.... and it was all going so well (1)

.... being the first part of "travelling with cats" for this year.

We're now quite experienced at travelling abroad with our cats, so didn't anticipate any particular problems. Taking them to see an unknown French vet for their pre-return ticks and worms treatments is always a bit of an unknown, but that's all.

Ah, yes, the pre-return visit to the vet .....

I have to say, the vet we found in Villenauxe la Grande was lovely. We took both cats in together, I showed him their passports and explained what was required, and we decided to start with Snowball.

I should explain at this point that the worming treatment used to be an injection, which the cats didn't like much but, once done, was over with. Last year we were offered the choice of injection or tablet and - having some idea of the difficulties that giving a cat a tablet can produce - opted for the injection.

This year, we weren't given the choice.

So the vet started with pretty, innocent-looking, clever little Snowball. The tablet went into her mouth, her mouth was gently held shut, and he massaged her throat. She refused to swallow. After about 30 seconds, he decided to flush it down with a pipette of water. This did not have the effect he had hoped; in fact, it had quite the opposite effect.

Snowball is missing some teeth on the lower left side of her mouth (we understand she was repeatedly kicked by her first owners). The influx of water when she had already had the tablet in her mouth for approaching a minute meant that the pink sugar coating on the tablet dissolved completely, and came from the sides of her mouth as bright pink foam.

She looked as though she had a designer version of rabies.

And, to add to the insult, the addition of water allowed her to push the tablet out through the gap in her teeth.

The vet split the tablet in half, and tried again, with more water. No luck.

At this point, he disappeared and came back with a tube of nutrient jelly. Half the tablet went into a small amount of the jelly, which was then pushed gently into her mouth (and I have to say that the vet was always gentle, and never once lost patience). She tried to resist, adding a smear of gold-coloured jelly round the front of her mouth, but couldn't. She could, however, spit the tablet out.

She now looked as though she was a blinged-up cat with designer rabies.

She had also gained a new nickname, Petit Malin. Yes, I know technically that should be Petite Maline, but just at that point her gender wasn't a major concern.

More jelly, more water and, eventually, both parts of the tablet were downed. And our precious Snowball was not happy at having lost the battle of wills.

Dyson, of course, had been watching all this.

Despite his size, Dyson is usually a most laid-back cat. In fact, I don't think I've ever before heard the growl that came from him when the vet came close with a tablet. It was really quite impressive.

The vet glanced at me and asked "Il est gourmand?" Yes, he is a little greedy.

The tablet was split into three, and the first part was added to some nutrient jelly on the vet's finger. Very cautiously, the vet brought his hand close to Dyson's mouth .... and Dyson licked, swallowed and came back for more. The second part of the tablet went the same way, and Dyson was still keen for more. And the final part of the tablet. Then some more jelly without any tablet, for good measure.

Thankfully, the tick treatment was the usual back-of-the-neck liquid which, although neither cat liked it, did not leave much opportunity for resistence.

Anyway, at least that was done, and we could bring the two cats back into the UK without any difficulty.

Or so we thought .....