All the cats and dogs were kept indoors last night; quite the feat since they are all indoor/outdoor, and some of the cats definitely prefer being outside at night. I woke up bright and early to ready the boxes and load'em up... I'm glad I invested in boxes yesterday, even though several of them are all torn up now.
Even Buster and Chewy were good about getting in the backseat and riding. I'd been told that Buster gets carsick but he really didn't have trouble, though he sure drooled a lot!
The drive to Columbia was noisy- even Gloria, whose meow is normally silent, was creating a racket in the only actual cat carrier, sitting in the passenger seat. About the time I got into Columbia, Shasta appeared in the rearview mirror- she tore through the side of her box! I pulled into a parking lot and coaxed her to my lap; the rest of the drive was uneventful. Gloria seemed a little more calm with another cat nearby, and into the vet's office I went, holding my sunshine. Poor girl was flipping out; she doesn't handle changes or medicine very well- even Frontline causes trauma.
I had to wait a little bit; there was an impatient businessman who'd run in, dropped off a cat in a flight carrier, basically demanded to get out asap, left the cat and ran off without staying for all the processing. Took Shasta on into the examining room and went back out for Gloria and Kit; they were the next most flipped out by the drive. Poor Shasta was so upset she kept trying to jump up on display shelves in the room; when I got back with the others the tech had her in a vise grip. :( The moment Gloria left her carrier, Shasta shot into it and hid there until Dr. Reisdorf pulled her out for examining. Kit took over the sink; she stayed in there the entire visit; up until right before I took Buster and Chewy back out to the car.
Zoey, unfortunately, soiled her box; I can't blame her because she is more of an outdoor cat and she really wanted to go outside instead of into a box this morning; combine that with the unusual morning and you have a cat with full bowels and nowhere to go since they don't all like the litterboxes.
Monkey, oddly enough, was a trooper. When I opened his box in the room, he was just sitting there, calm as ever, poised and just waiting.

The visits all went well; everyone except Kit got a rabies shot and the two dogs got distemper. They all take good care of themselves. Spooky's right fang is broken, dunno when that happened but it's not enough to cause her trouble. Gloria has a fast heart and a heart murmur and is getting fragile, but the last part I knew; she is after all, something like 15 or 16 years old. Same for Buster and Chewy; they're getting on in years. Dr. Reisdorf recommended some supplements I can get for them and I can tell my dad Buster and Gloria can have a bit of aspirin when they seem to be in pain.

The ride home was more eventful... Merlin tore through his box while waiting for other animals to finish their checkups, and Gloria escaped her box during the early drive. I wound up parking at McDonalds to crawl over the seats and open up the other boxes; it started with just Zoey, since she had soiled hers and I didn't want her to have to sit in it. But I wound up opening the rest. Frosty, Spooky, and Kit stayed in theirs. Gloria, Shasta, and Merlin curled up behind the passenger seat. Buster had the whole backseat to himself, and Chewy was curled up behind my seat. Zoey and Monkey came all the way to the front and gave me a little trouble at first; they wanted to climb under my feet, which wasn't going to happen. Zoey eventually settled under the passenger seat, and Monkey went back and forth between that floor, the cat carrier on the seat, and my lap. Nobody threw up or had an accident; they were all a lot happier on the drive home, with more freedom to move and be familiar. If they had started causing real trouble I would have pulled over, but there were no issues. I think the girl at the McDonalds drive-in was quite amused with the carload; said she'd never seen a dog as big as Buster. Teehee. He is quite large. The vet emptied a cyst from his neck; thank goodness it was only liquid but it was worth checking.
The fun didn't end with the drive, though. Some of the cats were reluctant to exit the car; Shasta took some extra coaxing. Everyone settled and got out eventually, and later in the day I went out on the porch to pet Zoey, when to my dismay I saw a little white worm hanging out of her butt. Great... I'd told the vet I hadn't seen any sign of worms, so we didn't bother with deworming. I should've known better; they are i/o, after all, and the last deworming was in... August, probably? Last time I was home for a substantial period of time, not counting Thanksgiving, anyway. Since Homer and Dad were in town, I called up another vet clinic to get some dewormer, as I had before; Dad picked up the Strongid T, and I actually had no trouble giving them all their dose. Tempt'em with kitty cookies before and after, get the pusher at the right angle, and they won't even taste it. Shasta, of course, always knows what's up with meds, but she handled it with some grace and aplomb. There were cookies involved, after all.

And just to make things more catty today, I turned on the porch light tonight and saw an orange fluffy cat dive off the corner. I went outside, coaxed him/her a bit with the food Dad keeps on the porch, and wound up making sort of friends. I doubt it's wild; it was too nicely groomed and for a longhaired beauty like that, grooming can be tough. I do hope s/he comes back around in daylight. I want to know if it's just a neighbor's cat that's skittish because it was found stealing food, or stray, or what the deal is.. Didn't hear the jingle of a tag, but it was very talkative- we corresponded noisily for most of the time it was around; unfortunately my dad or brother let Buster out an at unopportune moment, and the cat fled for good. If it is a stray, perhaps I can capture it and have it checked over and neutered/spayed. My dad doesn't mind filchers; he doesn't have time to distribute food so he pretty much keeps a supply in and outside for all our cats to peruse at their leisure. One might think they'd get fat from it, but they're all good, healthy weights- perhaps because they're so active.
All in all I'm pleased with the day. I didn't even have to go broke fronting the vet bills. Yayness! There's more to do, but for today I'm satisfied. Tomorrow I have to take my dad to a people doctor appointment, but I can call work and see if there was any progress made on helping me find a foster home for Kit. Woot!