Apparently, I have a vicious critter...

[Mental_Mouse]

Drug reactions are certainly a possibility, but my first thought was "You did WHAT To me?" ETA: Ninja'ed.

[Nunavut Pants]

Especially if you mishear things beforehand....

[protege]

I don't care how good natured you are, waking up with a hole in your belly and your legs tied up will make anyone go ballistic.

Finding that your nuts have been removed would probably get the same reaction I know that Kitty wasn't too happy afterwards. He was fine at home, but when we took him to the vet, he was pissed. He remembered what went on the last time he was there, and took out his anger on the vet's hand. Not only did he scratch, but he bit too

As for Abby, I have no idea what set her off. She'd been in carriers before. But, I'm sure they didn't still smell of a cat that was no longer with us (Sally, who died last year). Even after I washed it, I'm sure there was still some scent in there.

[Valentinian]

My husbands dearly departed tortie cat, Titti, did not like vets... however, if he was there with her holding/petting her and talking to her, she would sit quietly through any medical procedure, up to and including having blood drawn from her jugular veins to test her thyroid function, watching him and occasionally swallowing nervously but trusting him to not let anything Bad happen to her. This system worked well.

Then our vet got a new vet tech. I'm guessing that when he told her he needed to stay with Titti to keep her calm, she assumed he was one of those pet owners vets dread - you know, the ones that are more nervous than the pet they want to stay with to reassure and end up making the pet behave worse. So, she did some preliminary examinations and then told him that she was going to take Titti into a back room to weigh her. She was actually taking Titti into a back room intending to get the blood samples (from the jugular, remember) without him 'in the way'.

Titti did not take well to having some strange woman come at her neck with a needle without Her Human in the room to protect her, and at this point I should mention that one of Titti's nicknames was "The Ginsu Whirlwind of Death". I am not kidding. That is what we called her if she got in the wrong mood, and she liked us! Soooo I will draw a delicate veil over the messy details, but half an hour later after Titti (and my husband) had calmed down a bit, she sat quietly watching his face while a different vet tech took the necessary blood samples, annnnnnd the first vet tech had a thick bandage wound around one of her arms with visible blood still seeping through it.

(I b'lieve the vet tech ended up going to the hospital for antibiotics etc, and she was also not employed there any more the next time we went in.)

[notalwaysright]

The vet in my current town is great. The vet I went to in my old town was... Not good. First, Charlie does fine if he is taken from his carrier and the vet is in the room. But the vet in my old town wouldn't come in first. No, first a tech would slam into the room, and want to manhandle Charlie. Then she'd stomp stomp SLAM out of the room, thoroughly freaking Charlie out. The vet wasn't better. Charlie was nervous due to the horrid loud tech, and then the vet gave him an ouchie shot. So Charlie hisses at her. I think this was a mild response, considering. The vet then says this gem: "Wow, orange cats are usually friendly!"

The next time I went I begged them to let Charlie stay in his carrier until the vet came, please can't the vet weigh him? It'll only take a second and it will really help Charlie... NOPE. They wouldn't allow it. Last time I went to that hell hole.

[MadMike]

He remembered what went on the last time he was there, and took out his anger on the vet's hand.

Apparently the do remember certain things. One of my cats had some sort of scratch on one of her eyes awhile back. Thankfully, the eye cream the vet gave us cleared it right up. The only way you can even tell anything happened is that you can sort of see where the scratch was if the light hits her eye the right way. But she did not like us messing with her eye to put the cream in it.

Sometime after that, I had her in for a routine visit, and the vet wanted to check out her eyes. Well, she wasn't having that. As soon as he tried to touch near her eyes, she snapped her jaws at him. If he hadn't moved as quickly as he did, she would have nailed him pretty good.

He just took it in stride and said, "Well, her teeth look good from what I saw!" But then he's been in the business for about as long as I've been alive, so I'm sure he's been scratched, bitten, peed on, puked on... you name it.

[protege]

The vet then says this gem: "Wow, orange cats are usually friendly!"

Yep, that tiger really doesn't want to rip you a new asshole at all...

As for Abby, she was totally fine when she was out of the carrier. She probably didn't like it since it was dark inside, probably still smelled like a strange kitty, and that she doesn't like not being able to see things. She'll spend hours perched atop my beat-up recliner, or the windowsill in my office. I can understand being freaked out. But, after the tech came in, and she was examined, she was fine. At least until the dog invaded her space.