Oh, cat, don't fly away again. My head's killing me.

So, here's Sparky now, doing worse than he was on Monday -- tottering when he can move at all (did the sedative damage his control of the hind legs?), not eating, wheezing heavily, and crying now and then. I call the vet & ask if they can do anything. "The vet on call says he can't prescribe anything without getting blood work done," says the girl.

I say, "we got blood work done last time we were there. 300 dollars just for that, and all it told us was that Sparky is 20 years old. What more do they need?"

She shuffles papers. "When were you here before Sunday?"

Apparently there is no record of our previous visit. And before they help the cat at all, they need to charge me excess fees for no reason at all.

And the vet I'd spoken to on Sunday "offered" to run X-Rays. Why, I asked? She didn't really have an answer beyond, "so we can see what's wrong..." in spite of what's wrong being visible on his chest.

So I'm sitting with my cat, who is not happy but appreciates the touching, and thinking, do these people see an elderly animal as anything but a means to separate a human from his or her cash?

We're back home now & recuperating -- the vet says it ain't Sparky's time quite yet. He had an infected mass, which the vet shaved and cleaned (also gone, the nasty matts on Sparky's back). Now it's my job to give the cat oral antibiotics once a day. Total bill? Only 250 American Dollars. Which is exactly what I was going to spend on getting some new headshots taken.

So, if you're a friend of mine who is a photographer but has previously poo-pooed the idea of doing headshots for me for free, and I gave up bothering you about it, don't be surprised if I start bothering you about it again.