I took my Maine Coon (17lb, long-haired cat) into the vet last Friday and was self-talking like the whole time. “He is being well taken care of, you didn’t cause his health problems and he is on his diet, he’s not being neglected; he’s at the vet for God’s sake’s–that’s what you do when you are taking care of your pets.”
Every time I go to the vet, I think the Children’s Services of animal ownership have a van outside that they’re going to toss my animals in and drive away because I am mentally ill, incompetent and not taking adequate care of them.
Does this happen to anyone else or am I especially special in this regard?
I at least partially blame the death of Spicy when I was 12. I encouraged a pit bull to come home with me not knowing, of course, that some pit bulls are cat killers. We’d had one who was great with cats. I still have scars on my right hand from trying to get that cat out of the dog’s mouth. I think maybe that experience caused me to believe that I was an unfit pet owner, so I’m just waiting for the vet and the pet bandits in the van to confirm this…
OR maybe it’s just something to be paranoid about.
I used to think this way whenever I brought my dog to the Vet.
I kept thinking that the Vet and staff members were going to call the Authorities on me for Animal abuse or neglect or something.
I know that its very distorted thinking because I pampered my dogs and took very good care of them.
This kind of warped thinking is part of the illness @Wendy and you are not alone.
It’s weird, I actually feel a sense of guilt along with it but that cat is the king! Luckily, I don’t think I have to go back for a while. I don’t get that way in most places, so it takes me by surprise when I do. I also don’t worry when I have to take the other two as much but Dragonfly has IBD and sometimes he looks sick but at 17 pounds, he certainly is not sick. He’s gained weight.
