Kim for help.

  Kim laughed.

  Radar crouched on his haunches to stabilize his body while all the children petted him. They traced his eyelids with their fingers, amazed by the lack of eyeballs. Radar smelled and rubbed his cheeks on their hands. He reveled in the attention, purring like the incubator motor. He rolled onto his side, exposing his white belly. Four hands immediately rubbed him.

  After five minutes of petting, Radar sat up and surveyed the room. His nostrils flared as his head swiveled scanning for signals. He suddenly jumped off the counter and wove his way through all the legs to Adam. He rubbed on Adam’s jeans and sat down in front of the boy, staring at him.

  “Adam, he wants you to pet him,” the teacher encouraged. Radar head-butted Adam’s ankle again, then sat down, waiting for Adam to pet him. The boy turned around to face the wall instead. Monica walked over to the youngster, put her arm around his shoulders and bent down to whisper in his ear. Adam started nodding his head. After a minute, he turned to face Radar but still refused to pet him. A black patch held in place with an elastic band encircling his head covered his right eye.

  Radar studied the boy for a moment, then got right to work. He rubbed his chin on Adam’s left leg, leaving several white hairs on his jeans. The cat stared up at Adam again, then performed a whole body rub all the way around Adam’s legs, ending up at his left leg again. The boy remained frozen in place, expressionless.

  Several children gathered around him to see what Radar would do next. Radar walked over to the nearest child, rubbed on their legs, then returned to Adam. The cat sat in front of his feet and batted Adam’s shoelaces.

  “Looks like Radar wants to be friends with you, Adam,” Monica whispered in his ear. Adam looked at her with his left eye, then looked away. “Wouldn’t you like to be friends with such a special cat?” Adam stared at Radar but did not move.

  A loud boom came from the children’s play area off the lobby. Two boys sneaked into the room while Monica was interacting with Adam. The troublemakers took all the toys out of the basket, flipped the basket over and used it as a step stool to remove the 101 Dalmation stickers from the wall. The plastic basket collapsed under their weight, sending both onto the floor. Monica walked toward them.

  “Charlie, Matthew,” she said. “Get over here immediately, or you are going back to the bus.”

  “Would you like to start the tour?” Allie offered. The teacher nodded. “Please follow me,” Allie said as she opened the door to the cat examination room but remained in the lobby. Kim stayed behind the group, keeping an eye on the children.r />
  “Since the room is too small, I’m going to tell you about it out here, then let you walk through it.” A child shrieked when she saw the aquarium in the corner. “This is the cat room. See the kittens playing with yarn on the walls?” Three girls in front nodded. “This is where the doctor examines cats and gives them vaccinations. The angelfish is here to entertain the cats.” The children squeezed closer to see the fish. “What vaccinations does a cat need?”

  “They need to have food and water,” a boy answered.

  “And a big box to poop in,” said another boy. Kim laughed. Allie was not amused.

  “Yes, that’s correct, but I asked about shots. What do we vaccinate cats for?” Allie asked. “Remember? We talked about it last month.” The two boys started hitting each other without responding.

  “Rabies,” said the girl next to Allie. She pronounced the “r” more like a “w.”

  “That’s right,” Allie said. “We also vaccinate for feline leukemia and FVRCP. Good job!” The little girl beamed. “OK, follow me.” Allie led the children past the aquarium into the pharmacy/lab room. She stopped in front of the birdcages behind the reception wall. Windsor slid down the bars of his cage to the lower feed cup to get a better look at the kids. Romeo hung from the front of his cage to inspect them as well. Bongo stayed put on her main perch, fanning her tail feathers.

  “These are the clinic birds we told you about at school when we discussed having birds as pets. See how messy they are?” Allie pointed at bits of vegetables on the floor. “They also make a lot of noise.”

  Matthew pushed through his classmates to get close to Windsor’s cage. He reached his hand toward the bird’s head.

  “And they bite really hard,” Kim added. “Keep your hands out of the cage.” Matthew retracted his hand.

  “Make them talk,” he ordered.

  “You can’t make a bird talk,” Kim informed him. “Some birds talk while others like to whistle.” She pointed at the little green bird with the peach-colored face. “Lovebirds don’t talk. Romeo chatters, but he doesn’t say any words.” Kim pointed at Windsor. “Cockatiels are good at whistling. Let’s see if I can get Windsor to wolf whistle.” She puckered her lips then whistled, “Freet wheel, freet wheel, freet wheel.” Windsor stared at her like he’d never heard the sound before.

  “Bongo is our best talker. Let’s see if she’ll say something for you.” Kim paused to get Bongo’s attention. “How are you?” she asked. Bongo didn’t make a sound. “How are you?” Kim repeated. Bongo rocked back and forth on her perch, nervous from all the attention. “That’s the problem with birds,” Kim said to the class. “They never talk when you want them to.”

  After the birds, Allie brought the children to the laboratory to talk about parasites. Ten glass jars lined the counter next to the microscope. The first two jars contained fleas and ticks while the remaining held internal parasites. Allie held up a jar filled with long, skinny roundworms.

  “What do you think this is?” she asked.

  “Spaghetti,” a boy answered. Kim bit her lip to stifle a giggle.

  “Well, they do kind of look like spaghetti, but they’re actually roundworms,” Allie explained. “They live inside the intestines.” The children erupted into a chorus of comments.

  “Gross,” a boy said. He couldn’t take his eyes off the worms. “I’m never going to let my dog lick me again.”

  “That’s why it is important to bring in a stool sample from your pet every year to make sure they don’t have these worms living inside them,” Kim said. “On the microscope, you can see some eggs from one of these worms.”

  One by one, the children climbed onto the white stepstool that we also used to elevate a female dog’s hips after breeding and peered into the microscope. Most of them took a quick look at the circular eggs. They were more interested in turning the knobs on the microscope. Allie stood close by, keeping their hands off the knobs. The little girl who answered the vaccine question stood staring at the eggs. Her long brown hair dangled around the instrument. She stared and stared and stared at the eggs.

  “Kara,” her teacher said. “It’s time to let someone else look.” The child slowly stepped off the stool and moved to the side. For five minutes, children continued to look through the microscope and study the jars. Kim showed them bottles of medicine used to kill the parasites as well as a diagram of the lifecycle of a roundworm. The children fixated on the image of the eggs falling onto the grass during defecation, missing the other information.

  “OK, is there anyone else who wants to look through the microscope?” Allie asked. Adam stood at the back of the group with the aide by his side. When Allie looked at him, he avoided her gaze. Radar laid with his back against Adam’s tennis shoes. The laces on his left shoe hung on the floor. “Looks like you have a friend,” Allie said, pointing at Radar. “Radar really likes you.” All the children turned to look at Adam. He hung his head and cringed.

  “No, he’s my friend,” Mandy said. She wrapped her arms around Radar’s chest and picked him up. Radar’s front legs stuck out straight while his back legs swung in the air.

  “Put Radar down,” Monica ordered. Mandy released her grip and Radar landed with a thud. He shook it off, then walked back to Adam. He rubbed his cheek against the boy’s jeans.

  “Who wants to see an iguana?” Allie asked.

  “I do,” the children answered in unison. She motioned for them to follow her to the treatment room. In the incubator, a medium-sized iguana basked under the glow of a full-spectrum light with his eyes closed. He was about four feet long, and most of that was tail. The children gathered around the incubator, pressing their faces to the glass. One child tapped on it to wake the lizard up.

  “Don’t do that,” Allie warned. “This iguana is very, very sick. He needs to rest. You may look but don’t tap on the incubator.” The child tapped again, ignoring her instructions. Monica put her hand on his shoulder, and the child immediately dropped his hands to his sides.

  “Iguanas, turtles and snakes are all called what?” Allie asked. Kara’s right hand shot into the air. Allie pointed at her.

  “Reptiles.”

  “That’s correct,” Allie said. “And reptiles carry bacteria that can make people sick. That’s why it’s important to wash your hands after you touch a reptile.”

  After a brief discussion about iguana husbandry, the class moved over to the light display. Kim and Allie hung four different X-rays on the viewer, each with an interesting finding. The first film showed the outline of an iguana with its tail coiled around it. Inside the stomach laid a sheet metal screw with a large head and deep threads. The next film from last fall starred Bridget, the Irish setter. Kim traced the outline of the ornament hanger in the dog’s stomach. An X-ray of a pregnant cat filled the third slot. The children correctly counted four kittens on the film.

  For variety, Kim selected a bird for the last show-and-tell X-ray. She pointed to an oval objected lodged in the bird’s pelvis and waited for the kids to tell her what it was. Of course, Kara identified it as an egg immediately.

  On the back counter of the treatment room, instruments rested on blue paper wraps between the scrub sink and the autoclave. Kim picked up a long thin piece of metal that looked like a miniature shepherd’s crook. She demonstrated how a surgeon inserted the spay hook through an abdominal incision, than ran the hook along the body wall to find the uterus. Next Kim picked up four different types of scissors, from the small iris scissors used in eye surgery to the heavy-duty Mayo scissors used to cut suture.

  “What’s in there?” Kara asked. She pointed at a large metal box with holes drilled through the metal. Kim pulled open the latch and opened the lid.

  “These are bone plates,” Kim said. The children stared, not understanding. Kim picked up a small plate about two inches long with four holes in it. “They’re used to fix broken bones.” Kim extended her right index finger. “Let’s pretend I broke this finger. The surgeon would make an incisi
on through the skin and put this on the bone.” She laid the plate over her finger. “Then screws would hold it in place.” She pulled out a screw from the pack, placed it in the first hole on the plate and held it in place.

  “Just like an erector set,” Monica commented.

  “Yes, the same principles used in carpentry and iron work apply here,” Kim confirmed. She put the screw back in its slot and picked up the biggest plate in our set. The plate was 12 inches long and about one-and-a-half inches wide. It had six holes on each end with a two-inch gap in the middle. “This plate would be perfect for a large dog. Would you like to hold the plates?” The children nodded. She gave the small one to Kara and the large one to Matthew.

  “Would you like to see where the animals have surgery?” Allie asked.

  “Yes,” Charlie answered. “I want to see some blood.” The girls next to him screamed and shook their heads.

  “There’s no blood,” Allie reassured them. “We don’t even have an animal in the operating room right now.” She smiled at Monica and pointed at the sign “Caps and masks required” on the outside of the operating door. “This room has to stay very, very clean so we can’t go in there. But I’ll let you look inside.” She slowly swung the door open. The kids swarmed to the doorway and peered in at the operating table, anesthesia machine and monitors. On the table laid a large teddy bear draped for surgery. A plastic anesthesia mask covered his muzzle. A fluid line stretched from a bag hanging over the table to bear’s arm.

  “This is what it looks like when we do surgery,” she informed them.

  “When animals or people are anesthetized, it is very important to monitor their hearts,” Kim explained. “Would you like to see how that works?” Kara nodded eagerly. “All right, we need a volunteer for this demonstration.” Kara’s hand shot into the air. “I mean an animal volunteer,” Kim said. Kara’s hand sank back to her side. “I’ll be right back,” Kim said.