A Visit from the Vet

Kaitlyn Dunnett/Kathy Lynn Emerson here. Yes, you read that title correctly—it’s from, not to. In my part of Maine, we have a veterinarian who makes house calls. No more packing three cats (or, once upon a time, four cats and a dog) into carriers for a twenty-minute drive. Ever try to stuff a cat into a cat carrier when he didn’t want to go? Not fun.

It is so much more pleasant to make an appointment with Maine Woods Mobile Vet. She brings what she needs with her and uses our kitchen island as an examining table. The cats, of course, are suspicious, but it’s easier to catch them and carry them one by one to the kitchen (a place with very good associations for them!) than to subject them to imprisonment, a ride in the car, and all those strange animal smells at the other end. They still have to submit to being poked and prodded and given their shots, but the worst is over in a matter of minutes and they’re free again, in their own house, spared the indignity of yet another confinement for the trip home.

It’s easier on “Mom” too. Fewer scratches. No carriers to clean and store afterward. And best of all, I don’t get what my mother used to call “the hairy eyeball” from three ticked off kitties.

Kathy Lynn Emerson/Kaitlyn Dunnett is the author of over fifty books written under several names. She won the Agatha Award in 2008 for best mystery nonfiction for How to Write Killer Historical Mysteries and was an Agatha Award finalist in 2014 in the best mystery short story category for “The Blessing Witch.” Currently she writes the contemporary Liss MacCrimmon Mysteries (The Scottie Barked at Midnight) as Kaitlyn and the historical Mistress Jaffrey Mysteries (Murder in the Merchant’s Hall) as Kathy. The latter series is a spin-off from her earlier “Face Down” series and is set in Elizabethan England. Her websites are www.KaitlynDunnett.com and www.KathyLynnEmerson.com