The other day a friendly older lady brought two new kittens in for checkups. The receptionist went through the usual questions.
Receptionist: Are they boys or girls?
Lady with Kittens: I don't know. I'm hoping for girls
R: Okay. How old are they?
LwK: I don't know. The guy at the barn said they were born a couple days apart.
R: Okay. Did he deworm or vaccinate them?
LwK: I don't know. He didn't say anything.
At this point they come to my exam room so I could figure out the answers to all these basic questions. They were two cute, healthy looking girls, both about 9 weeks old. I vaccinated and dewormed them and gave LwK the usual go home instructions (feed kitten food, booster vaccinations in 3-4 weeks, give next dose of dewormer in two weeks, etc.)
LwK: Can I use clumping cat litter?
Me: Um. Yeah, that's fine.
LwK: Good because I didn't want to use the clay stuff.
Me: *Perplexed frown*
LwK: The guy at the barn said clumping cat litter kills cats.
Me (trying to keep my mouth from hanging open): I have never heard of that.
LwK: Yeah, he said they eat it and it clumps up their insides.
Me: I have never heard of a cat eating cat litter, so I think you're safe.
That was a new one for me. Guy at the barn didn't know gender, age, doesn't say anything about care of kittens except that clumping cat litter kills cats. Seriously. I'm just glad LwK had enough sense to question that kind of advice!
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