How do they know??

[MycatsaPirate]

House phone rang. It's the vet. Marshall needs his booster. Said I can bring him in today, he needs a health check anyway. All sorted and booked in for later.

Dp says 'who was on the phone?' I reply 'the vet'

Marshall pins his ears back, leaps off the chair and promptly leaves the house.

How? How do they know? :p

Marshall hates going in the car but he's too heavy for me to carry round in his box and he will yowl the entire 3 minute drive. Then he will push his head into my tummy while the vet injects him. And generally feel incredibly sorry for himself. If I have a cardigan on he will put his head inside it and pretend he's not there.

Mind you, half of his vet visits are self inflicted after scrapping with other cats and getting an infected cut. He's about 13/14 years old. He should know better.

[YetAnotherSpartacus]

Oh dear. Marshall is smarter than his human I guess :). Can he spell? It's the V.E.T or maybe you need a code word like 'Unmentionable Place'????

[Want2beme]

He's a clever boy, that's all! Obviously, very streetwise too.

[Reow]

Haha! They are wizards.

My boy knows when DP is 10 minutes away from home. He goes out and sits in the driveway.

[WeirdAndPissedOff]

I may sound like a mad cat lady if I say this, but I'm sure my 14 year old understands a good portion of our language.
I'll never forget when she was ill a couple of years ago, our vet told us she suspected advanced kidney disease and she "might live another year or so with proper management". The cat promptly sat bolt upright with a horrified look on her face.
Thankfully she had a different (minor) issue which turned out to be screwing up the test results, so with a few meds and a minor procedure she was fighting fit again.

She had a terrible habit of disappearing on the morning of Vet visits, too.

The younger ones with their 2 brain cells between them don't seem to have the same understanding, but they definitely know words like "vet" "dinner" and "no". Although their understanding of "no" is "look at owner sneakily whilst continuing to misbehave".

[MycatsaPirate]

He is definitely clever. It's now an hour before his appointment and he has just got up from his 'comfy chair' in the conservatory and legged it out the back door again. DD2 has managed to tempt him back in by laying a trail of dreamies.

He hasn't spotted the cat box yet. Normally this is greeted with suspicion that we have brought home another cat and once realising it's empty starts to panic and wonder which one is 'going on a trip'.

[LazySusan11]

Same with mine! We're going away in a few weeks and have them booked into a lovely cattery where they're happy. I put their cat boxes out in the living room 2 months ago so they wouldn't freak out, 1 cat now sleeps in his box full time the other occasionally sniffs hers but we took them to the vet last week and getting them to comply was easy.

[FruBayerischOla]

We keep the cat carrier in the garden shed. When it's needed (vet visit) I have to sneak it into the spare bedroom when they're not looking, keeping the room door firmly shut (so they can't get in and see it) and it's only produced just before they have to get into it!

Oddly enough, neither of them seems to mind once they're actually in the vet's room - he's a very nice chap and calls them "good man"!

[MycatsaPirate]

Well as expected he yowled in the car for the entire 3 minute journey. And tried to get under my t-shirt while being examined.

After his shot I picked him up and he was hugging me, (marshall not the vet) and this is so not like him, he's normally a 10 second endurance cuddle and then wants to be put down.

When we got home I opened the last tin of pilchards and he scoffed the lot and is now lying upstairs feeling a bit sorry for himself.

He has to go back in 3 weeks.