Treat time!
Skippers Post:
Did you know I have cats? I do! Two of them. Most of you have met Driftwood. He is white and black and fluffy. Mamba is black and little and slinky. The cats get a special food called “cat food.” It comes in two flavors, wet and dry. I like them both even though MelT tells me I am not a cat, and besides which, I am an herbivore. Whatever.
Me and Driftwood along with some cat food
My cats are pretty good about sharing their food, it’s MelT who is the problem. She got these gates that go in the doorways and keep me from getting to the cat food bowls. Sometimes she leaves the gate open though and I sneak in. It’s hard for a 130 lb rodent to sneak, but I do it.
Me with the cat food bowl
Turns out, the cat food isn’t the only delicious part of the equation; the bowl is super fun to play with! And who knows, there might be a small morsel stuck in there.
The cat food bowl
Who would have known that a cat food bowl wouldn’t stand up to capybara teeth? Anyone. And it wasn’t tasty at all! Not at all! See that little bite I took out of it? It tasted terrible! Not only that, it got stuck in my teeth! And it was SHARP!
I didn’t know what to do! We capys don’t have hands so I couldn’t reach in there and grab it. Our tongues are much use either; they are made for bringing food in, not spitting it out. The only thing I could do was gag and slobber and push my paw up against my face. And panic! Mostly panic. I did some bleeding, too. That was for extra drama.
MelT panicked, too. It’s good to know that she can’t be trusted to keep her head in an emergency. You know how panicky she was? She didn’t take any pictures! That is a first, probably for her whole life, certainly for mine.
In her panic, MelT called everyone we know. Mostly people weren’t home, but Sheldon came, and Coral, and my new best friend, Nancy. (Nancy went to visit Jinxx with us, so you might remember her.) Nancy has a horse trailer and she has two friends, who are now my friends, named Jerrome and Barbara. (MelT says Jerrome spells his name weird, but it looks fine to me. I’m not a great speller.)
Did you notice in the photos above that I had my harness on? MelT has been tricking me into wearing it by giving me Temptations, an especially delicious type of cat food. There is another horrible thing that attaches to a harness: a leash. I am not good with harnesses but I am not going to have one thing to do with leashes! Not now, not never. But MelT hooked it on to my harness anyway. Then the five of them, MelT, Coral, Sheldon, Jerrome, Barbara, and Nancy (Is that five? Capys aren’t great with large numbers.) all herded me into that deathtrap of a horse trailer that my new best friend Nancy, who is on probation at this point, brought over. Do horses really go in those things? I can’t believe it.
Once I was trapped inside, Jerrome brought a bale of hay in for me and MelT to sit on. Here is the really awful part about horse trailers, they move. And not smoothly either! I had to get on the hay and stand behind MelT so she could hold me up. It was hot in there, too.
Me and Jerrome in the trailer
Finally we got to the emergency vet clinic. They opened the doors so that MelT and I didn’t die from the heat. Then we sat in the trailer for a long, long time. MelT got out and Jerrome took her place. He was nice. He pet me the whole time we were waiting.
I hope you don’t mind that this post is getting so long. The event is stuck in my little capy brain and it won’t come out, much like how that piece of plastic was stuck in my mouth.
Finally the vet came out. I got a little sting in the butt. After that things are a little blurry. I remember the vet put a tiny flashlight into my mouth and looked around. There was no piece of plastic. I could have told her that! I swallowed it. After consulting with Dr. Hoppes at A&M, they decided that eating plastic isn’t that bad for a capybara. Getting stuck in the teeth is though.
Jerrome, Dr. Floyd, and me in the trailer
Dr. Floyd like me so much she took my picture. Actually, a lot of people at the vet clinic took my picture. Nancy took those last two photos because MelT was still having a breakdown.
I got one more sting in the butt and then we started the long ride home. By then it was night so it wasn’t as hot in the trailer but it was still bumpy and scary. When they opened the door back at our house, I was out of that trailer in two seconds! LIterally. MelT and Jerrome went chasing after me but I hid in my favorite clump of trees and wouldn’t come out. That was after I got my harness off, which seems to be something we all wanted.
My milk
Don’t worry, we’re almost done. The last little bit is about my milk. It has been tasting a little stranger than usual since we got back from the vet. A bit spicy. MelT said it is because it has medicine in it, antibiotics and anti-inflammatories. That’s a lot of “antis”. I hope they aren’t anti-me.
Drinking my milk
If there’s one thing I like even better than cat food, it’s my milk. I don’t care if it is sharp. Milk is one of the very best things in the world.
By the way, MelT says she is going to explain why my milk is green in her next post. Isn’t milk always green?
Wow! That was my longest post EVER! Have any of you ever been to the vet? Did you have to ride in a horse trailer? Did you get little stings in your butt? Was it because you had a piece of plastic stuck in your teeth? Do you love milk as much as I do?
That list of questions is almost as long as this post! I bet you can think of at least one that you’d like to answer in a comment.
I have been to the vet, but only as the driver and owner of the animals I was taking. I haven’t ridden in the back of a horse trailer in years, but I do own 2. The stings in my butt were delivered by an MD, not a DVM, but I can totally sympathize…..I do get plastic stuck in my teeth – usually in the fine, thin form known as dental floss and it makes me drool and bleed and panic until the offending floss is removed. My teeth seem to do a lot of shifting, so large gaps one day, can’t get the floss in them the next….drinking some milk does help, though! I prefer mine in the traditional cold and white format. So drink your milk and maybe invest in some capy dental floss (or stainless steel cat bowls)? Hugs from Colorado!
Wow…that was a bad day 🙁 All you wanted was a little cat food and what you got was all the drama!
I do not go to the vet personally (I get to go to the people doctor though), but my dogs Watson and Menchi, and their cat Autumn go quite regularly. Sometimes just to get a check up, but sometimes they get a sting in the behind too 🙂 Menchi even has had a couple of emergency visits and they have used a x-ray machine to take pictures of her insides. Occasionally the vet will also take some of their blood for tests or clean their teeth. Vet’s are a little scary, but they are good people and are trying to keep you healthy!
I have only been to the “people vet”. My four guinea pigs have been to the regular vet though. They rarely get shots though. Unless ithey need subcutaneous fluids.
One of my piggies passed a HUGE (1cm x .5cm) stone earlier this year so she gets a little Potassium citrate every night. I don’t give it to her in milk though. I mix it with a teaspoon or so of plain canned pumpkin and she gobbles it up! No more of those nasty bladder stones, so I think it’s working. I hope your medicine works as well.
Wow Skipper, you had a very interesting day! I am sorry to hear about you mistaking that pretty blue bowl for a snack though. Perhaps MelT can have a cat shelf put up high on a wall for Driftwood and Mamba to eat on in order for you not be tempted again to eat their food or their dishes? It must have been scary riding in the horse trailer as you are not tall enough to be able to see the outside like the horses can.
Nina and Samson visit the vet. They get their yearly shots which sting. And their nails trimmed. Nina had to have surgery for a torn ACL. Which was painful they put her to sleep to do the surgery. More stings. She has recovered and can walk good with no pain. So sorry you had to experience the horse trailer ride. Yes it can be scary. But I am glad you are okay. Your green milk sounds delicious. Hope you get alot more of it. I know Mel T. Would not give you anything that was not good for you. MelT. was probably so scared for you that is why she could not think properly when you needed her to be calm and help you. In reality Skipper Mel T. did the best thing she could do for you and had Nancy and everyone come and get you to take you to the Vet. Don’t be to hard on Mek T. she loves you so very much. Glad you are feeling better. Love you ❤❤
Skipper, you poor capy, what a day you had!!! I’m so glad you’re all better.
Wow, Skipper, what an adventure! Glad you were able to hide in the trees when you got back. I hope you don’t have to go in any horse trailers again anytime soon! You look like you were being very patient in all the pictures, though.
I have been to the vet more times than you can possibly imagine. They stick things into me all the time, but they are very polite about it. One time I went to a different vet and they broke my front teeth. I’m pretty sure they fractured my vertebra at the same time. I’m never going back there. Even if I get to ride in a horse trailer.
I have to go to the human vet a lot. I have a bunch of different kinds–we have different doctors for different problems. I mostly get little stings in the arm when I go to see mine. I have never had plastic stuck in my teeth, but I do have some metal in one of my legs! It’s there on purpose, though, and I didn’t swallow it. I’ve actually never ridden in a horse trailer, but I live in Kentucky so I see them a lot. They usually have horses in them. Milk is absolutely one of my favorite things too.