The silence filling the car was even more concerning than the whines I had expected.

“Don’t worry baby we’ll be there soon,” I reassure, reaching over to put a hand on the carrier. Car rides were never Solembum’s strong suit, and he usually filled the journey with his many cries of protest. Not being able to hold him or even pet him when they had to travel was so incredibly frustrating - for both of them.

Flipping on my turning signal to pull into the parking lot, I heave a sigh of relief. The lot looks fairly empty, so hopefully the vet won’t make them wait too long. Solembum only makes a single half-hearted mewl of protest when I lift his carrier from the car.

I rush straight into the building and to the front desk, explaining the emergency and the need to see a vet, any vet that was on, please. After assuring me in a bored tone not to worry - thanks a lot lady, that worked - she directs me to a seat to wait. I exchange tight smiles with the other few pet owners in the room. Sticking my fingers through the door of the carrier, I try to comfort my little fur baby. I’d never had to rush him to the vet before, so this was a first for the both of them.

Luckily it’s not long before we are being ushered into a room to see the vet. All the pent up energy from the quiet 20 minute drive and the short, but tense, wait once here seems to come out of me at once.

“I think he ate some flowers and I know some flowers can be really bad for cats so I usually don’t keep them in the house at all but you see one of my students gave me this little bouquet yesterday for break and the flowers looked harmless and they weren’t lilies or anything that I know are like, well, deadly for cats. I swear I’m usually super careful with Solembum I swear we never had anything like this happen before but when I got home from the store he didn’t come out to say ‘hi,’ which he always does when I come home, and when I found him he was just curled up on the bed but he looked so lethargic and he didn’t wake up super quick and then I noticed that some of the flower petals were scattered on the table so I figured he must have - ”

I have to pause to gain a bit of breath and luckily the vet interrupts my tirade.

“Okay, okay, let’s calm down here. So this is Solembum? Let’s take a look at you, little guy.”

The man reaches over and takes him out of the carrier even as I try to warn, “careful! He doesn’t like strangers, he usually scratches the vet...”

But there was no need. Solembum did not seem to mind at all as the vet took him from his carrier, and he barely complained as he looked into his eyes and mouth and otherwise conducted a quick examine of the cat.

“What kind of flowers were they?” He asked, keeping Solembum on the table with just one gentle hand on his back.

“Umm, they were roses.” It was very distracting to see anyone handle her cat so well - this was not how vet visits usually went.

“Good, good. Well, ma’am, I don’t think you have anything to worry about with this guy. He may have eaten a few of the petals, which is probably why he was acting a bit oddly for you. But roses are pretty harmless. Just keep an eye on him for the next few days, and if he starts throwing up or having loose stool give us a call.”

My goodness, was Solembum actually purring right now? “Oh, oh okay good, I mean thank you! Sorry, it’s just that I’ve never met anyone like you before!”

“You should be grateful for that. People only get to meet me when their pets are sick, and we want this guy to stay nice and healthy.” And without a whine of complaint, the vet ushered the cat back into his carrier so he could go home.