Sophie Cat

I wanted Sophie to have the best treatment possible should (heaven forbid) anything ever happen so I immediately insured her. I had to take her to the vet after a month to have a regular injection.

She was not at all happy to be put in the pet carrier and unlike when she was brought home, went ballistic - I think she thought I was taking her back. She screamed blue murder in the vets and when the vet opened the door to see us she said 'Ah yes, a Bengal, I thought so' - I did mention they're famous for the yelling and screaming they all do! The vet said that although she occasionally saw Bengals but they were still fairly rare and definitely weren't the best of patients. The males in particular are very strong and even a little girl like Sophie is strong and very smart so they'd do everything to get away. As I was waiting to leave the door opened and in walked a lady with ....yes you guessed it....another Bengal. This time a very big boy who literally filled his cage and had a very deep persistent voice. The vet opened the door to see the next patient and looked down at the second Bengal, I had to laugh and said "It's just not your day today, is it?"

Sophie was a little beast and wouldn't co-operate at all, the poor vet, Felicity, was sweating by the end of the check up! I had everything done - nails clipped, full check up and as she had ear mites they had to be treated too. She also had the required injection.

When I got her home she was thrilled, talking away and walking around investigating everything again as if to say 'thank goodness I'm back!

A couple of days later I woke at about 4am to hear a cat being very, very sick -  right next to me on the bed! Sophie looked so embarrassed and tried to 'bury' it with the duvet! I told her it was alright and it wasn't her fault. This went on over 2 days with her being sick several times - and boy did she let you know before she was - I have never heard volume like this out of such a little cat! She'd yell 'oooooowwwwww' in a really deep booming voice just before she was sick - I was sure she could be heard for miles. As it was the weekend I decided to wait until Monday to see how she was, first thing Monday I was cleaning up after she'd been sick again when I noticed what I thought was blood, I panicked and rushed her to the vet the second it was open.

Felicity examined Sophie and prescribed some tablets - have you ever tried to get a cat to take a tablet - what fun!!! And also told me to with hold the food for a day, after that I had to give her some special food. Sophie seemed to come round quite quickly and after trying it once rejected the special food - yelling instead for her regular food. Anyone who says 'leave the food down, they'll eat it eventually' clearly does not own a Bengal! The food dries out and remains exactly where you left it until you concede defeat and give them what they want!

Everything seemed ok and Sophie seemed to be getting a bit better but was still very quiet and not very interested in playing, which was unusual. I was patting her when I discovered a large lump on the side of her neck. Immediately I panicked again - I had all sorts of terrible things run through my mind. I thought 'please don't give me this lovely little creature, only to take her away again'!

So off to the vets again - Sophie by now had been used to being handled and was much better behaved, infact Felicity said she had to shave her neck and she probably wouldn't like the clippers but as Sophie doesn't move when I hoover and just lies down happily watching the hoover move about, I figured she wouldn't bother.

Poor little soul, she was shaved and blood samples taken from the lump. She was very well behaved and got a vote as the best Bengal from Felicity - a real coup considering what a beast she'd been on her first visit. I guess after she discovered I wasn't having any nonsense when I put ear drops in or gave her a tablet she knew she was on a hiding to nothing by being difficult!

Sophie was feeling (not surprisingly) quite sorry for herself, and the shaved area showed up the lump even more, which made me very anxious.

A week later the lump appeared to be going down which was a huge relief. Felicity called and said there had been nothing showing up in the tests either. The conclusion was that it must have been some sort of reaction to the injections she'd been give. I had put on a brave face but was terrified that something would happen to Sophie - even though we had only been together a short time I couldn't imagine life without this wonderful little girl.