I adopted a 7 year old cat a few years ago (he’s 10 now) and he doesn’t have any known health conditions. But being a good cat parent, we like to take him to the vet yearly for check ups and boosters for his vaccines. Every time I take him, I get super nervous that they’ll find something or they’ll hurt him during the exam.

Part of this stems from the previous time we took him in. It was when vets weren’t allowing owners to come into the office, so I handed him to the tech outside. They wanted to check his blood work but apparently he kept moving. So they sedated him, and when they returned him he had clearly vomited on himself. I know with humans, vomiting while sedated can lead to aspiration. It was also pretty expensive.

I’m taking him to the vet today for a check up and I’m worried he’ll need blood work again. I want to get it to make sure he’s not developing diabetes or kidney issues or anything, especially given his older age. But I’m nervous he won’t handle sedation well and he’ll die. I’m also pretty sure he’ll need his teeth cleaned soon, and that’s going to be even more dangerous and expensive.

I feel dumb posting this; thanks for reading this far.